Creating a Plastic Island of Floating Trash

Jul-16-12 A group of students is working to develop a bacterium that could gather tiny floating plastics into large clumps for easier removal.

The students, from University College London, are hoping to create synthetic bacteria customized with an assortment of genetic modules. The bacteria will be able to detect the tiny plastic particles and gather them with a sticky binding substance, causing them all to clump together into a large floating island that can be easily removed. The synthesized bacteria will also carry a module that prevents horizontal gene transfer, thereby preventing the spread of the cells' genes into the environment.

The team's project is an entry for iGEM, and they are working to raise funding for their idea at the British version of Kickstarter, Sponume.com.

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