All Outputs (13)

A nation that rebuilds its soils rebuilds itself- an engineer's perspective (2022)
Journal Article
Johnson, K. L., Gray, N. D., Stone, W., Kelly, B. F., Fitzsimons, M. F., Clarke, C., …Gwandu, T. (2022). A nation that rebuilds its soils rebuilds itself- an engineer's perspective. Soil security, 7, Article 100060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soisec.2022.100060

Nations can build and rebuild degraded soils to help address climate change and potentially improve the nutritional content of food if we change policies that allow the addition of safe mineral and organic wastes to soil. We present a framework that... Read More about A nation that rebuilds its soils rebuilds itself- an engineer's perspective.

UK Government Policy and the Transition to a Circular Nutrient Economy (2022)
Journal Article
Yuille, A., Rothwell, S., Blake, L., Forber, K. J., Marshall, R., Rhodes, R., …Withers, P. J. (2022). UK Government Policy and the Transition to a Circular Nutrient Economy. Sustainability, 14(6), Article 3310. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063310

The “circular economy” is an increasingly influential concept linking economic and environmental policy to enable sustainable use of resources. A crucial although often overlooked element of this concept is a circular nutrient economy, which is an ec... Read More about UK Government Policy and the Transition to a Circular Nutrient Economy.

Carbon Dioxide and the Carbamate Post-Translational Modification (2022)
Journal Article
Blake, L. I., & Cann, M. J. (2022). Carbon Dioxide and the Carbamate Post-Translational Modification. Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 9, Article 825706. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2022.825706

Carbon dioxide is essential for life. It is at the beginning of every life process as a substrate of photosynthesis. It is at the end of every life process as the product of post-mortem decay. Therefore, it is not surprising that this gas regulates s... Read More about Carbon Dioxide and the Carbamate Post-Translational Modification.

Waste to resource: use of water treatment residual for increased maize productivity and micronutrient content (2021)
Journal Article
Gwandu, T., Blake, L., Nezomba, H., Rurinda, J., Chivasa, S., Mtambanengwe, F., & Johnson, K. (2022). Waste to resource: use of water treatment residual for increased maize productivity and micronutrient content. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 44(10), 3359-3376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-01100-z

Soil degradation, which is linked to poor nutrient management, remains a major constraint to sustained crop production in smallholder urban agriculture (UA) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While organic nutrient resources are often used in UA to complem... Read More about Waste to resource: use of water treatment residual for increased maize productivity and micronutrient content.

The microbiology of rebuilding soils with water treatment residual co‐amendments: Risks and benefits (2021)
Journal Article
Stone, W., Lukashe, N. S., Blake, L. I., Gwandu, T., Hardie, A. G., Quinton, J., …Clarke, C. E. (2021). The microbiology of rebuilding soils with water treatment residual co‐amendments: Risks and benefits. Journal of Environmental Quality, 50(6), 1381-1394. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20286

Water treatment residuals (WTR) are sludges from the potable water treatment process, currently largely destined for landfill. This waste can be diverted to rebuild degraded soils, aligning with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals 12 (Consumption... Read More about The microbiology of rebuilding soils with water treatment residual co‐amendments: Risks and benefits.

An Unexpectedly Broad Thermal and Salinity-Tolerant Estuarine Methanogen Community (2020)
Journal Article
Blake, L. I., Sherry, A., Mejeha, O. K., Leary, P., Coombs, H., Stone, W., …Gray, N. D. (2020). An Unexpectedly Broad Thermal and Salinity-Tolerant Estuarine Methanogen Community. Microorganisms, 8(10), Article 1467. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8101467

Moderately thermophilic (Tmax, ~55 °C) methanogens are identified after extended enrichments from temperate, tropical and low-temperature environments. However, thermophilic methanogens with higher growth temperatures (Topt ≥ 60 °C) are only reported... Read More about An Unexpectedly Broad Thermal and Salinity-Tolerant Estuarine Methanogen Community.

The toxicity of the methylimidazolium ionic liquids, with a focus on M8OI and hepatic effects (2019)
Journal Article
Leitch, A. C., Abdelghany, T. M., Probert, P. M., Dunn, M. P., Meyer, S. K., Palmer, J. M., …Wright, M. C. (2020). The toxicity of the methylimidazolium ionic liquids, with a focus on M8OI and hepatic effects. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 136, Article 111069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2019.111069

Ionic liquids are a diverse range of charged chemicals with low volatility and often liquids at ambient temperatures. This characteristic has in part lead to them being considered environmentally-friendly replacements for existing volatile solvents.... Read More about The toxicity of the methylimidazolium ionic liquids, with a focus on M8OI and hepatic effects.

