Team:Oxford

Chlorinated solvents are indispensable to industry, research and household applications. Their accumulation in water supplies and carcinogenic properties present a major environmental and health hazard.

OxiGEM are tackling the issue by developing a bioremediation/detection kit to dispose of the common chlorinated solvent dichloromethane (DCM). Our system design, inspired by the DCM-degradation pathway of M. extorquens DM4, is initiated and refined by the dialogue between modelling simulations and experimental data. Incorporation of novel diffusion-limiting biopolymeric beads to encapsulate engineered bacteria ensures safe and efficient DCM degradation.

We are constructing a synthetic fluorescent biosensor through GFP fusion to the dcmA promoter, regulated by the DCM-binding protein, DcmR, and maximising the sensitivity and catalytic efficiency of the system through directed evolution.

Our DCM clean-up solution, branded ‘DCMation’, will be user-friendly in a wide range of workplaces and extendable to the disposal of many other harmful substrates.