Ocean Pollution
For our last project of the year we were asked to select a world problem to solve with biology or biotechnology. My partner, Lara, and I chose plastic pollution in the ocean. More specifically polystyrene ocean pollution. We first had to create three solutions to this problem. We came up with: creating a biodegradable plastic, using meal worm stomach enzymes and implementing them into phytoplankton so they could eat the plastic, and creating a digestion aid for larger mammals to consume the plastic without detrimental consequences. We chose our second solution. We then were asked to research this topic and find a mentor to help us and create daily work logs (the logs are down below). The mentor we chose was the man that figured out that mealworms can survive on a diet of styrofoam, polystyrene. Unfortunately the solution/research was hard to complete because the discovery of meal worm digestion was new and our idea hasn't been thought of before so there wasn't any research. However, we did create a solution and it was to implement the stomach enzymes of the meal worms by introducing plasmids with those genes into the pho4 genes of the phytoplankton.
(more of our research/data is below in the document)
(more of our research/data is below in the document)
Content:
1. Phytoplankton: the autotrophic components of the plankton community and a key part of oceans
2. Pho4 gene: planktons gene that influences diet
3. Bacterias: Enterobacter asburiae YT1 and Bacillus sp. YP1: Mealwom stomach enzymes that enable them to break down polyethylene
4. North Pacific Ocean: most polluted ocean
Reflection:
This project was boring because it was exactly like the final last year. However, instead of using engineering to solve a world problem, we used biotechnology. I liked last years project a bit more because we were similar with the content we had to use. We were flying blind with this project. I had fun with project because of my lab partner and other group member we were seated with but the content was mediocre. I was stultified. Which is one of the things I need to work on. I need to stop finding faults with things.
The one thing I learned from this project is that mealworms are amazingly disgusting. They are able to survive on a diet of poisonous plastic. That's amazing.
1. Phytoplankton: the autotrophic components of the plankton community and a key part of oceans
2. Pho4 gene: planktons gene that influences diet
3. Bacterias: Enterobacter asburiae YT1 and Bacillus sp. YP1: Mealwom stomach enzymes that enable them to break down polyethylene
4. North Pacific Ocean: most polluted ocean
Reflection:
This project was boring because it was exactly like the final last year. However, instead of using engineering to solve a world problem, we used biotechnology. I liked last years project a bit more because we were similar with the content we had to use. We were flying blind with this project. I had fun with project because of my lab partner and other group member we were seated with but the content was mediocre. I was stultified. Which is one of the things I need to work on. I need to stop finding faults with things.
The one thing I learned from this project is that mealworms are amazingly disgusting. They are able to survive on a diet of poisonous plastic. That's amazing.