Our team will focus on developing an eco-friendly approach to combat biocorrosion in water cooling systems, specifically in the oil-production industry. A wide range of bacterial species are found in the areas near oil extraction facilities. Many of these organisms cause serious problems for the oil industry by producing corrosive by-products. Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), the main species involved in the Microbial Induced Corrosion (MIC), can colonize on the pipelines by forming bacterial biofilms with the release of Extracellular Matrix Substances (EMS) for adhesion and colony growth. Currently, biocides are commonly used in the oil industry for targeting these bacteria. But, these chemicals ultimately end up in the sea water which poses a huge threat to marine life.

Bacteria can sense a vast range of environmental signals, from the concentrations of nutrients and toxins to oxygen levels, pH and osmolarity. For our project, we plan to genetically engineer both sensor and remediation bacteria to sense osmolarity of the water used to cool oil pipelines and then to secrete an enzyme to degrade the extracellular matrix of the biofilm