Dr Stephanie Connelly

  • Lecturer (Infrastructure & Environment)

telephone: +44 (0)141 330 4791
email: Stephanie.Connelly@glasgow.ac.uk

Room 516, Rankine Building, Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8LT

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5261-2090

Biography

I graduated from the Environmental Art department at Glasgow School of Art in 2001 (BA Hons) and worked as sculptor for five years before returning to academia to retrain as a Civil Engineer (Meng 1st class, 2011, UofG).   I embarked on a career in research motivated by the potential for engineers to contribute to address of the global water and sanitation crises.  My PhD (UofG, 2016) on the ‘Ecology, physiology and performance in high-rate anaerobic digestion’ employed molecular and biochemical analytical methods to investigate the influence of bioreactor geometry and system scale on microbial community composition and function, and, proposed the application of limit-state testing to biotechnologies.  As a PDRA on the Frontier Engineering grant at UofG I led on the development of the novel robotics platform ‘Wastebot’ which enables systematic, high-throughput optimisation of microbial community metabolism.  Subsequently I was awarded an EPSRC Doctoral Research Fellowship coupling limit-state testing with automated high-throughput experimentation to rationalise the design of complex microbial communities for water treatment biotechnologies.  I currently lecture in Environmental Engineering at and lead my research team within the Water and Environment Research Group at UofG.

Research interests

 My work is fundamentally motivated by the global water and sanitation crises. It is estimated that today as many as 1.2 billion people live without access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion without access to safe sanitation.  Whilst the solution to these crises is in no doubt political in part, I believe that sustainable engineering solutions have a role to play in delivering global public and environmental health protection and in achieving safe, sustainable water for all.

  • Vision: Engineered low-cost, decentralized, sustainable biological water treatment and sanitation solutions that are resilient to the challenges of climate change and enhance the quality of living of urban and rural communities globally. 
  • Approach: Theory-informed design of engineered biotechnologies using high-throughput limit-state optimisation and failure testing enabled by state-of-the-art automated approaches.
  • Methodological expertise: molecular ecology, microbiology, computational ‘omics approaches, aerobic and anaerobic microcosm experiments, laboratory automation.

 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016
Number of items: 23.

2023

Okonkwo, V., Cholet, F., Ijaz, U. Z. , Koottatep, T., Pussayanavin, T., Polpraset, C., Sloan, W. T. , Connelly, S. and Smith, C. J. (2023) intI1 gene abundance from septic tanks in Thailand using validated intI1 primers. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 89(11), e01071-23. (doi: 10.1128/aem.01071-23) (PMID:37874304) (PMCID:PMC10686061)

Vignola, M. , Lenselink, J., Quinn, D., Ijaz, U. Z. , Pereira, R., Sloan, W. T. , Connelly, S. , Moore, G., Gauchotte-Lindsay, C. and Smith, C. J. (2023) Differential utilisation of dissolved organic matter compound fractions by different biofilter microbial communities. AQUA: Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society, 72(10), pp. 1837-1851. (doi: 10.2166/aqua.2023.036)

Li, W. et al. (2023) A review of high-solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD): from transport phenomena to process design. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 180, 113305. (doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.113305)

2022

Kazlauskaite, R. et al. (2022) Deploying an in vitro gut model to assay the impact of the mannan-oligosaccharide prebiotic bio-mos on the Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) gut microbiome. Microbiology Spectrum, 10(3), e0195321. (doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01953-21) (PMID:35532227) (PMCID:PMC9241627)

Tsagkari, E. , Connelly, S. , Liu, Z. , McBride, A. and Sloan, W. T. (2022) The Role of Shear Dynamics in Biofilm Formation. Biofilms and BioActive Fluids 2022, 6-8 June 2022, Liverpool, UK.

Tsagkari, E. , Connelly, S. , Liu, Z. , McBride, A. and Sloan, W. T. (2022) The role of shear dynamics in biofilm formation. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 8, 33. (doi: 10.1038/s41522-022-00300-4) (PMID:35487949) (PMCID:PMC9055050)

Ogundero, A., Vignola, M. , Connelly, S. and Sloan, W. T. (2022) Validating flow cytometry as a method for quantifying Bdellovibrio predatory bacteria and Its prey for microbial ecology. Microbiology Spectrum, 10(1), e01033-21. (doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01033-21) (PMID:35196816) (PMCID:PMC8865432)

2021

Richards, S., Rao, L., Connelly, S. , Raj, A., Raveendran, L., Shirin, S., Jamwal, P. and Helliwell, R. (2021) Sustainable water resources through harvesting rainwater and the effectiveness of a low-cost water treatment. Journal of Environmental Management, 286, 112223. (doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112223) (PMID:33684801)

