Team:Shanghai city
Atrazine: an agricultural herbicide that is widely used by farmers to control broadleaf weeds and grasses that interfere with the growth of corn, sorghum, sugar cane, and other crops
Atrazine, which is produced by the Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta, was first registered for use in the United States in 1959. But 80 million pounds of the stuff is used each year in the United States - it is now the second most used herbicide in the US after glyphosate. Owing mainly to the superior herbicidal efficacy and cheapness of atrazine, the current policy in China is to strengthen pesticide registration and review of pesticide varieties containing atrazine, without explicitly restricting the use of atrazine. It's a common contaminant of ground, surface, and drinking water. It's so dangerous to both people and wildlife that it has been banned by the European Union.
MAJOR ISSUE
All the Atrazine testing equipment that exists on the market today has major flaws - it's expensive, heavy, and difficult to operate. Thus, atrazine will leak into farms, lakes, and markets.
WE ARE HERE TO CHANGE THAT
To solve this problem, our team used a synthetic biology technique aimed at converting atrazine into cyanuric acid. And in the presence of atrazine in certain samples, the fluorescent protein appears green to the naked eye, making it easier to detect.
TEAM NAME: AtreXtinct
The first half of our team name is “Atrex”, which is taken from the word“Aatrex”, underling the main topic of our study-the great negative impact toward agriculture and worldwide environmental issues caused by Atrazine, a herbicide. Furthermore, “eXinct” incarnates the goal of our project-to detect and prevent the possible pollution to the environment in the big picture.
Wechat: Search "AtreXtinct" in WeChat