Team:Consort Alberta/project

Our Project

The Problem

The two most prominent industries in all of Canada are agriculture and the energy section, more commonly referred to as the oil patch. These two businesses are what make the country, and many other countries, thrive. Apart, they are each a strong influence on the economy of the world. After all, food and power are what make the world go around. But imagine an oil spill on lease land - land that houses both growing crops or cattle and an oil pumpjack - can do. Together, oil and agriculture can pose a problem. So, how can we protect this fine line between a contaminated food source and a safe food source?

The Solution

ECOS (Environmental COntaminant Sensor) is a biological sensor theorized to detect the presence of aromatic hydrocarbons, which are found create amounts of fluorescent protein according to how much xylene is in the soil. We are focussing this year on creating alginate beads, as inspired by the Peking 2013 Team's encapsulation beads. There are several benefits that come with impregnating our E. coli in alginate beads:
1. Alginate beads make our prototype more efficient. Compared to having our E. coli react directly in the soil or in water, we have a more controlled method of testing soil for contamination. Our original prototype for ECOS consisted of a three-chambered system in which we had to vapourize the xylene in the soil and bubble our E. coli through it. Now, our prototype has realistically scaled down to something that an average person could use - put the alginate beads in the soil and mix it all up.
2. Alginate is safe. If you've ever had your teeth moulded at the dentist, you have encountered alginate! Alginate is refined from varieties of seaweed, and is nothing more than a sugar - both food and skin safe.
3. Alginate beads...

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