Turning the Tide on Plastic Pollution
featuring
Prof. John McGeehan, University of Portsmouth

Following the discovery of a bacterium capable of breaking down the
man-made plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET), scientists have been working towards uncovering the workings of enzymes that can perform this remarkable reaction. Found in single-use drinks bottles, packaging, clothing and carpets, PET can take centuries to decompose, and is accumulating in our environment at a staggering rate. Enzymes that can digest PET into its original building blocks provide routes towards circular plastic recycling.

In this lecture, Prof. McGeehan outlines the work his team at University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Enzyme Innovation has been engaged in, from searching for novel plastic-digesting bacteria in environments polluted with plastics, to collaborations with world-leading researchers to bring together the very latest advances in artificial intelligence.

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