Bioremediation

Toxic chemicals and heavy metals in the environment are major contributors to human disease and pollution worldwide. Some of these molecules are naturally occurring, while others are synthetic. Chemical toxins include coal- and petroleum-based hydrocarbons, explosives, and other industrial waste products. Heavy metals, such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and lead, are found in nature and can accumulate to dangerous levels in soil and water either naturally or as a result of industrial, mining, and agricultural activities. In the United States, there are nearly 300,000 waste sites with an estimated $250 billion price tag for the clean-up of chemical and heavy metal toxins from the environment (www.cluin.org).

Bioremediation is the use of plants and microorganisms to either degrade or remove these contaminants from soil and water. Many plants and microbes are naturally capable of metabolizing toxins to inert molecules or possess molecular systems for sequestering these compounds. Because bioremediation harnesses the power of nature to deal with toxins, this technology offers a low-impact, cost-effective, and safe tool for environmental clean-up. Bioremediation research at the Danforth Center aims to understand how plants detoxify toxins and to develop plants as tools for the safe extraction of toxic compounds from soils.

Labs conducting research in this area include:

Ivan Baxter Lab
Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Facility