Better Together: Water Treatment Residual and Poor-Quality Compost Improves Sandy Soil Fertility (2019)
Journal Article
Clarke, C. E., Stone, W., Hardie, A. G., Quinton, J. N., Blake, L. I., & Johnson, K. L. (2019). Better Together: Water Treatment Residual and Poor-Quality Compost Improves Sandy Soil Fertility. Journal of Environmental Quality, 48(6), 1781-1788. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2019.03.0147

Water treatment residual (WTR) is an underused clean water industry byproduct, generally disposed to landfill. This study assesses the benefits and risks of ferric-WTR as a soil amendment or co-amendment for plant growth in a nutrient-poor sandy soil... Read More about Better Together: Water Treatment Residual and Poor-Quality Compost Improves Sandy Soil Fertility.

Identification of a xenobiotic as a potential environmental trigger in primary biliary cholangitis (2018)
Journal Article
Probert, P. M., Leitch, A. C., Dunn, M. P., Meyer, S. K., Palmer, J. M., Abdelghany, T. M., …Wright, M. C. (2018). Identification of a xenobiotic as a potential environmental trigger in primary biliary cholangitis. Journal of Hepatology, 69(5), 1123-1135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2018.06.027

Background and Aims: Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is an autoimmune-associated chronic liver disease triggered by environmental factors - such as exposure to xenobiotics - leading to a loss of tolerance to the lipoic acid conjugated regions of th... Read More about Identification of a xenobiotic as a potential environmental trigger in primary biliary cholangitis.

Distribution of thermophilic endospores in a temperate estuary indicate that dispersal history structures sediment microbial communities (2018)
Journal Article
Bell, E., Blake, L. I., Sherry, A., Head, I. M., & Hubert, C. R. (2018). Distribution of thermophilic endospores in a temperate estuary indicate that dispersal history structures sediment microbial communities. Environmental Microbiology, 20(3), 1134-1147. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14056

Endospores of thermophilic bacteria are found in cold and temperate sediments where they persist in a dormant state. As inactive endospores that cannot grow at the low ambient temperatures, they are akin to tracer particles in cold sediments, unaffec... Read More about Distribution of thermophilic endospores in a temperate estuary indicate that dispersal history structures sediment microbial communities.

Environmental xenoestrogens super-activate a variant murine ER beta in cholangiocytes (2016)
Journal Article
Meyer, S. K., Probert, P. M., Lakey, A. K., Leitch, A. C., Blake, L. I., Jowsey, P. A., …Wright, M. C. (2017). Environmental xenoestrogens super-activate a variant murine ER beta in cholangiocytes. Toxicological Sciences, 156(1), 54-71. https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfw234

High systemic levels of oestrogens are cholestatic and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC)—which is characterized by hepatic ductular inflammation—is thought to be triggered by exposure to xenobiotics such as those around landfill sites. Xenoestrogens... Read More about Environmental xenoestrogens super-activate a variant murine ER beta in cholangiocytes.

Evaluating an anaerobic digestion (AD) feedstock derived from a novel non-source segregated municipal solid waste (MSW) product (2016)
Journal Article
Blake, L., Halim, F., Gray, C., Mair, R., Manning, D., Sallis, P., …Gray, N. (2017). Evaluating an anaerobic digestion (AD) feedstock derived from a novel non-source segregated municipal solid waste (MSW) product. Waste Management, 59, 149-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.10.031

In many nations industrial scale AD of non-agricultural waste materials (such as MSW) has not yet reached its full potential, often constrained by the lack of secure, inexpensive, high quality AD feedstocks, and markets for the resulting digestate ma... Read More about Evaluating an anaerobic digestion (AD) feedstock derived from a novel non-source segregated municipal solid waste (MSW) product.

Response of Methanogens in Arctic Sediments to Temperature and Methanogenic Substrate Availability (2015)
Journal Article
Blake, L. I., Tveit, A., Øvreås, L., Head, I. M., & Gray, N. D. (2015). Response of Methanogens in Arctic Sediments to Temperature and Methanogenic Substrate Availability. PLoS ONE, 10(6), Article e0129733. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129733

Although cold environments are major contributors to global biogeochemical cycles, comparatively little is known about their microbial community function, structure, and limits of activity. In this study a microcosm based approach was used to investi... Read More about Response of Methanogens in Arctic Sediments to Temperature and Methanogenic Substrate Availability.