Description of Activity
Historical contamination of hydrocarbons from coal and coke work in the North of England created challenge for the bacterial survival in soil, ultimately developing biochemical pathways to neutralise the toxic materials by certain group of bacteria. Pseudomonas teessidea is a type of good bacteria which was isolated from Northeast. It has a mechanism to survive by producing a protective secretion called biosurfactant. It also has a GPS tool called ‘Quorum Sensing’. It uses this to tackle toxic compounds in its environment – it alerts its community by sending specific signal molecule that triggers the production of biosurfactants. These biosurfactants detoxify or reduce the toxic compounds entering the cell. Even though these molecules are produced for its survival – the recent technologies have the capacity to understand the biochemical pathways and scale-up the biomolecule at an industrial scale. In the North of England, we have historical pollution issues. The bacteria that survived this environmental challenge are potent to become biochemical production horses for the future. Research continues in biobased plastics, hydrocarbons, polymers, biofuels, etc. There is a great potential for the Northern bacteria.| Period | 20 Jun 2018 |
|---|---|
| Event title | RSA Engage |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Newcastle, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | National |