VIT students to present solution to ocean acidification at US contest

Chennai: A team of students of Vellore Institute of Technology will present an innovative solution to ocean acidification issue at the prestigious competition scheduled to be held in the US this month.

Ocean acidification is caused by the increase of carbon dioxide. Due to the absorption carbon dioxide, chemical reactions occur in the seas which in turn lead to many other issues like coral reef degradation and affect the metabolism of fish and other aquatic life.

The team along with their primary investigator R.Siva, head, department of biotechnology at VIT is developing a genetically engineered bacterium that can stabilise pH of the ocean. "Once these modified bacteria are introduced into the ocean waters, it can neutralize this growing acidity and hence reduce the oceans' acidic nature and bring it back to its normal state," VIT team said in a release.

The team has got the sponsor of Rs10 lakh from the department of biotechnology (DBT) after getting selected through Indian Biological Engineering Competition. They will present their proposal at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition scheduled to be held in the last week of October in MIT, Boston.

Apart from the laboratory work, the team has taken the initiative to speak to local and international experts in the field and attended conferences to understand the problem in-depth. They have also taken the initiative to spread awareness about this by conducting a beach clean-up and collaborating with other teams participating in iGEM.