BioFoundry, a research group led by Dr. Vikramaditya Yadav at University of British Columbia and Metabolik Technologies, Inc., a start-up company funded by Evok Innovations, have partnered to develop a potential technology platform that could detoxify oil sands process water (OSPW) in an energy efficient and economical manner.
“We’ve gained an excellent understanding of how the local microbial population responds to pollution in the Athabasca tailings ponds,” says Dr. Yadav. “We have conceived of a benign method for remediation using state-of-the-art tools and methodologies to harness the right microbial chemistries that can easily scale, consume minimal amounts of energy and can be adapted to other sites.”
Using synthetic biology tools and omics platforms, the research team will look to develop a cold-adapted bacteria (strain of e coli) that can tolerate northern climates while rapidly degrading naphthenic acids (NAs). A genetic circuit in the engineered strain will aim to speed biodegradation activity, while providing a built-in ‘kill switch’ to prevent dispersion of the bacterial population in the environment, since the bacteria will be dependent on NAs for survival. This objective will achieve efficient bio-containment and allow safe release of treated OSPW into rivers without harmful environmental consequences.
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