Team:FDR-HB Peru/Description
Project
Inspiration
Our true inspiration comes from a visit to a fishmeal factory. Why did we go to a fishmeal factory? Because we had learned that the fishing industry is plagued by heavy metal contamination due to the mining industry in Peru, particularly illegal gold mining in the Amazon. Thus, we decided to go learn firsthand what challenges that the industry faced. Last year we visited a major fishing company, TASA to talk to them about environmental issues they deal with. After our initial visit, we began working on detecting heavy metals, specifically Mercury, in fishmeal.
Our inspiration for this year’s project came from a follow-up visit with them to report on our results from the 2018 season. After consulting with the scientists at TASA, and surprising them with our results from last year, we were told that Cadmium detection had more priority than Mercury. This meeting guided our project to switch to cadmium detection. Since they required a detector that would not only signify the presence of cadmium but would also detect the concentration of cadmium, we decided to pursue a bioassay model.
Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that is present in our soil, in our water, in the air, in our food and in our bodies. It is released into the environment by mining and other human activities. It goes into rivers and is taken up by plants, going through a process of bioaccumulation until it reaches us… humans. Intoxication with this metal can lead to kidney, liver and lung damage. Peruvian soil has naturally high concentrations of cadmium, which affects all of our local products, but most importantly chocolate and seafood, more specifically, fishmeal (Böning, 2004). The issue with these is that many exceed the limit established by the European Union and therefore reduces our competitiveness in addition to putting our health at risk.
Synbio Description
Our project centers on detecting the concentration of cadmium in fresh anchovies on fishing boats, before the production of fishmeal. For this project, we are using the DH5-alpha strain of E.coli bacteria. The bacteria contains a plasmid that has a CadA (BBa_K1724000) promoter with a Red Fluorescence Protein (RFP: Part:BBa_I13521) gene, downstream of a MerR (BBa_K1724002) regulator induced by a constitutive promoter. The MerR represses the CadA promoter, inhibiting the expression of RFP. However, in the presence of cadmium, the MerR is released and the RFP is expressed. We paired this part with a portable bioassay.
Hardware Description
Here at hardware, we design the equipment for our project to succeed. We are working on a bioassay that will incubate the bacteria and allow for the detection of cadmium in fish products, more specifically fishmeal and fish mush. The bioassay is handheld for maximum mobility and efficiency, two important factors for field equipment. In short, we are designing a sensor for cadmium.
The bioassay includes a motor and a heater, which will both be fed by an internal battery. The motor will shake a part of the container, and the heater will heat it to 37 degrees Celsius. This ensures an optimal breeding environment for the bacteria to detect the contaminant.