Controlling antimicrobial contamination of soil and water with bacteria.
Now, a new study at the University of Nevada, Reno has found a potential way to reduce the presence of the antimicrobial that is also linked to problems with antibiotic resistance.
"The results are promising that we gained better understanding about how triclosan is degraded in natural environment, and can potentially find a way of removing the contaminant from the environment and in the long term fighting the antibiotic resistance problem," Yu "Frank" Yang, assistant professor of environmental engineering at the University, said.
Yang and his team’s research on how to reduce the presence of triclosan in the environment was recognized among Emerging Investigator Series by the journal "Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts," a publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and published in the April edition as the inside front-cover story.
The article describes how the triclosan, used for things like hand sanitizer, detergents, soaps and paints, can be degraded faster in the environment through a process with a combination of metal-reducing bacterium and natural organic matter.
"If we can completely understand the degradation of antimicrobial agent, we can provide a treatment process in engineered and natural environments."
The team tested the matrix of a bacteria strain mixed with the organic material to find the condition that degraded triclosan the fastest.
"Both are challenging tasks."
His paper is part of their 2017 "Emerging Investigator Series" which highlights "the best and brightest early career scientists in the environmental chemical sciences.” The journal website explains the "Emerging Investigator" distinction “showcases the high quality research being carried out by researchers in the early stages of their independent careers.
He has been at the University of Nevada, Reno since September 2013 as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.