Team profile by Alexander Hong and Bea Schleupner

Introduction

The world faces a mounting crisis: plastic pollution. Each year, over 2.2 billion tons of plastic are discarded, with a significant portion ending up in our oceans. Plastic debris harms life through entanglement and ingestion, posing a threat to entire ecosystems and human health.

Our team is dedicated to combating this issue through three subteams: Bioremediation, Health and Policy. We explore the potential of microbes – from bacteria to fungi – to degrade plastic waste, offering a novel approach to environmental remediation.

Research Focus

Our project builds upon the work of previous Bass Connections teams. Our first team started in 2019, making us one of the longest continuous Bass Connections projects!

Our Bioremediation subteam has created a novel pipeline to identify and validate plastic degraders. We are now creating strains that are heat-stable and more efficient so we can ultimately scale up to larger bioreactor systems.

Our Health subteam investigates the potential harmful effects of plastics, and specifically plastic additives, in human cells. We are particularly interested in lung, liver and colon cells as microplastic consumption as those are the primary pathways of plastic exposure. We have also studied the effects of waste and additives in certain marine environments like the Philippines archipelago.

In the future, we will continue to improve bacterial degradation, investigate more complex health effects of plastic and even build a bioreactor!

Teamwork and Expertise

The team has representation from Trinity, Pratt and the School of Medicine. Our team members study biomedical engineering, computer science/bioinformatics, biology, chemistry and environmental engineering/science. Each lab member has an individual project that aligns with one of the subteams’ foci, and we share subteam progress at our weekly meetings.

Key Findings

We have three recent publications that resulted from our research:

1. a review of the biological impacts of plastic pollution
2. a paper on the carcinogenic impact of hundreds of plastic additives
3. a preprint on our novel identification pipeline for microbial degraders.

Most recently, our cover art for the paper on additive carcinogenicity was accepted for an upcoming print edition of Environmental Science & Technology!

Challenges and Triumphs

For every result that ends up in a paper, there are an even greater number that do not.

Engineering novel bioremediators and creating plastic-degradation assays is time-consuming and challenging. Our comprehensive plastic additive studies are hindered by a lack of public data, and working with nanoplastics can be technically difficult.

In the end, this is what science is. Science is a process, and it’s the growth that matters.

Outcomes and Impact

Our project has the potential to revolutionize plastic waste management and environmental conservation. By successfully engineering highly efficient plastic-degrading microbes, we can significantly reduce plastic accumulation in our oceans and ecosystems. This not only safeguards marine life but also mitigates the risks of plastic entering the food chain.

Our Policy subteam serves as a valuable resource, raising public awareness about plastic pollution and the potential of bioremediation strategies starting with middle school students and the next generation of scientists.

Plastic Pollution: Health Impacts and Bioremediation Solutions

Poster by Alexander Hong, Jas Santos, Sage Hirschfeld, Atharva Vispute, Ashley Huang, Ming Shen and Jenny Yoon