Paige Allard
Saving the Sea One Engineered Microbe at a Time
Mentor: Dr. Marina Tourlakis
| How can genetic engineering improve environmental remediation initiatives? Plastic pollution has become highly abundant throughout the ocean due to its limited degradation and poses a significant threat to life on Earth. The discovery of a bacteria that is able to feed on plastic has opened the door to remediation of this harmful pollutant. I conducted an analysis of a genetically engineered variant of the bacteria’s plastic degrading enzymes for its potential as a solution to plastic pollution. The result, in theory, is a genetically engineered organism that can produce these enzymes in the ocean and degrades plastics. |
