Heavy metal contamination is not an uncommon occurrence in rural areas of the Southwestern United States. Even as recently as 2017, data suggests that almost 20% of wells in the region had arsenic levels above the acceptable limit set by the EPA [1]. Seeing as this issue is so widespread across our home state, we were determined to ensure that we contributed to educating people on not only the persistence of these water quality issues across the US, but also of the technologies that are being developed to mitigate their devastating effects.

In Arizona, much of the heavy metal contamination in water is seen in areas with historic mining activity, which also happens to be where many indigenous communities like the Navajo Nation reside. Our team was unfortunately unable to communicate directly with this portion of our target population due to existing institutional restrictions on who can interface with indigenous groups. Because we could not speak to those who live in the communities impacted by water contamination, we decided to create a podcast where we could discuss the science behind bioremediation for a larger public audience to educate them on water quality issues.

Sharing this type of information through a podcast is ideal because it allows for us to share our conversations with professionals without them feeling like a lecture. Having different episodes at 30 minutes each makes them easy to listen to while still including the details and background information needed to understand the topics being discussed.

The interviews conducted with Dr. Brown, Dr. Varman, Dr. Rosy, and Dr. Sundaram were compiled and organized into a series of episodes that discuss a myriad of topics, ranging from how organisms are engineered to the bioethics of bioremediation and everything in between.

The episodes each provide a unique perspective into a different aspect of water bioremediation, allowing listeners to fully understand how synbio can be used as a powerful means of solving water quality issues.

Episode 1 of the ASU x QGEM podcast H2bio, where we have discussions with various professionals in the fields of water decontamination, synthetic biology, and bioethics speak to us about the different considerations that need to be made when solving water quality issues with bioremediation.

Episode 2 of the ASU x QGEM podcast H2bio, where we have discussions with various professionals in the fields of water decontamination, synthetic biology, and bioethics speak to us about the different considerations that need to be made when solving water quality issues with bioremediation.

Episode 3 of the ASU x QGEM podcast H2bio, where we have discussions with various professionals in the fields of water decontamination, synthetic biology, and bioethics speak to us about the different considerations that need to be made when solving water quality issues with bioremediation.

Episode 4 of the ASU x QGEM podcast H2bio, where we have discussions with various professionals in the fields of water decontamination, synthetic biology, and bioethics speak to us about the different considerations that need to be made when solving water quality issues with bioremediation.

Our goal with this initiative was to create a self-contained introduction to the promising intersection of water purification and synthetic biology, and we believe that this podcast has accomplished that goal. We hope that listeners are able to gain some insight into the ways in which we perceive, assess, and combat water quality issues, and how that approach has slowly evolved over time. We also hope that the conversations we’ve hosted through this series will demystify the inner workings of GMOs and open people’s minds to the powerful possibilities bioremediation holds to change our future.