Water Pollution

Heavy metal pollution in water is one of the most significant public health risks around the world. Pollutants including lead, mercury, and nickel can enter water supplies through a number of methods including improper disposal of waste, industrial manufacturing, and mining. When solubilized, they have the ability to cause environmental and health problems. These heavy metals are acutely toxic at high concentrations and carcinogenic with long-term exposure even at low concentrations. Methods exist to remove heavy metals from water supplies, but these methods create other hazardous wastes and are much more effective in waters with high concentrations of metals. Due to the high affinity of binding proteins, a biological based filtration system can be more effective at treating water contaminated with lower concentrations of heavy metals without generating large volumes of toxic waste.

Sequestration Systems

Previously, research groups have developed such filtration systems for some of the most harmful heavy metals. These sequestration systems involve the expression of a specific transport protein and a metal binding protein called metallothionein. One of our faculty advisors at Cornell, Dr. David Wilson, has developed such systems for mercury and nickel. We plan to work to improve the efficiency and lifespan of these filtration systems. Additionally, we will be developing a novel sequestration system for lead by utilizing a putative lead transport protein from Nicotiana tabacum. Further information the the toxic effects of the heavy metals we are targeting as well as the transport proteins we are utilizing can be found by clicking the icons below.

Lead System

Mercury System

Nickel System