A High-throughput Analytical Workflow for Identification and Quantification of Cyanobacterial Toxins in Environmental Water Samples.
Freshwater resources have been increasingly threatened by harmful algal blooms (HABs). This project seeks to develop a new high-throughput analytical workflow to assess the occurrence patterns of saxitoxins, a group of cyanobacterial toxins produced by HA.

Field research will be conducted at Skaneateles Lake to investigate the causes and occurrence of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and the associated release of cyanotoxins. Integrated field and laboratory studies will also be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of technologies to treat drinking waters contaminated with cyanotoxins.

Freshwater harmful algal blooms represent one of the greatest water quality threats in New York. This project will evaluate the tradeoff between algal toxin removal and nitrosamine byproduct formation during drinking water treatment.

Professor Zeng is studying the source and behavior of nitrosamines, a group of suspected human carcinogens, in urban watersheds. The project will compare the removal of nitrosamines in wastewater treatment plants with different configurations and identify nitrosamine precursor materials within wastewater using high-resolution mass spectrometry. Results from this work will help water utilities understand the fate of nitrosamines and precursors driving their formation in order to meet potential future regulations source and behavior. Specifically, the project will delineate the occurrence and removal of nitrosamines during wastewater treatment, identify major nitrosamine precursor pools within wastewater, and evaluate the impact of water chemistry and pre-treatment techniques on nitrosamine formation during drinking water treatment.