How to clean polluted environment to protect human health and the ecosystem, that’s the interesting topic of a workshop held at the University of Skövde this week.
The University of Skövde is, together with the University of Pune and Dr. D. Y. Patil University in India and the University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh, running a research project called “Bioremediation of toxic metals and other pollutants for protecting human health and the ecosystem”. The aim of the project is, as the name reveals, to find new ways of cleaning polluted areas in order to counteract diseases. Bioremediation is a branch of biotechnology that uses biological processes to solve environmental problems.
Studies have been conducted in both India and Bangladesh. For example water samples have been collected in the five biggest rivers in the Pune region, to map the status of the water and to identify when the amount of pollution is highest. They have also been studying how microbes and agriculture reducers can absorb heavy metals and be used to clean polluted areas.
It’s a partner driven collaboration and the project is financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). During a couple of days research colleagues from the partner universities involved in this project and in closely related projects are meeting in Skövde to discuss their studies and to exchange ideas and research results.
-This project has led to some very interesting results, says Professor Abul Mandal, secretively. The results will be presented at a workshop in India in December.
Abul is Head of Physiology and Toxicology Research at the System Biology Research Center, University of Skövde, and the one who has initiated this conference.