ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS
APGEN has developed and is implementing in the field a number of phytoremediation strategies based on naturally occurring plant species to remediate organic contaminants from soils, groundwater and stormwater runoff. These technologies are based on the selection of plant species which express specific enzymes (protein catalysts) capable of degrading the organic contaminants present at the site. One of the Company’s founders, Dr. Laura Carreira, has pioneered the development of specific assay methods to detect the presence and quantity of such enzymes in plant tissue. The use of these assays assists in APGEN’s selection of plant species for site-specific phytoremediation of organics and has already led to successful field remediations of soil and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents, nitroaromatics and PAHs.
ELEMENTAL CONTAMINANTS
Elemental pollutants (e.g., metals such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium, cesium, and others) are often highly long-lived in the environment and many are highly toxic in certain chemical forms. APGEN is pursuing a patent-protected strategy for phytoremediation of mercury contamination from soils and groundwater, which is a cost-effective, affordable strategy for mercury remediation. This technology derives from basic research in the laboratory of one of the Company’s founders, Dr. Richard Meagher, in which bacterial genes encoding enzymes which change the chemical form of mercury are inserted into plant species, enabling the plants to grow in the presence of mercury. The plants then detoxify the mercury and in some cases volatilize the least toxic form into the atmosphere at safe, exceptionally low levels. This technology can be extended to other metals as well, particularly including arsenic.