Sloan, W. T. , Nnaji, C. F., Lunn, M., Curtis, T. P., Colloms, S. D., Couto, J. M., Pinto, A. J., Connelly, S. and Rosser, S. J. (2021) Drift dynamics in microbial communities and the effective community size. Environmental Microbiology, 23(5), pp. 2473-2483. (doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.15453) (PMID:33684262)

Jamwal, P., Raj, A. V., Raveendran, L., Shirin, S., Connelly, S. , Yeluripati, J., Richards, S., Rao, L., Helliwell, R. and Tamburini, M. (2021) Evaluating the performance of horizontal sub-surface flow constructed wetlands: a case study from southern India. Ecological Engineering, 162, 106170. (doi: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2021.106170)

Champion, T. S., Connelly, S. , Smith, C. J. and Lamberton, P. H.L. (2021) Monitoring schistosomiasis and sanitation interventions—the potential of environmental DNA. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 8(1), e1491. (doi: 10.1002/wat2.1491)

Kazlauskaite, R. et al. (2021) SalmoSim: the development of a three-compartment in vitro simulator of the Atlantic Salmon GI tract and associated microbial communities. Microbiome, 9, 179. (doi: 10.1186/s40168-021-01134-6) (PMID:34465363) (PMCID:PMC8408954)

Raj, A. V. et al. (2021) A novel approach to baseline water quality assessment at local and catchment scale: a case study from Berambadi, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 193(12), 837. (doi: 10.1007/s10661-021-09617-7) (PMID:34811602)

2020

Koottatep, T., Connelly, S. , Pussayanavin, T., Khamyai, S., Sangchun, W., Sloan, W. and Polprasert, C. (2020) ‘Solar septic tank’: evaluation of innovative decentralized treatment of blackwater in developing countries. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 10(4), pp. 828-840. (doi: 10.2166/washdev.2020.168)

Subramanian, P.S. G., Raj, A. V., Jamwal, P., Connelly, S. , Yeluripati, J., Richards, S., Ellis, R. and Rao, L. (2020) Decentralized treatment and recycling of greywater from a school in rural India. Journal of Water Process Engineering, 38, 101695. (doi: 10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101695)

Trego, A. C. et al. (2020) Growth and break-up of methanogenic granules suggests mechanisms for biofilm and community development. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, 1126. (doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01126) (PMID:32582085) (PMCID:PMC7285868)

2019

Connelly, S. , Pussayanavin, T., Randle-Boggis, R., Wicheansan, A., Jampathong, S., Keating, C. , Ijaz, U. Z. , Sloan, W. and Koottatep, T. (2019) Solar Septic Tank: next generation sequencing reveals effluent microbial community composition as a useful index of system performance. Water, 11(12), 2660. (doi: 10.3390/w11122660)

Tsagkari, E. , Connelly, S. , Liu, Z. , McBride, A. and Sloan, W. T. (2019) A Novel Rapid Prototyping Tool for Suspended Biofilm Growth Media. 6th European Congress on Biofilms (Eurobiofilms 2019), Glasgow, UK, 03-06 Sep 2019.

Tsagkari, E. , Connelly, S. , Liu, Z. , McBride, A. and Sloan, W.T. (2019) How the Design of Filter Media Affects Hydrodynamics and Biofilms in Drinking Water. 8th Congress of European Microbiologists, Glasgow, UK, 07-11 Jul 2019.

Trego, A. C. et al. (2019) De novo growth of methanogenic granules indicates a biofilm life-cycle with complex ecology. bioRxiv, (doi: 10.1101/667386) (Submitted)

2018

Trego, A. C., Morabito, C., Mills, S., Connelly, S. , Bourven, I., Guibaud, G., Quince, C., Ijaz, U. Z. and Collins, G. (2018) Diversity converges during community assembly in methanogenic granules, suggesting a biofilm life-cycle. bioRxiv, (doi: 10.1101/484642) (Submitted)

2017

Connelly, S. , Shin, S. G., Dillon, R. J., Ijaz, U. Z. , Quince, C., Sloan, W. T. and Collins, G. (2017) Bioreactor scalability: laboratory-scale bioreactor design influences performance, ecology, and community physiology in expanded granular sludge bed bioreactors. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8, 664. (doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00664) (PMID:28507535) (PMCID:PMC5410579)

2016

Quince, C., Connelly, S. , Raguideau, S., Alneberg, J., Shin, S. G., Collins, G. and Eren, A. M. (2016) De novo extraction of microbial strains from metagenomes reveals intra-species niche partitioning. bioRxiv, (doi: 10.1101/073825) (Submitted)

This list was generated on Tue Oct 8 16:37:59 2024 BST.
Number of items: 23.

