Vellore: A team from Vellore Institute of Technology has been selected and given a grant of Rs 10 lakh by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, to participate in iGEM- an annual event and a competition on synthetic biology and its interdisciplinary fields in MIT, Boston, USA.
“DBT selects five best teams with the most deserving projects, across India, in a contest called Indian Biological Engineering Competition (iBEC), and gives a grant of Rs 10 lakh per team for them to participate in iGEM. For the very first time, a team from VIT, Vellore, bagged a place in the iBEC list of sponsored teams to carry forward their project,” a statement from the university said.
The iGEM VIT team, along with their primary investigator, R Siva (professor and HoD of Biotechnology VIT) is working on developing a genetically engineered bacterium that can stabilize the pH of the ocean. Once these modified bacteria are introduced into the ocean waters, it can reduce the oceans’ acidic nature and bring back to its normal state. This synthetically modified bacterium has the ability to absorb the acid causative agent like free hydrogen ions and carbon dioxide present in the water.
VIT University said that theoretically when these bacteria are let into the ocean waters, it can stabilize the local pH and hence has the capacity to normalize the pH of the ocean when done on a large scale.
The project can be used as an immediate, efficient, and economical way to provide a holistic and on-site solution to what is considered one of the major environmental problems of the modern day.
They are calling this project Toggle pH and are presenting their idea at MIT, Boston at the iGEM Jamboree happening in the last week of October. Apart from the laboratory work, the VIT team has taken the initiative to speak to local and international experts in the field and attended conferences to understand the problem in depth.
They have also taken the initiative to spread awareness about this problem by conducting a beach clean-up by collaborating with other teams participating in iGEM.