An excerpt from the attached press release: Friends,
I get these Edenspace Phytoremediation press releases from time to time. I
believe that at one point they did a heavy metal removal project with Jack
Hale in Hartford as a demonstration project(Jack can tell you more.) While I
don't believe that lightning will strike twice and that they might work with
community gardens again ( they're a business after all) the attached may be
of interest to folks who are concerned about heavy metal contamination of
garden sites:
NEWS edenspace
RELEASE
For More Information Contact:
Dr. Michael J. Blaylock, PI, Edenspace: (703) 961-8700
Dr. David Salt, Purdue University (765) 496-2112
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FUNDS PLANT BIOSENSOR DEVELOPMENT
"Smart Plants" May Address Health Risks of Heavy Metals
(Indianapolis, IN, 12 November 2002) -- At the Annual Meeting of the
Agronomy Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil
Science Society of America, Edenspace Systems Corporation today announced
its receipt of a $500,000 grant from the U. S. Department of Energy to fund
two years of laboratory development and field demonstration of plants that
can detect metals in the environment.
The new grant continues work begun in 2001 to fuse a metal detector gene
with a fluorescent signaling gene for insertion in a plant genome. Linking
a gene sensitive to heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel and zinc, to
another gene which when activated causes a bright green fluorescence under
UV light, may enable a wide variety of plants to signal the presence of
harmful levels of contaminants in the environment.
The laboratory of Dr. David Salt, an associate professor at Purdue
University, recently identified a plant gene with steady-state expression
levels proportional to levels of cadmium in water. This gene, BjMTP, has
been fused with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene and inserted into a
model plant named Arabidopsis thaliana. After its signaling capability has
been tested in the greenhouse, the fused construct will be inserted in other
plants that will be used to monitor metal concentrations in landfill
leachate.
Contamination of water and soil by heavy metals and radionuclides poses
significant health risks to humans, livestock, and wildlife. Early,
continuous detection of such contamination would facilitate remedial
measures and other steps to reduce exposure. Because of their ability to
cover large areas at low cost, plants are ideal detectors of such
contamination.
Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Edenspace Systems Corporation is a leader
in the use of live plants to improve human health. Its proprietary
techniques employ plants to concentrate and remove lead, arsenic,
radionuclides, chlorides (salts), hydrocarbons, and other minerals from
water and soil. With expertise in plant science, soil science, genetics and
agronomy, Edenspace is developing new markets for the restoration and
enrichment of our surroundings.
###
Note to Editors: To learn more about Edenspace Systems Corporation, as well
as to review other recent news releases, please visit our web site at
www.edenspace.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Kerrianne Zdimal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 6:36 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: News Release - Edenspace Systems Corporation
Please see attached for a News Release from Edenspace
Systems Corporation.
Best Regards,
Kerri Zdimal
=====
Research Assistant
Edenspace Systems Corporation
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
703.961.8700 - Office
703.961.8939 - Fax
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site
http://webhosting.yahoo.com
News Release Edenspace-DOE.doc
Description: MS-Word document
News Release Edenspace-DOE.doc
Description: MS-Word document
