Biography
Dr Eulyn Pagaling was awarded her PhD in Environmental Microbiology in 2008 from the University of Leicester, where she investigated the microbial ecology of salt lakes and hot spring microbial mats in China, including the discovery of novel viruses that infect Halorubrum kocurii. She undertook a postdoctoral position at the University of Edinburgh, where she used the Winogradsky column as a model system to investigate factors affecting microbial community assembly and microbial community composition. She then moved to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, taking up a position in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where she was involved in various projects on microbial ecology in natural and engineered environments such as anaerobic digesters, microbial fuel cells and municipal sewage systems. She received her appointment at the James Hutton Institute in 2015.
Research
Chair of the Specialist Advisory Group on Persistent Organic Pollutants (SEFARI), 2024-present.
Co-PI on JHI-B6-1 (RESAS): ‘Flows of antimicrobial resistance and pathogens through the environment to the food chain’ 2022-2027. I co-lead this project, which aims to quantify the flow of antimicrobial resistance genes and pathogens from the environment to the food chain and directly to humans in the farm environment. This will be integrated with social science work to understand the perceptions farmers have of the link between antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be used to develop a risk assessment model based on the source-pathway-receptor principle.
Hutton PI on MRI-A2-2 (RESAS): ‘Role of transmission and pathogen components in virulence and disease pathogenesis for important endemic diseases of livestock in Scotland’ 2022-2027. I am Hutton lead on a project investigating the environmental prevalence of Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (Map) (the causative agent for Johne’s Disease in livestock). The project will investigate the drivers of Map transmission, transmission routes from the environment to healthy livestock and the effectiveness of control programs to mitigate the spread of Johne’s Disease.
WP lead on JHI-D2-1 (RESAS): ‘Emerging water futures’ 2022-2027. I lead the work package on increasing the resilience and quality of private drinking water supplies. This project will combine qualitative social sciences methods with risk mapping, feasibility assessments and somatic coliphage test development to build an interdisciplinary understanding of the risks, impacts and responses that arise from growing uncertainty and variability in rural drinking water supplies.
Co-I on ‘MOT4Rivers’ (NERC), 2022-2026. I am the Hutton lead on the eDNA approaches to measuring water quality. £2m water quality project to protect river ecosystems | About | University of Stirling
Co-I on ‘BEYOND the current: Improving European flowing waters in an era of global change’ (EU), 2024-2028.
PI on ‘Testing eDNA metabarcoding as a technique for Tracking sediment condition’ (Natural England), 2024-2025.
PI on ‘A framework for assessing confidence in metabarcoding assays and results’ (Natural England), 2024-2025.
PhD studentship (BBSRC EASTBIO): ‘Effect of nematode and Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infections on the ovine intestinal microbiome.’ Primary supervisor, collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and Moredun Research Institute, 2021-2025.
PhD studentship (Darwin Trust): ‘Evaluation of the effect of antibiotic exposure on development, acquisition and transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in soil microcosms: an attempt to define causality.’ Co-supervisor, collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, 2020-2024.
PhD studentship (Hydro Nation): ‘Engineering microbial communities to remove pharmaceutical waste from wastewater and waterways.’ Co-supervisor, collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, 2019-2024.
Past research
PI on Natural England project ‘Review of biases in metabarcoding primers for DNA analysis’ 2023-2024.
PI on Natural England project ‘Testing the validity of using eDNA for carbon origin analysis from sediment cores’ 2023-2024.
Co-I on CREW project ‘Emerging contaminants: Informing Scotland’s strategic monitoring and policy approaches on substances of increasing concern’ 2023-2024
DEFRA: ‘Environmental exposures to human pathogens’ 2022-2023.
Studentships
BBSRC EASTBIO: Resolving the conflict between demands on organic wastes in rural Ethiopia: optimum solutions for food, energy and water security, 2016-2021. (Co-supervisor, collaboration with the University of Aberdeen. This project involved investigating AMR gene removal from organic wastes using anaerobic digesters).
PhD studentship (MRC DTP in Precision Medicine): ‘Antimicrobial resistance gene persistence in wastewater treatment systems, the natural environment and patient samples.’ Co-supervisor, collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, 2018-2023.
PhD studentship (Macaulay Development Trust): ‘Determining the spatial and temporal distribution of macro- and micro-plastics in soil and their impact on soil function.’ Primary supervisor, collaboration with Robert Gordon University, 2019-2024.
Publications
The following Publications have not yet been migrated to the James Hutton Institute's Pure service and relate to the research outputs from the two legacy organisations: The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and The Scottish Crop Research Institute.
Journals
Prior to appointment
- Grant, W.D.; Pagaling, E.; Márquez, M.C.; Gutiérrez, M.C.; Cowan, D.A.; Ma, Y.; Jones, B.E.; Ventosa, A.; Heaphy S. (2011) The hypersaline lakes of Inner Mongolia – The MGAtech Project., In: Ventosa, A., Oren, A. & Ma, Y. Halophiles and Hypersaline Environments: Current Research and Future Trends. Springer, Heildelberg, pp65-107.
- Tota-Maharaj, K.; Scholz, M.; Ahmed, T.; French C.; Pagaling, E. (2010) The synergy of permeable pavements and geothermal heat pumps for stormwater treatment reuse., Environmental Technology, 31, 1517-1531.
- Pagaling, E.; Wang, H.; Venables, M.; Wallace, A.; Grant, W.D.; Cowan, D.A.; Jones, B.E.; Ma, Y.; Ventosa, A.; Heaphy, S. (2009) Microbial biogeography of six salt lakes in Inner Mongolia, China and a salt lake in Argentina., Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 75, 5750-5760
- Fedorovich, V.; Knighton, M.C.; Pagaling, E.; Ward, F.B.; Free A.; Goryanin, I. (2009) Novel electrochemically active bacterium phylogenetically related to Arcobacter butzleri, isolated from a microbial fuel cell., Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 75, 7326-7334.
- Gutiérrez, M.C.; Castillo, A.M.; Pagaling, E.; Heaphy, S.; Kamekura, M.; Xue, Y.; Ma, Y.; Cowan, D.A.; Jones, B E.; Grant W.D.; Ventosa, A. (2008) Halorubrum kocurii sp. nov., an Archaeon isolated from a saline lake., International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 58, 2031-2035
- Pagaling, E.; Haigh, R.D.; Grant, W.D.; Cowan, D.A.; Jones, B.E.; Ma, Y.; Ventosa, A.; Heaphy, S. (2007) Sequence analysis of an Archaeal virus isolated from a hypersaline lake in Inner Mongolia, China., BMC Genomics, 8, Article No. 410.
