Abstract

For over six decades, Vieques, an island-municipality of Puerto Rico, was used as a military training site. An array of contamination was left behind due to the materials and explosives used, devastating the biodiversity, and increasing health risks for the Viequenses. Initiatives to clean the waters and soil of Vieques exist; however, it has been a costly and lengthy process. iGEM RUM-UPRM proposes Mer-Nite, a solution to decrease the contamination in Vieques due to the military practices. Phase 1 of the project consisted of designing a genetic system to absorb and bioremediate mercury through the expression of the mer operon, combined with a second circuit that will be activated upon the presence of RDX and degrade the contaminant through the expression of the xplA and xplB genes. Mer-Nite represents an alternative solution to decrease the contamination, conserve biodiversity, and improve the quality of life of Vieques.

The Story

The wiki is designed... The black gradient in the background sort of gravitates you down the page. Near the end of the gradient section we can add a 3D model of bacteria. I added a placeholder image that looks okay, but one that looks more like this one would be better (although with the transparent background and cut off at the bottom). The image can also be annotated to complement the understanding of the topic.