Articles

Okonkwo, V., Cholet, F., Ijaz, U. Z. , Koottatep, T., Pussayanavin, T., Polpraset, C., Sloan, W. T. , Connelly, S. and Smith, C. J. (2023) intI1 gene abundance from septic tanks in Thailand using validated intI1 primers. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 89(11), e01071-23. (doi: 10.1128/aem.01071-23) (PMID:37874304) (PMCID:PMC10686061)

Vignola, M. , Lenselink, J., Quinn, D., Ijaz, U. Z. , Pereira, R., Sloan, W. T. , Connelly, S. , Moore, G., Gauchotte-Lindsay, C. and Smith, C. J. (2023) Differential utilisation of dissolved organic matter compound fractions by different biofilter microbial communities. AQUA: Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society, 72(10), pp. 1837-1851. (doi: 10.2166/aqua.2023.036)

Li, W. et al. (2023) A review of high-solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD): from transport phenomena to process design. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 180, 113305. (doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.113305)

Kazlauskaite, R. et al. (2022) Deploying an in vitro gut model to assay the impact of the mannan-oligosaccharide prebiotic bio-mos on the Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) gut microbiome. Microbiology Spectrum, 10(3), e0195321. (doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01953-21) (PMID:35532227) (PMCID:PMC9241627)

Tsagkari, E. , Connelly, S. , Liu, Z. , McBride, A. and Sloan, W. T. (2022) The role of shear dynamics in biofilm formation. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 8, 33. (doi: 10.1038/s41522-022-00300-4) (PMID:35487949) (PMCID:PMC9055050)

Ogundero, A., Vignola, M. , Connelly, S. and Sloan, W. T. (2022) Validating flow cytometry as a method for quantifying Bdellovibrio predatory bacteria and Its prey for microbial ecology. Microbiology Spectrum, 10(1), e01033-21. (doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01033-21) (PMID:35196816) (PMCID:PMC8865432)

Richards, S., Rao, L., Connelly, S. , Raj, A., Raveendran, L., Shirin, S., Jamwal, P. and Helliwell, R. (2021) Sustainable water resources through harvesting rainwater and the effectiveness of a low-cost water treatment. Journal of Environmental Management, 286, 112223. (doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112223) (PMID:33684801)

Sloan, W. T. , Nnaji, C. F., Lunn, M., Curtis, T. P., Colloms, S. D., Couto, J. M., Pinto, A. J., Connelly, S. and Rosser, S. J. (2021) Drift dynamics in microbial communities and the effective community size. Environmental Microbiology, 23(5), pp. 2473-2483. (doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.15453) (PMID:33684262)

Jamwal, P., Raj, A. V., Raveendran, L., Shirin, S., Connelly, S. , Yeluripati, J., Richards, S., Rao, L., Helliwell, R. and Tamburini, M. (2021) Evaluating the performance of horizontal sub-surface flow constructed wetlands: a case study from southern India. Ecological Engineering, 162, 106170. (doi: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2021.106170)

Champion, T. S., Connelly, S. , Smith, C. J. and Lamberton, P. H.L. (2021) Monitoring schistosomiasis and sanitation interventions—the potential of environmental DNA. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 8(1), e1491. (doi: 10.1002/wat2.1491)

Kazlauskaite, R. et al. (2021) SalmoSim: the development of a three-compartment in vitro simulator of the Atlantic Salmon GI tract and associated microbial communities. Microbiome, 9, 179. (doi: 10.1186/s40168-021-01134-6) (PMID:34465363) (PMCID:PMC8408954)

Raj, A. V. et al. (2021) A novel approach to baseline water quality assessment at local and catchment scale: a case study from Berambadi, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 193(12), 837. (doi: 10.1007/s10661-021-09617-7) (PMID:34811602)

Koottatep, T., Connelly, S. , Pussayanavin, T., Khamyai, S., Sangchun, W., Sloan, W. and Polprasert, C. (2020) ‘Solar septic tank’: evaluation of innovative decentralized treatment of blackwater in developing countries. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 10(4), pp. 828-840. (doi: 10.2166/washdev.2020.168)

Subramanian, P.S. G., Raj, A. V., Jamwal, P., Connelly, S. , Yeluripati, J., Richards, S., Ellis, R. and Rao, L. (2020) Decentralized treatment and recycling of greywater from a school in rural India. Journal of Water Process Engineering, 38, 101695. (doi: 10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101695)

Trego, A. C. et al. (2020) Growth and break-up of methanogenic granules suggests mechanisms for biofilm and community development. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, 1126. (doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01126) (PMID:32582085) (PMCID:PMC7285868)

