Degree: Postdoctoral Fellow, Faculty of Science.   

Hometown: Wellington, New Zealand

Contact information: Craig.Milestone@ec.gc.ca

Photo: Craig working in his lab in Burlington

Education:  

• 1996 BSc., Chemistry, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
• 1999 MSc. (Hons), Chemistry, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
• 2007 PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada

Grants and Awards:

• NSERC Visiting Fellowship in a Government Laboratory postdoctoral fellowship (2007)

Job history:
My master’s thesis focused on recovering the filler used in paper making from deinking sludge (produced during the re-pulping of recycled paper) by using alkaline digestion and wet-air oxidation to digest the reject fibre and other organics.   My PhD focused on understanding how and why colour increases occur during the biological treatment of pulp and paper wastewater.  During all summers and vacations of my first two degrees, and on contract after each, I worked as a research assistant at Industrial Research Ltd (a Crown Research Institute), in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.  There I conducted research into large scale extraction (1 tonne) of wax from peat, creating conducting polymers to remove monovalent metals from water, and making molecularly imprinted polymers to remove cholesterol from meat tallow.

Research:
The effect of discharged pulp and paper wastewater on life in surrounding receiving waters is now well documented.  Considerable research in Canada leads the world in showing that fish exposed to this wastewater can lead to many reproductive and growth issues such as reduced gonad size, reduced egg production, delayed onset to maturation, changes to steroid levels and even masculinisation of female fish.  These effects are hypothesised to be caused through endocrine disrupting compounds in the effluent affecting the ability for fish to control steroid levels.

One of the major issues is that the causative compounds, and subsequently mechanisms within the fish, have remained elusive.  This is largely due to the complexity of the discharged wastewater that contains chemicals with a wide range of structure, polarity and molecular size.

My work is focused on determining the chemicals, or groups of chemicals, that are the cause of the documented endocrine disrupting effects.  We are currently using Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) to extract wastewater and produce fractions for testing using mummichog exposure experiments as well in-vitro tests.  These fractions are also analysed chemically using gas-chromatography mass-spectroscopy (GC-MS), liquid chromatography mass-spectroscopy (LC-MS).  We will also be utilising high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) to further fraction active fractions.

Supervisor(s)/Lab: Dr. Deborah MacLatchy

Start date of degree: September 2007

Publications:
Milestone, C.B., Stuthridge, T.R., and Fulthorpe, R.R., Role of High Molecular Mass Organics in Colour Formation during Biological Treatment of Pulp and Paper Wastewater, (2007), Water Science and Technology, 55:6, 191-198
Milestone, C.B., Fulthorpe, R.R., and Stuthridge, T.R., (2004), The Formation of Colour During Biological Treatment of Pulp and Paper Wastewater, Water Science and Technology, 50:3, 87-94

Presentations:
Milestone,C.B., MacLatchey,D., and Hewitt,L.M., (August 3-7, 2008), Determining Biologically Active Compounds in Kraft Mill Condensates, 5th SETAC World Congress, Sydney, Australia
Milestone,C.B., Trudeau, V., MacLatchey, D., and Hewitt,L.M., (30 Sept-3 Oct 2007) Determining Biologically Active Compounds in Kraft Mill Condensates, 34th Annual Aquatic Toxicity Workshop, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada