St. Louis, Michigan, a town neighboring Alma, still suffers from environmental problems from the 1960s – contamination of DDT in the Pine River's ecosystem. DDT is one of many examples of how synthetic chemicals harm an ecosystem and threaten human health. The endocrine-disrupting and suspected carcinogenic effects of DDT seen in some species suggests a mechanism for adverse effects on organisms. Despite recognition of these threats decades ago, the problem persists.
Alma iGEM is a team of about 30 members who are passionate about what we do. We as students have taken the initiative to help our local community and the current soil contamination crisis involving DDT. We have approached this by means of designing and assembling a DNA circuit that in fact could be integrated into a device and be cost and time effective. Our project is currently in its third year of development, and our time, research, and passion is just as strong as year one. We intend on following this project until our circuit can be used outside a laboratory in order to fulfill our ultimate goal of aiding our community locally and globally. Meet the team!
Our Mission
Alma College iGEM has invested their efforts into researching and engineering a testing solution for our Red Fluorescent Protein detection device. As a student-led research team, we have spent this year adding to our project and finding solutions that can better equip our students in the lab. We have investigated a cell-free protein synthesis protocol and have better engineered our plasmid with a kill switch to guarantee environmental safety should our product spill into the ecosystem. With our efforts focused on the Pine River and those in Alma, we have projected our causes and promoted our project to local schools, libraries, and the outside community with the help of our published book and STEM kit. As we continue our research, we will have a cost-friendly product to sell to the market, which will aid the community of Alma and those involved with the toxic effects of DDT pollution. Learn more...
The DDT FAQ
Q: Why is DDT Dangerous?
A: Federal scientists have found that DDT is harmful to smaller creatures and insects, both beneficial and pests. Small mammals that regularly consumed small doses through foraging could build up symptoms of large dose poisoning over time. It was found to be harmful in small doses to honey bees, small fish, reptiles, beneficial insects, and even mice. Liver damage, neurological symptoms, and even death were seen in the studies.
Q: Why is DDT bad for the environment?
A: DDT’s devastating effect on the aquatic environment has been thoroughly studied. Due to its low solubility, it has a greater rate of bioaccumulation in water, and thus poses a great long-term threat to aquatic wildlife.
Q: Do any countries still use DDT?
A: DDT can only be used in the US for public health emergencies, such as controlling vector disease. Today, DDT is manufactured in North Korea, India, and China. India remains the largest consumer of the product for vector control and agricultural use.
Q: Does DDT cause soil pollution?
A: DDT is a persistent organic pollutant that is readily adsorbed by soils and sediments, which can act both as sinks and as long-term sources of exposure, contributing to terrestrial organisms.
The Situation in St. Louis and How Alma is Involved
St. Louis, Michigan is a rural town neighboring Alma. Late in the 1970s, what was formally known as the Velsicol chemical plant had been producing a variety of chemicals, such as DDT, which then ended up being the number one pollutant in the local environment. Now, St. Louis is considered a superfund site and is currently being addressed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA is a governmental agency that responds to environmental issues and yields ways to solve them. In this case, DDT pollution has come with grave costs, and time efforts that the EPA has stopped funding.
Our Engineered Design Towards an Effective Clean Up
Alma iGEM has integrated what we know best, Synthetic Biology to answer this dire issue. We have designed a BioSensor that utilizes estrogen receptors from a variety of different species which targets the identification of DDT, among other molecules. This way of testing utilizes DDT’s behavior in the environment, where its target is the estrogen receptor.
Upon binding to an estrogen receptor, DDT initiates the signaling production of a reporter gene, in our case a Red Fluorescent Protein, which can be easily detected due to the color absorbed.
When designing our model, we aimed to make clean-up efforts especially cheaper and time effective. This method aims to reduce the cost spent cleaning the contaminated areas and utilize the money that is not spent elsewhere in our community, such as the local school district. This idea of limiting cleanup costs is our main determinant in winning the support of the public to reinforce the prospect of unity over a common issue in a community where science can be seen as a topic of distrust and division.
Alma’s Combative Efforts Against the Toxic River
The shutdown of the Velsicol plant has left the Pine River communities in a particularly messy situation. This pollution has caused biological and social impacts on our surrounding community and has resulted in clean-up efforts by not only the EPA but public officials who do not know where to put removed and contaminated soil if they were to begin their own means of clean-up efforts. Using our proposed technology and displaying it to possible stakeholders within and outside of our community, we intend to spread awareness of this dire issue and we hope to build better relationships by supporting our community outside of the college.