Connelly, S. , Pussayanavin, T., Randle-Boggis, R., Wicheansan, A., Jampathong, S., Keating, C. , Ijaz, U. Z. , Sloan, W. and Koottatep, T. (2019) Solar Septic Tank: next generation sequencing reveals effluent microbial community composition as a useful index of system performance. Water, 11(12), 2660. (doi: 10.3390/w11122660)

Trego, A. C. et al. (2019) De novo growth of methanogenic granules indicates a biofilm life-cycle with complex ecology. bioRxiv, (doi: 10.1101/667386) (Submitted)

Trego, A. C., Morabito, C., Mills, S., Connelly, S. , Bourven, I., Guibaud, G., Quince, C., Ijaz, U. Z. and Collins, G. (2018) Diversity converges during community assembly in methanogenic granules, suggesting a biofilm life-cycle. bioRxiv, (doi: 10.1101/484642) (Submitted)

Connelly, S. , Shin, S. G., Dillon, R. J., Ijaz, U. Z. , Quince, C., Sloan, W. T. and Collins, G. (2017) Bioreactor scalability: laboratory-scale bioreactor design influences performance, ecology, and community physiology in expanded granular sludge bed bioreactors. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8, 664. (doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00664) (PMID:28507535) (PMCID:PMC5410579)

Quince, C., Connelly, S. , Raguideau, S., Alneberg, J., Shin, S. G., Collins, G. and Eren, A. M. (2016) De novo extraction of microbial strains from metagenomes reveals intra-species niche partitioning. bioRxiv, (doi: 10.1101/073825) (Submitted)

Conference or Workshop Item

Tsagkari, E. , Connelly, S. , Liu, Z. , McBride, A. and Sloan, W. T. (2022) The Role of Shear Dynamics in Biofilm Formation. Biofilms and BioActive Fluids 2022, 6-8 June 2022, Liverpool, UK.

Tsagkari, E. , Connelly, S. , Liu, Z. , McBride, A. and Sloan, W. T. (2019) A Novel Rapid Prototyping Tool for Suspended Biofilm Growth Media. 6th European Congress on Biofilms (Eurobiofilms 2019), Glasgow, UK, 03-06 Sep 2019.

Tsagkari, E. , Connelly, S. , Liu, Z. , McBride, A. and Sloan, W.T. (2019) How the Design of Filter Media Affects Hydrodynamics and Biofilms in Drinking Water. 8th Congress of European Microbiologists, Glasgow, UK, 07-11 Jul 2019.

This list was generated on Tue Oct 8 16:37:59 2024 BST.

Grants

Current Grants

  • Rational Biological Design and Transdisciplinary Evaluation of Constructed Wetlands (2019-22), Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers Follow-On Grant, Co-I (£300k, 50% ownership)
  • Optimising constructed wetlands by biological design (2019-20) Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Seed Fund , PI (£30k)
  • Understanding and improving human urine treatment processes (2019-20), The Royal Society Future Leaders Africa (FLAIR) Collaboration Initiation Grant, PI with Dr Dyllon Randall, UCT (£4k)
  • Optimising decentralised, low-cost wastewater infrastructure by managing the microbes (2017-20), EPSRC-GCRF, Co-I (£1.2M, 30% ownership)

 

Completed Grants

  • Decentralised wastewater treatment: global innovation for sustainable rural communities (2017-20), Scottish Government Grant to James Hutton Institute, PI at UofG (£60k)
  • State of the art methods for detection and interrogation of spread of AMR in environmental microbial communities (2019), Daiwa Foundation, PI (£3k)
  • In-silico optimisation of biofilms-surface interactions for developing world water treatment (2017-18), EPSRC-ISF University of Glasgow, PI (£10.5k)
  • Mapping the environmental distribution of Schistosoma mansoni from faeces to water in rural sub-Saharan Africa (2017-18), EPSRC-ISF University of Glasgow, PI (£10.5k)
  • Automated optimization of developing world wastewater treatment using the Wastebot (2016-17), EPSRC-ISF University of Glasgow, PI (£25k)
  • Engineering decentralised biological water treatment systems by the limit state approach (2016-18), EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship, PI (£60k)

 

Supervision

Primary Supervisor

  • Linghui Shi, PhD Candidate, Donor funded studentship (2018-22)
  • Steve Joyce, PhD Candidate, Funded by Scottish Water (2018-22)
  • Melissa Moore, PhD Candidate, University of Glasgow PhD studentship (2017-21)

 

Second Supervisor

  • Valentine Okonkwo, PhD Candidate, Donor funded studentship (2018-22)
  • Ayo Ogundero, PhD Candidate, IBioIC funded studentship (2017-21)
  • Shi, Linghui
    Microbial communities and off-grid wastewater treatment

Teaching

ENG2078: Environmental Processes 2

ENG5293: Water and Environment Design 5 (Course Coordinator)