Team:RPI Troy NY/HP/Silver
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Philosophy
Oil spills pose a sizeable threat to marine life and are classified as a major environmental disaster. Cleaning up after oil spills requires the use of dispersants, [][] chemical dispersants, which break down crude oil for easier biodegredation but is dependent on location and wind speed, or mechanical human-guided skimmers, which manually contain and collect oil. Current containment methods include surrounding the spill using floating booms to prevent further spread.
Sophorolipids, which are a type of biosurfactants, are natural dispersers/degraders of crude oil. The majority of sophorolipids are biodegradable and pose little toxicity to humans. Our team aims to create sophorolipids using the fermentation of the yeast starmarella bombicola, and then improve sophorolipid production by disabling an enzyme regulating the sopholipid concentration.
Public Engagement / Dialogue
Convince the judges you have thought carefully and creatively about whether your work is safe, responsible and good for the world. You could accomplish this through engaging with your local, national and/or international communities or other approaches. Please note that standard surveys will not fulfill this criteria.
What should we write about on this page?
Through open communication with the community at large through social media as well as direct interaction it will be possible to spread news of the integration of biosurfactants into mainstream life. A two way dialogue can help in our research practices in a way to insure mutual benefit between our research group and the community.
Education
Sophorolipids are carbohydrate-based, ampiphilic biosurfactants. They have been historically employed in oil spills to help mitigate their damaging environmental effect by accelerating crude oil degradation. Sophorolipids are the fermentation byproducts of the Starmarella species, including that of Starmerella bombicola and Candida apicola.
Product Design
We used the yeast starmarella bombicola to produce sophorolipids by growing it in a yeast extract and glucose-based broth and feeding it oleic acid. We then identified the P450 enzymes responsible for the production of sophorolipids and the genetically modified them to optimize their performance.
