New species of microbe consuming Gulf oilplume
A new species of microbe may be consuming oil spilled in the Gulf. Depending on how fast microbes consume oil, the results could be useful in help scientists to determine what happened to the oil and how the oil could affect marine life.
In addition, the results also suggest that most of the microbes in the undersea cloud of oil are a new species that do not significantly deplete oxygen in the water as they consume the oil.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, The microbiology analysis is “very, very good”, said David Valentine from University of California at Santa Barbara.
This latest research follows another look at the same plume of highly diluted oil droplets. Both groups are at the same depth, and they recorded similar, very low concentrations of key hydrocarbons.They also both detected only a light dip in oxygen levels compared with water outside the plume. The team’s results suggest that oil degradation could occur faster than many researchers have anticipated.
Valentine cautions however that the team may have gone too far in inferring the high pace of degradation. For instance, he says, in the lab the team “fed lots of oil to the newly discovered organism, supercharged them, then asked the question: How fast are they consuming oil. It’s not surprising you can get them to do that quickly when you supercharge them.”
The question of the pace of biodegradation may be one of the toughest questions to answer, Valentine added. And methods for estimating the pace at which biodegrading takes place vary from one team’s cruise to another’s cruise.
Athrax, plague and small pox are some of the possible pathogens terrorists could use against us; but now, researchers say jellyfish are helping prevent these kinds of attacks.
Jellyfish Fight Terrorists
Biochemists And Engineers Create Fast-acting Pathogen Sensor
September 1, 2008 — Engineers invented a device to bring air samples into contact with genetically engineered biosensors in the effort to detect dangerous biological agents. The technology uses multiple collections of altered cell antibodies, each collection designed to respond to a specific pathogen by releasing photons of a unique wavelength upon finding it. Detectors measure the photons' wavelengths and interpret the pathogens they represent.
Athrax, plague and small pox are some of the possible pathogens terrorists could use against us; but now, researchers say jellyfish are helping prevent these kinds of attacks.
From public transportation to federal and government buildings, experts are naming likely targets of bioterrorism.
Now, this innovative biosensor developed by scientists and engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory can identify harmful bacteria or viruses in the air in less than two minutes.
"It's at least ten times faster than any other automated sensor that's available," says James Harper, a biochemist and engineer at MIT.
In the lab, Todd Rider first developed the CANARY Sensor using jellyfish DNA and a high-voltage electrical charge. "I was in the lab with the electric creator," says Rider, a biologist at MIT. "I had mouse cells and the jellyfish DNA, and I frizzed my hair, said please give me life and pressed the buttons -- and the jellyfish DNA went inside the cells, and we had glowing mouse cells."
The glowing cells reveal the presence of a targeted pathogen. Still, scientists had no way to test air samples for pathogens until Harper created the PANTHER.
Scientists say operation is as simple as loading your DVD player. Disks containing sixteen chambers are loaded into the PANTHER. The machine pulls air through the disk to collect and test any pathogen that might be in the air. "That disk contains the cells that are the key to the canary technology," Harper says. "It releases those cells into the collected particles and looks for the resulting light, and gives you a sense of what's detected."
If a dangerous pathogen is detected, the sensor goes off -- alerting anyone who could be in harm's way.
Scientists and engineers say the CANARY technology can eventually be used for medical diagnostics to test patient samples. It may even be used in food processing plants to identify contaminants like E. coli or salmonella.
The technology is now licensed commercially.
WHAT IS PANTHER? The PANTHER device uses immune cells altered to act as detectors of dangerous biological agents. The device takes in air, runs it past the cells, which are gathered into groups, each designed to react to specific agent. The cells, which are engineered to respond to a specific pathogen, release photons of light when they detect their target. Other detectors recognize the release of light to indicate the pathogen that was detected. Based on the wavelengths of light that were released, the device outputs a list of dangerous pathogens that were found, about three minutes after beginning the test.
This report has also been produced thanks to a generous grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc
