Bioremediation can be a tool to reduce pollution and save the environment

Every year humanity produces a huge amount of pollutants, plastics, and other complex compounds, including halogen compounds.

It is estimated that only one-tenth of the plastic waste produced is

recycled, while for pollutants there are no reliable estimates of the actual amounts that are recycled,

disposed of, or leaked into the environment. A huge problem that is becoming increasingly important is the pollution of water, drinking, wastewater, groundwater, and agricultural use, by these pollutants and plastics.

In fact, both organic pollutants and plastic waste have a negative impact on life on Earth. Particularly harmful is their impact on aquatic ecosystems, especially in the form of microplastics, which are ingested by aquatic animals and cause various types of toxicity.

Current methods of depollution (incineration, landfilling, and recycling) are very expensive and consist, often, of burning the pollutants and plastics, resulting in significant consumption of CO2 and production of potential new pollutants, further burdening the environment. The problem is of particular concern in the treatment of wastewater of industrial and urban origin.

For this reason, there is increasing attention to the potential of biological systems to degrade pollutants and plastics. Fortunately, there are preliminary indications of the existence of microorganisms, particularly bacteria and fungi, capable of degrading specific pollutants and some types of plastics, converting them into simpler compounds that are easy to dispose of and do not pollute the environment.

The enzymatic mechanisms responsible for the microbial degradation of pollutants and plastics are only partially known, and the wide availability in nature of bacteria of all types that grow even in conditions seemingly impossible for life, as well as their extreme ease of undergoing mutations to respond to selection environments, make further exploration and research of new bacteria and enzymes a new frontier for pollution control and a healthier, cleaner environment.

In addition, available genetic engineering techniques make it possible to produce recombinant

microorganisms that, through molecular cloning, are capable of expressing high amounts of specific

enzymes and represent an additional resource for optimizing and making bioremediation techniques more efficient. Finally, in silico modeling makes it possible to estimate the effect of specific mutations on the binding site of pollutants and plastics to enzymes capable of digesting them, allowing the design of synthetic enzymes, which do not exist in nature, that could have a greater metabolic capacity toward their targets.

Scientific research on novel bioremediation systems, based on new enzymes, in silico analysis, and

optimization of microbiological systems, is a priority in Aspidia's scientific research activities. Our goal is to help create a cleaner, healthier and friendlier world.

That is why we ask all of you, investors and philanthropists who care about the health of the environment, to support Aspidia's research projects with your contributions.

The Aspidia Team