[Casual Christmas] I am a 17 year old eastern european and I research how well two different bacteria species (isolated from oil refinery) can biodegrade oil and it's aromatic compound. AMA!

I am also a 17 y/o Eastern European and my greatest accomplishment was probably going to a party that my friend was invited to. How are you with other people your age, socially speaking?

I know that the most of the people (even at my age) are "homies" and aren't afraid with speaking them. What is the worst that can happen? Basically nothing. Even though I have heard that I am speeking "too much."

Ah. I live in the US and I’m pretty bad at just about everything, plus the “just speak” culture doesn’t exist in the US so my social life is terrible.

Where do you live rn?

Estonia :P

How did you learn English?

I learned english in school, with PC and especially with help of YouTube. English is must-know laungage

If I remember correctly, Estonia is Russian-speaking. I am Russian-speaking, is you Russian-speaking?

Yes I can speak russian and approximately quater are russians, but the new generations are comming and it's extremely slowly losing importance.

"Just speak" is that like small talk with a random person so it's not awkward being near them in silence?

Sometimes it's better to be in silence than have an awkward talk

Yeah, English speakers are more reserved, especially if they are English to begin with. If im interpreting that correctly. So Estonians say pretty much whatever is on their minds?

Not always. I would say that I'm just not afraid. I have even wrote a letter to the President

why do we eastern europeans always start off, "I'm from eastern europe. . ."?

I think that the "other" world thinks that we can't escape from the past of USSR

will these bacteria only biodegrade raw petroleum or any and all of its byproducts?

All of its byproducts. It even eats cyclical bensene.

What does the bacteria biodegrade the oil into?

Simpler products. End results should be carbondioxide and water. They are using oil as carbon source

Are these in any way similar to exoelectrogens used in microbial fuel cells that convert a carbon source to (usually) carbon dioxide and water as an end product?

Is the oil in direct contact with the bacteria or is it in a separate chamber as seen in MFCs?

I've also done some research at high school on MFCs specifically so I might just ask you a lot of questions :P.

Should be. The oil, hexadecane and phenole are in same vial with bacteria(s)

What exactly is the mechanism which allows the bacteria to degrade the compounds? You can link me to an article if you want to save time, I'll read it.

Also,what exactly does your research entail? Which variables are you looking at exactly?

A schoolmate did research on that, but sadly only the resume is in english. Sending a link in PM

How fast is the degradation process happening at? I would assume it is rather slow, but I would hope it is fast enough for commercial applications.

Also what are your hopes for commercial uses other than cleaning oil spills?

With out natural plasmids the phenole was consumed in about 12 hour. The hexadecane degraded over the day. Crude oil took the longest time. Over 2 days and the bacteria with crude oil was still dividing.

So, I'm sure these would be great to scatter over oil spills and let the bacteria clean everything up. How easy is it to stop/neutralize the bacteria? For instance, if a bunch of it was dumped into some wells in Iraq, would it basically "destroy" the wells forever? Just go on eating everything deeper and deeper?

pound. This would theoretically prevent then spreading/taking over an ecosystem and as soon as the job is done they

These two bacterias are aerobic and the oil wells are underground so there isn't much oxygen. The anaerobic degradation is slower than aerobic. As far as I know, that might be possible, but bacterias are everywhere and there are kinds of bacterias for example that can reduce pH, but yet there isn't a static pH everywhere.

I'm 28 and and all I've done for the last two days is smoke pot and play Wolfenstein. Where did I go wrong?

Maybe that you didn't manage to think clearly through your life goals and the same what the u/Janus96Approx said

Do people not take you seriously because of your age?

Extremely few people.

Give it to me straight Doc, are the oceans fucked?

Yes. Not just oil spills, but the pollution and much more, but there is hope.

are there promising similar bacteria that perform the reverse process efficiently enough to replace current extraction and refinery methods (convert waste matter into oil)?

As far as I know it is useless for bacteria to create oil, because it needs energy and the majority from oil is created in a long term, because it needs a pressure

How many pats on the back would you like?

A good question. 0 or 1, dunno. :)

Do you have any practical applications in mind? I think I've heard of people trying to use bacteria to clean up oil spills.

Yep, that should help clean up oil spills and also increase the efficiency when oil industries are dealing with oily waste water

what got you interested in this so young?

I loved experimenting with different things and I wasn't afraid of touching different things until I have gloves or do not feel extremely strong smell. I thought about different scientific careers and realized that in microbiology I will get a good salary can help others and see word

Microbiology isn’t that well paid here in Germany, dunno about Eastern Europe doe.

The junior researcher here gets about 1000€ per month, but that's the additional reason why I'm looking froward to work in WHO

Have you looked into fungi?

polymers derived from oi

Nope

Did you ever figure out how to shave your butt hair?

I use shower to get rid of small speks :D

Do you know which aromatic you're biodegrading? Also is your experiment set in an aerobic or anaerobic setting?

Aerobic setting and I have 1,3 mM, 2,5 mM, 5 mM phenol, hexadecane and obviously crude oil.

Is it a realistic scenario that these bacteria can be placed onto oilspill and clean the area? Will it then take a huge amount of time before the oil is gone? How easy is it to multiply these bacteria in a lab?

Yep this is a realistic scenario and it takes a huge time as the current test results have told (unmodified didn't stop multiplying even after 2 and a half days.

So is your job just to look at a jar all day?

One part was. The other part was to make that bacteria glowing and inserting natural plasmids.

I spilled a little kerosene in my car. How can I get the smell out?

Just wash or put vinegar somewhere in the car. It should reduce the smell.

What do you hope to do with this? Do you hope that it could eventually help clean up efforts for oil spills in an efficient and eco-criendly manner? It sounds amazing!

I'm doing it because I'll see, how microbiological works are done and I really enjoy doing challenging things.

What was your secret to do more for this planet in 17 years than I have in 37?

Promote science, because it's the only way humanity can survive. :)

TÜ or EMÜ?

Also, kasuta imguri, lol.

Imgur ei funkand :D Tartu Ülikoolis siiski

Where you did conduct the research? Like, was it in educational instituition? How much support as scientists and students you do receive from your state?

Because the Estonia is a small country and I'm living in the city where the national university is located (Tartu) and almost everyone is somehow connected with the university. Everyone can e-mail with scientists. The Estonian Science Agency have even coordinator for students who want to do a research they are connecting a scientist and a school student

What do they smell like?

If you had fester, it's alike.

Have you tried Programming?

I have done simple Java password checking program and made in 3th grade my own html homepage (obviously my granddad helped).

well, how well?

I haven't finished trials yet, because the bacteria needs consistency so I'm doing it during the intersessions. Next thursday I will finish with it.

Are you studying dehalococcoides?

Nope

Hello! I'm a PhD candidate at Georgia State researching anaerobic bacteria that can degrade petroleum and its aromatic constituents! I'm just wondering what bacteria you're working with? Nice to see people with a desire to investigate these things.

Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes ICTN13 and Acinetobacter sp. strain ICP1

How do you identify the bacteria?

The identifying work was already done before I started, but here is a great webpage that should give the answer. The staining helps to identify and also genetic tests are telling, which bacteria it is.

Is tinfoil really the best way to keep the bacteria "isolated"?

Tinfoil is actually quite tight around. The bacteria's aren't super athletes and won't squeeze through. Everything else was also covered with tinfoil

Theres no real money in this, why do you do this?

What exactly do you mean with "in this"? If you mean research it is because I like to be in challenging situatuons and I will know more how microbiological works look like. In 11th grade it is obligatory to do a research or a student company, but I would done both even if it wouldn't been a obligatory