TEAM DESCRIPTION

TEAM MENTOR
INSTRUCTORS

Dr. RAJIV RANJAN He has been an invaluable driving force, behind the working of the project, and have always been a source of inspiration.

ABOUT THE MENTOR Ph.D. in Biotechnology (Institute of life sciences department of biotechnology Govt. of India).He has been awarded “young scientist travel award by DST for Canada (2011) and also has several patents under his name,He is also an Editorial board member of African-Journal of agriculture science and technology, published by “oceanic academic journals”.

TEAM DESCRIPTION

SIMRAN SINGH

Pursuing botany honours (3rd yr. B.sc.)Has been designated as team leader for her excellent management skills and zeal to motivate her team members in all their endeavours, along with providing valuable ideas and concept.Her motto is simple :-“When going gets tough, Let the tough get going”

GAURI SHARMA

Undergraduate ( B.sc. 3rd yr. student) is a botany enthusiast, and ardent lover of books and poetries; thus this combination makes her an unconventional presenter,as what could be a better way to present dull/sulky research details in beautiful poetic linquistics.

RICHA

(In her 3rd year, pursuing botany honours) she is a botanist, with a technical mind, which forms a great combo, in our group’s technical pursuit. Always keepstrack of project through graph and data analysis

NAZIYA PARVEEN

(3rd year undergraduate student) is the painter of the group, filling colours not only to the project logos but also within life of all her team members. So trust us when we say :-“ Magic is in her hands”

PRAGATI YADAV

(3rd yr. B.Sc. student) The ‘nerd’ of the group. Providing all the necessary statistics, numberes, what’s and why’s for the project; thereby keeping the group updated with new researches around the world.

SHURBHI SUMAN

( M.Sc. 1st yr. chemistry student ) spilling chemical details all over, ‘YES’ she is an unbreakable bond of our group. An atom, binding all other atoms to create a magical molecule called “TEAM DEI”

KUSUM DIXIT

The head botanist in the group, pursuing M.Sc. in botany.Guiding the group through complex mechanism of botanical worldand providing better understanding of varied concept.

Project

WATER IS SOUL OF UNIVERSE, A SOUL THAT FILLS LIFE,LOVE AND HOPE IN THIS WORLD; A SOUL WHICH HAS EVENTUALLY FADED INTO DARK CORNERS; A SOUL WHICH IS NOW CRYING FOR ENLIGHTMENT; A SOUL WHICH NEEDS AWAKEMENT WITHIN ALL OF US.

It is not just a molecule of oxygen and hydrogen; it is plethora of emotions and every day struggle.

“Commodity for some,
A 3km walk for another.Amusement for some……
Struggle for another.
Fountain for some,
Just a drop for another.
Swimming for some
Drought death for another”

So water the essential requisite of nature, within which life originates and evolve, has now been completely, intoxicated and destroyed by varied human activities and practices. We human in this metamorphism of evolution, have devastatingly affected this natural lineage and now the biggest problem posed by these un-regulated, and un-monitored human activities is release of heavy metal as waste product in water-bodies, as industrial discharge, Which increases concentration of these metals beyond permissible limits. Thus, heavy metals (trace metals) become one of the most persistent pollutants in wastewater. The discharge of high amounts of heavy metals into water bodies leads to several environmental and health impacts, like-

Death of aquatic life
Destruction from sedimentation
References and sources to document your research.
Algal blooms.
Habitat destruction

SOURCES OF VARIOUS HEAVY METALS-

HEAVY METAL SOURCES

Arsenic (As) Pesticides, fungicides, metal smelters

Mercury (Hg) Pesticides, batteries, paper industries

Chromium (Cr) Mining, electroplating, textile tannery industries

Lead (Pb) Paints, pesticides, batteries, automobile emission, mining, burning of coal

Cadmium (Cd) Welding, electroplating, pesticides, fertilizers, batteries, nuclear fission plants

Nickel (Ni) Electroplating, Zinc base casting, battery industries

Manganese (Mn) Welding, fuel addition, ferromanganese production

Copper (Cu) Electroplating, pesticides, mining

Zinc (Zn) Refineries, metal paintings, immersion of painted idols

Biological remediation processes (microbial remediation and phytoremediation) are indicated to be very effective in the treatment of heavy metal pollutants in wastewater. The expression of metal-binding proteins or peptides in microorganisms and plants in order to enhance heavy metal accumulation and/or tolerance has great potential. Several different peptides and proteins have been explored. The overexpression of metal binding proteins has been widely exploited to increase the metal binding capacity, tolerance or accumulation of bacteria and plants. So, we as “TEAM DEI” are working in direction to reclaim this polluted water, by preparing a bio-chip (overexpression of metal binding protein), which removes heavy metal toxicity from industrial effluents, thereby making this water re-usable for activities like agriculture practices, sanitation purposes, and drinking; hence the project titled:-

“Biochip for removing heavy metal toxicity from industrial effluents“

The overexpression of metal binding proteins has been widely exploited to increase the metal binding capacity, tolerance or accumulation of bacteria and plants. An expression level of transgene/gene of interest depends upon strength of promoter. Architecture of these promoter elements can be redesign for modifying the gene expression. The basic rationale behind developing such modified promoters lies in the notion that the transfer of the upstream DNA sequence/ cis-element that binds a specific trans- factor from one promoter into a different promoter containing the TATA sequence might result in a novel regulatory or transcription medel. Hereby in our project we are focusing on overexpressing the Top-4 metal binding protein (iGEM part BBa- K1478002) by custom synthesizing strong promoter suitable for expression in microbes and plants. In our previous studies strong promoters had been developed. We would also fabricate a bio-chip by immobilizing those bacteria strongly expressing Top-4 metal binder protein (iGEM part BBa-K1478002) for fast, easy and user handy purification of industrial wast water which can be further usable for irrigation purpose.