Q. Melina Bautista

Postdoctoral Researcher

[email protected]

(734) 615-5911

http://qmbautista.weebly.com/

Education and training

  • Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA, 2017-current.
  • PhD in Civil Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK, 2017.
  • MSc Water Resources Technology and Management (with Distinction), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 2009.
  • BSc Civil Engineering, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2006.

Research interests: drinking water quality, water engineering, opportunistic pathogens in drinking water systems, microbial ecology and ‘omics, interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approaches to solve environmental problems.

Research project: Optimizing Filter Operation in an Ozone-Biofiltration Plant to Reduce Selection for Opportunistic Pathogens in Drinking Water Production (Univ. of Michigan, City of Ann Arbor, Water Research Foundation).

 

Peer reviewed publications

4. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Schroeder, J., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Sungthong, R., Ijaz, U.Z., Sloan, W. T. and Pinto, A.J. (2016). Microbial communities in full-scale drinking water distribution systems – A meta-analysis. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 2, 631-644, doi: 10.1039/C6EW00030D.
3. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Blakemore, O., Schroeder, J., Moses, J., Haffey, M., Sloan, W. T. and Pinto, A.J. (2016). The impact of sampling, PCR, and sequencing replication on discerning changes in drinking water bacterial community over diurnal time-scales. Water Research, 90(1), 216-224, doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2015.12.010.
2. Pinto, A.J, Marcus, D. N., Ijaz, U.Z., Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Dick, G.J. and Raskin, L. (2015). Metagenomic Evidence for the Presence of Comammox Nitrospira-like bacteria in a Drinking Water System. mSphere, 1(1), e00054-15, doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00054-15.
1. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M. (2014). Determination of Environmental Flows in the Yuna River Basin, Dominican Republic. Tecnología y ciencias del agua, 5(3), 33-40.

 

Manuscripts in preparation

3. Ugarcina Perovic, S*., Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M*., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Sungthong, R., Ijaz, U.Z., Sloan, W. and Pinto, A.J. (2016). The impact of sample volume and sampling flowrate on the structure and membership of drinking water microbial communities (*Joint first authorship).
2. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Dai, Z., Calus, S., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C, Ijaz, U.Z., Sloan, W. and Pinto, A.J. Metagenomic assessment of the impact of source water type and treatment processes on drinking water microbial communities.
1. Sungthong, R., Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M. and Pinto, A.J. Exploiting predatory bacteria in drinking water innovations.

 

Conference presentations

12. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Schroeder, J., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Sungthong, R., Ijaz, U.Z., Sloan, W.T. and Pinto, A.J. A collective analyses of microbial communities in full‐scale drinking water distribution systems”. AEESP Conference (June 20-22, 2017), Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (oral presentation).
11. Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Knapp, C., Calus, S., Dai, Z., Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M.and Pinto, A.J. “Incidence of antimicrobial resistance genes in municipal drinking water samples from the United Kingdom”.  AEESP Conference (June 20-22, 2017), Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (oral presentation).
10. Dai, Z., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Calus, S., Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Ijaz, U.Z. and Pinto. A.J. “Elucidating the long-term impact of disinfection strategies on the drinking water microbiome”. UNC Water Microbiology conference (May 15-17, 2017), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA (oral presentation).
9. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Dai, Z., Calus, S., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Ijaz, U.Z., Sloan, W.T. and Pinto, A.J. “Metagenomic assessment of the impact of source water and treatment processes on drinking water microbial communities”. IWA Specialized Conference: MEWE and Biofilms (September 4-7, 2016), Copenhagen, Denmark (oral presentation).
8. Dai, Z., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Ijaz, U.Z. and Pinto. A.J. (2016). “Elucidating the long-term impact of disinfection strategies on the drinking water microbiome”. IWA Specialized Conference: MEWE and Biofilms (September 4-7, 2016), Copenhagen, Denmark (poster).
7. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Schroeder, J., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Sungthong, R., Ijaz, U.Z., Sloan, W.T. and Pinto, A.J. “Drinking water microbial communities across disinfection strategies.” Scottish Water-University of Glasgow Conference (March 10, 2016), Glasgow, Scotland (oral presentation).
6. Ugarcina Pervovic, S., Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C., Russell, J., and Pinto, A.J. “Estimating the impact of flow regime and sample volume on characterization of bacterial community diversity in a low biomass aquatic environment.” Biofilms7 Conference (June 26-28, 2016), Porto, Portugal (poster).
5. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Schroeder, J., Sloan, W.T., and Pinto, A.J. “Meta-analysis of microbial communities in Drinking Water distribution systems.” IWA Biofilms conference (August 23-26, 2015), Arosa, Switzerland (poster).
4. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Blakemore, O., Schroeder, J., Sloan, W.T., and Pinto A.J. “Diurnal variation of bacterial communities in drinking water systems over small spatial 
scales.” FEMS Congress (June 7-11, 2015), Maastricht, Netherlands (poster).
3. Ugarcina Pervovic, S., Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Sevillano-Rivera, M.C, Russell, J., and Pinto, A.J. “Determining the effect of sample volume and flow rates on investigations of bacterial community diversity in low biomass aquatic environments.” FEMS Congress (June 7-11, 2015)Maastricht, Netherlands (poster).
2. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Blakemore, O., Schroeder, J., Sloan, W.T., and Pinto A.J. “Diurnal variation of bacterial communities in drinking water systems over a small spatial
 scale.” XVth World Water Congress (May 25-29, 2015), Edinburgh, Scotland (poster).
1. Bautista-de los Santos, Q.M., Blakemore, O., Schroeder, J., Sloan, W.T. and Pinto, A.J. “Uncertainties associated with characterization of bulk water bacterial communities in drinking water systems.” Water quality and Technology Conference (November 16-20, 2014), New Orleans, USA (oral presentation).
​

 

Grants and awards    

  • William Wilson Scott Award (£1000), School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, 2013.
  • GU68 Award (£547.20), GU68 Engineers Trust, Scottish Charity Nº SC 035296, 2013.
  • James Watt scholarship, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK, 2012-2016.
  • Scottish Water studentship, Scottish Water, UK, 2012-2016.
  • FICU research grant (RD$312,534.86=US$8,211.64), Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2011-2012.
  • Studentship for industrial project (MSc dissertation), Severn Trent Water, UK, 2009.
  • Chevening Scholarship, Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the United Kingdom, 2008-2009.​