Dr. Kate Kepa
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Ukraine's future is focus of Munich Security Conference
So we did a search into the literature and found these two enzymes from bacteria, E. coli bacteria. And one of them, it cleaves off the methyl group off of that methylmercury compound. And then there's another enzyme that comes in and changes that charge of that mercury atom. So that mercury atom in the uncharged state has some really interesting chemistry in that it's highly volatile.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine's future is focus of Munich Security Conference
And so it's able to evaporate out of cells and out of the animal.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine's future is focus of Munich Security Conference
I guess like for bioremediation, like using animals, like biological agents to clean up pollution for animals. There's really robust genetic biocontainment strategies. So for example, you can surgically sterilize fish to prevent them from interbreeding in the wild. And then for insects, we have some robust biocontainment strategies to make sure that they're not interbreeding in the wild.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine's future is focus of Munich Security Conference
So some applications for this could be for species conservation, as well as to clean up areas that might have high levels of mercury. And then another application that we're really excited about is that you could engineer insects that industrially process organic waste. So the insects, they can process organic waste that are commonly contaminated by mercury.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine's future is focus of Munich Security Conference
And then in the enclosed facilities, the gaseous mercury can be trapped and then completely removed from the biosphere.