Shaily Mahendra: Bioremediation
In a process called bioremediation, Shaily Mahendra uses bacteria and fungi to indicate levels of pollution and ecosystem health. These same microorganisms can also be used to detoxify a wide variety of environmental pollutants, restoring a contaminated environment back to its healthier state.
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ABOUT Shaily Mahendra
” Dr Shaily Mahendra’s research interests lie in the area of microbial interactions with chemical contaminants and nanoparticles for applications ranging from ecotoxicology to biodegradation to disinfection.
Bacteria and fungi serve as useful indicators of potential toxicity to higher organisms and ecosystem health, but they can also detoxify a variety of environmental pollutants. Conversely, antimicrobial materials can be used for disinfection applications.
Her laboratory pursues research projects employing microbiological, molecular biological, and isotopic tools to characterise microbial communities in engineered and natural environments, optimise biological processes to improve the performance of waste water treatment or bioremediation systems, explore production of biofuels from industrial wastewater, and investigate mechanisms of transformation, toxicity, and trophic transfer of nano particles.
Dr Mahendra believes their comprehensive studies of the implications and applications of the biotechnology and nano technology revolutions will enable them to use their benefits without environmental and public health liabilities.”
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