OF WHAT RELEVANCE IS A BIOCHEMIST IN AN ENVIRONMENTALLY POLLUTED ENVIRONMENT? Pollution is the introduction of harmful contaminants into air, water or soil (environment). These contaminants can have dire effects on entire ecosystems, making life more difficult for humans, plants and animals. Understanding the fact that all living entities including man live in a threatening environment; a biochemist uses science in alleviating the adverse condition in his immediate environment and the society as a whole, by understanding the chemical basis of life in relation to the environment by which they reside. Biochemistry is the science concerned with the chemical basis of life, and cell is the structural unit of living systems. Thus, biochemistry can also be described as the science concerned with the chemical constituents of living cells and with the reactions and processes they undergo. Therefore, one who studied and applied biochemistry is a biochemist. A biochemist in an environmentally polluted environment studied xenobiotics carefully and uses bioremediation in remediating effects found. Bioremediation consists of using living organisms (usually bacteria, fungi actinomycetes, cyanobacteria and to a lesser extent, plants) to reduce or eliminate toxic pollutants, which may be naturally occurring or laboratory cultivated. These organisms either eat up the contaminants or assimilate within them all harmful compounds from the surrounding area, thereby, rendering the region virtually contaminant-free. Generally, the substances that are eaten up are organic compounds, while those, which are assimilated within the organism, are heavy metals. There are basically differing approaches of bioremediation used by biochemist which include: Biostimulation, Bioaugmentation, Phytoremediation, Groundwater remediation, Bioleaching, Land Farming, Bioreactor, Compost, Rhizofiltration. Field applications of bioremediation techniques use either or both in-situ and ex-situ. These involve leaving the soil in its original place and bringing the biological mechanisms to the soil, and removing the soil from the subsurface to treat it elsewhere for in-situ and ex-situ respective. Hence, the relevance of a biochemist in an environmental polluted environment can never be over emphasized!
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 23:37:16 +0000
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