SiREM launched a new webinar series on November 17th, 2016.

The webinars in this series will feature guest speakers who are subject matter experts to provide the latest information on technology advances in environmental remediation and site characterization. The webinars will combine recent research and development activities for new and emerging contaminants and technologies with real word applications to characterize and remediate contaminated sites. The first webinar titled "Looking inside microbial dechlorinating communities "featured Dr. Elizabeth Edwards from the University of Toronto with Jeff Roberts, Senior Manager, SiREM.

SiREM was founded in 2001 to provide the highest quality testing services and remediation products combined with unparalleled technical support to increase remediation effectiveness, decrease remediation costs and provide peace of mind during field implementation. Our focus is the remediation of chlorinated solvents, metals, petroleum hydrocarbons and other recalcitrant contaminants in soil, sediment and groundwater.

Click here to see the webinar (free registration required)

Abstract

Groundwater contamination is a serious threat to global health and prosperity. Chlorinated solvents are widely used as industrial degreasers, dry-cleaning agents and precursors in chemical synthesis, and therefore are common groundwater contaminants. Owing to their toxicity, even small spills render groundwater unsuitable for use, and cleanup is typically a costly and long-term undertaking.

A fascinating group of subsurface microorganisms, called Dehalococcoides, has been discovered that can dechlorinate the dry-cleaning solvent tetrachloroethene and the common industrial solvent trichloroethene to the benign product ethene. Remarkably, these organisms obtain energy for growth from dechlorination and several successful demonstrations of bioaugmentation, where an aquifer is inoculated with culture, have led to the development of a commercial market for such dechlorinating cultures.

Dehalococcoides and similar organisms are strict anaerobes and live as part of a larger community of microbes, where the activities of the whole far exceeds the sum of the parts. New molecular biology and metagenomic tools are helping us understand how these microbial communities cooperate so effectively, and how we can better take advantage of their abilities to help clean up the environment.

More Information

For more information regarding the SiREM, visit: http://siremlab.com/
For more information on the webinar series, visit: SiREM Webinar Series
For more information on the environmental remediation, contact Jeff Roberts at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..