Notre Dame Collegiate High School Synbio (High River)
Save the Corals Project – Developing a sensor for a water pollutant from sunscreen
| Team Grade Level: | High School |
| STEM Focus: | Synthetic Biology |
NDC is working to engineer a bacteria that can detect levels of oxybenzone in sunscreen and/or water sources. Oxybenzone is a chemical that is associated with an increase of the bleaching of the coral reefs and could be harmful to children and pregnant women. We are creating a system which uses a receptor that, when bound with oxybenzone, will fluoresce and/or emit an electrical signal that we can measure to see how much oxybenzone is present. Consumers/companies could use this to detect safe levels and in the future it could be used to guide remediation attempts.
