Team:Mines
Project Description
Heavy metal contamination at current and former mining sites is a significant environmental and human health problem. Cadmium (Cd) is one of the commonly found metal contaminants, and due to the highly toxic nature, even minute amounts can cause:
To combat this, we are developing a rapid and efficient cadmium sensing and binding system that is capable of detecting cadmium down to 10 μM concentrations
HOW IT WORKS
When exposed to a minimum concentration of Cd, the E.coli cells express the green fluorescent protein (GFP). After Cd is detected, a metallothionein protein binds to it and sequesters it in the periplasmic space of the E. coli cell. The engineered system can be used for remediation efforts to remove Cd from the environment and process it safely.
Our iGEM Team
