July 9, 2012 10:21 am
Synthetic Bacteria Could Turn Ocean Garbage into One Big Island
Photo: Plastic Republic
Entrepreneurial students from University College London are striving to create tropical paradises made from ocean garbage. The aim of the project is to collect tiny pieces of plastic trash floating in the ocean, then stick them all together to create islands of artificial habitat.
“After months of planning, we are now rallying to construct a ‘plastic island’ using the principles of synthetic biology. In so doing we hope to provide a solution to one of the world’s major environmental problems – the North Pacific Garbage Patch,” the students write.
The idea, basically, is to create bacteria that identify bits of plastic and either “aggregate” those bits by creating “sticky extensions of cell membrane” or degrade them, if they’re not prone to sticking together. Help the students crowd fund their project and earn yourself a place in future plastic island paradise.
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So thrilled and excitied to here about your project, I look forward to your updates and waiting in anticipation for news of plastic (is)land reality… very best wishes to the team.
Comment by Jane Gillan — July 13, 2012 @ 8:33 pm
I am an associate Prof, at Ben Gurion University in the dept. of biotechnology Engineering. My main field of research is biodegradation of plastic using newly isolated bacteria (includig few laccase producing strians. I read your the research summary and I find it very challenging and need to solve few basic preliminary question.
it fits well with my and I would be happy to collaborate with you
All the best
Alex
Comment by Alex Sivan — July 19, 2012 @ 5:46 am