Tohoku University · Environmental Science
Professor Mei-Fang Chien's research lab specializes in environmental biotechnology, focusing on microbial and plant-based remediation of heavy metal and metalloid pollutants such as cadmium, zinc, mercury, and arsenic. The lab investigates the molecular mechanisms of metal hyperaccumulation in plants like *Arabidopsis halleri* and *Pteris* ferns, as well as the role of microbial communities and transposons in enhancing metal resistance and bioremediation efficiency. A key research direction involves understanding how environmental factors—particularly temperature—affect metal uptake and translocation in hyperaccumulator species, aiming to optimize phytoremediation strategies under real-world conditions. The lab also explores microbial-assisted phytoextraction and the genetic basis of metal transport and detoxification in both plants and bacteria.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Bioremediation is one of the promising environment-friendly approaches to eliminate oil contamination. However, heavy oil is known to degrade slowly due to its hydrophobicity. Therefore, microorganisms capable of producing biosurfactants are gaining substantial interest because of their potential to alter hydrocarbon properties and thereby speed up the degradation process. In this study, six bacterial consortia were obtained from the oil-spilled beach areas in Miyagi, Japan, and all of which exh
Cadmium (Cd), which is present in zinc (Zn) ore, is a toxic metal and causes contamination globally. Phytoremediation is a promising technology for the remediation of sites with low and moderate contamination. Temperature is an important factor in phytoremediation because it has an impact on both plant biomass and the accumulation of heavy metals. However, little is known about the influence of temperature on heavy metal accumulation by the Cd and Zn hyperaccumulator <i>Arabidopsis halleri</i> s
Using plants as bioremediation agents are rising worldwide as an environmentally friendly tool to remove contaminants such as heavy metals. Arabidopsis halleri ssp. gemmifera is able to hyperaccumulate Cd/Zn, however, the commonality between Cd/Zn accumulation pathways are still vague. This study focused on HMA4 and IRT3 as indicators and investigated their transcription in A. halleri ssp. gemmifera under Cd/Zn treatments. In addition to the known Cd/Zn xylem loading functions in roots, HMA4 sho
A novel Tn<i>MERI</i>1-like transposon designated as Tn<i>MARS</i>1 was identified from mercury resistant <i>Bacilli</i> isolated from Minamata Bay sediment. Two adjacent <i>ars</i> operon-like gene clusters, <i>ars1</i> and <i>ars2</i>, flanked by a pair of 78-bp inverted repeat sequences, which resulted in a 13.8-kbp transposon-like fragment, were found to be sandwiched between two transposable genes of the Tn<i>MERI</i>1-like transposon of a mercury resistant bacterium, <i>Bacillus</i> sp. MB
Arsenic (As) hyperaccumulator <i>Pteris</i> ferns are renowned for their capacity to accumulate As and have been used to remediate As-contaminated environmental. However, there is less information on how they perform under low temperature though it is important for practical phytoremediation. The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of temperature on As accumulation by three As hyperaccumulators, <i>Pteris multifida</i>, <i>Pteris cretica</i> and <i>Pteris vittata</i>. Ferns were cul
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