Oak Ridge Today

Honors: Roane State dental hygiene students place second in state competition

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Roane State Dental Hygiene Students

Roane State dental hygiene students, from left, Bethany Brisson, Laci Carroll, and Jessica Swanger created an award-winning table display about the transfer of bacteria from parent/caregiver to child, resulting in tooth decay. (Submitted photo)

 

Three first-year Roane State Community College dental hygiene students recently won second place at the Tennessee Dental Hygiene Association, or TDHA, table clinic competition.

The students—Bethany Brisson (Maryville), Laci Carroll (Clinton), and Jessica Swanger (Kingston)—attended the TDHA’s annual conference in Franklin. Their research table clinic was about the transfer of bacteria from parent/caregiver to child, resulting in tooth decay. Their work was awarded second place in the competition.

The students competed against six other dental hygiene programs from Tennessee. [Read more…]

ORNL: Toxic methylmercury-producing microbes more widespread than realized

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Microbes that live in rice paddies, northern peat bogs, and other previously unexpected environments are among the bacteria that can generate highly toxic methylmercury, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have learned.

This finding, published in Environmental Science and Technology, explains why deadly methylated mercury is produced in areas where the neurotoxin’s presence has puzzled researchers for decades. Methylmercury—the most dangerous form of mercury—damages the brain and immune system and is especially harmful to developing embryos. Certain bacteria transform inorganic mercury into toxic methylmercury. [Read more…]

ORNL research reveals new challenges for mercury cleanup

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Mercury Cycle

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are learning more about the microbial processes
that convert elemental mercury into methylmercury. (Submitted image)

More forms of mercury can be converted to deadly methylmercury than previously thought, according to a study published Sunday in Nature Geoscience. The discovery provides scientists with another piece of the mercury puzzle, bringing them one step closer to understanding the challenges associated with mercury cleanup.

Earlier this year, a multidisciplinary team of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered two key genes that are essential for microbes to convert oxidized mercury to methylmercury, a neurotoxin that can penetrate skin and at high doses affect brain and muscle tissue, causing paralysis and brain damage.

The discovery of how methylmercury is formed answered a question that had stumped scientists for decades, and the findings published this week build on that breakthrough. [Read more…]

ORNL scientists solve mercury mystery, Science reports

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By identifying two genes required for transforming inorganic into organic mercury, which is far more toxic, scientists today have taken a significant step toward protecting human health.

The question of how methylmercury, an organic form of mercury, is produced by natural processes in the environment has stumped scientists for decades, but a team led by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has solved the puzzle. Results of the study, published in the journal Science, provide the genetic basis for this process, known as microbial mercury methylation, and have far-reaching implications.

[Read more…]

Bacterial research at ORNL could aid biofuel production

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Bacteria

Researchers at the BioEnergy Science Center analyze bacteria that could aid in the production of next-generation biofuels. (Photo submitted by ORNL)

Submitted by ORNL

The identification of key proteins in a group of heat-loving bacteria by researchers at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center could help light a fire under next-generation biofuel production.

Scientists have long been on the hunt for cost-effective ways to break down complex plant material such as switchgrass in order to access sugars that are fermented to make biofuels. Conventional processes involve the addition of commercially produced enzymes to break down the cellulose.

[Read more…]