Why study microplastics?

Imagine a world where every breath you take, every bite of food you eat, and every drop of water you drink contains invisible fragments of plastic. This isn’t science fiction—it’s our reality. These fragments, known as microplastics, are usually smaller than a grain of sand. They come from larger plastic waste breaking down or from everyday products we use, like packaging, cosmetics, and clothing fibers. Over time, these particles have spread into every part of the environment—oceans, rivers, soil, air—and into the food we eat and the water we drink. They’ve been found in wildlife, and alarmingly, even inside our own bodies. We are no longer just surrounded by plastic pollution—we are absorbing it.

This matters because microplastics are harmful. They can carry toxic chemicals, and once inside the body, they may contribute to serious health issues such as chronic inflammation, hormone disruption, and other long-term conditions we’re only beginning to understand. The economic cost is just as troubling: polluted farmland, contaminated fisheries, and rising municipal water treatment expenses are straining industries and communities worldwide. But we are not powerless. In our lab, we are developing groundbreaking technologies to biologically break down microplastics using engineered bacteria, enzymes, and chemical systems that render these pollutants harmless. With the right support, this research can unlock scalable, sustainable solutions to one of the most urgent environmental and health crises of our time.

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