Monthly Archives: August 2022

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by Schistosome flatworms and is considered one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases, which are a group of tropical diseases endemic to low-income populations of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. However, Schistosomiasis affects more than 200 million people worldwide, and the CDC has placed it second only to malaria as the most devastating parasitic disease. 

Efforts to combat this infection are ramping up dramatically.  As an example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation granted The Imperial College of London $30 million dollars in 2002 to establish the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI), which initially partnered the college and the foundation with the World Health Organization and the Harvard School of Public Health.  Their goal was to identify hot spots for infection, provide health education within those regions, treat victims, and monitor impact of the tr

Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration membranes are used in a wide range of applications and industries to separate unwanted dissolved compounds from water, wastewater, and other liquids.  But, in order for a membrane to efficiently perform a desired separation, an appropriate molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) must be selected.  Molecular weight is generally most accurate when selecting an Ultrafiltration membrane; it is more of a guide or approximation when working with Nanofiltration.   

What is Molecular Weight Cut-Off (MWCO)?

Molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) can be defined as a nominal rating given to membranes based on the lowest molecular weight (measured in Daltons or Kilodaltons) at which they are able to retain more than 90% of a solute with a known molecular weight.

For example, a membrane with

A 2017 study(1) estimates that up to 2.41 million tons of plastic enters the ocean via rivers every year, but if one includes all land-based sources of plastic, the total amount of plastic entering the oceans each year could be higher than 12 million tons(2).  One of the biggest hurdles to solving the marine plastics problem is that no matter how fast we remove it from our oceans and beaches, there is a steady flow entering the oceans every day. In order to make any headway, we need to not only tackle the plastic that is already in the ocean, we also need to eradicate plastic pollution at the source to prevent it from getting into the ocean in the first place. Scientists have now created a super-powered mutant enzyme that is designed to quickly degrade plastic into components suitable for reuse, which could be a game-changer.

A team of US engineers and scientists have developed an enzyme that can break down