Marina Lazic, PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences, was one of 14 presenters selected to pitch their ideas at Falling Walls UAlberta 2019. Image courtesy of Marina Lazic.
On September 18, Marina Lazic was one of 14 University of Alberta innovators selected to present their ideas at Falling Walls UAlberta-a Dragon's Den- and TEDtalk-style event to compete for two spots to a global finale in Berlin.
Lazic is a PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences under the joint supervision of Professor Lisa Stein and Associate Professor Dominic Sauvageau in the Faculty of Engineering. Lazic, who studies microbiology and biotechnology, presented her idea to combat greenhouse gasses by using genetic engineering in her talk, "Breaking the wall of greenhouse gas emission."
"My talk focused on metabolic mapping and genetic engineering as a hammer to break the wall of a big problem facing our planet-greenhouse gas emissions-using bacteria we can grow in the lab called methanotrophs," said Lazic. "These bacteria eat greenhouse gas methane the same way we humans process sugars for energy."
The bacteria can also transform methane into useful products, including bioplastics-and this field is the subject of Lazic's research.
"The main advantage of these bacteria is turning harmful waste-in this case, methane, which is produced by landfills and industrial activity-into useful products," explained Lazic. "But it also creates a biodegradable plastic, which can further help reduce contamination of the environment by giving us a better alternative to traditional plastics."
While bioplastics are typically expensive to produce, Lazic explains that this process could serve to solve two problems at once, reducing greenhouse gases and creating an alternative to non-biodegradable plastics-and might even be able to produce biofuels with future development.
Lazic was lined up against 13 other presenters bringing their ideas to the Falling Walls presentation. The competition was fierce, but Lazic credits her team for supporting her as she pitched her idea.
"It's very important to have a good team and professors for this kind of competition," said Lazic. "I've received huge support from my supervisors Lisa Stein and Dominic Sauvageau and my whole team in the lab. The key to success is supporting environment-and luckily, I have that here at the University of Alberta."
Learn more about the Falling Walls UAlberta presenters who put their innovative ideas forward on September 18th.