The Ecoliance Young Science
Rhineland-Palatinate’s universities are among the most important innovators in the state. Here, students from a wide range of disciplines develop environmental engineering solutions to the challenges of our time.
Ecoliance Rhineland-Palatinate has set itself the task of supporting the implementation of these solutions with prize money as part of its focus on promoting young talent and innovation. The aim is to sustainably strengthen practice-oriented research at Rhineland-Palatinate universities as well as the innovative capacity of these educational institutions and thus also the network.
Our award winners
iGEM team “Microdestruction” of the TU Kaiserslautern
The increasing pollution of our waters with micropollutants, such as medicines, is a major driver of species extinction in water. For example, the painkiller diclofenac leads to corneal injuries in trout and increased mortality of zebra mussels.
Our prizewinners use the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to produce enzymes with which they can oxidize micropollutants. This makes the safe removal of drug residues possible even for smaller wastewater treatment plants.
The project completed the “International Genetically Engineered Machine” competition 2020 with a gold medal and was also awarded the extra prize “Best Environmental Project” by the Master’s students.
You can see the results of the competition here.
