Female Hormone Detector in River Water

A team of researchers from Unicamp (State University of Campinas) in Brazil working with North Americans researchers from the University of Tennessee, have developed a yeast that can detect hormones in river water. I found this research when I took a class called Instrumental Analytical Chemistry in my university in Brazil. My professor asked me to do some research about a specific field of my major and I read this incredible article. As soon I started to read this article I found it fascinating. A research about the water quality is really interesting but also it is something needed in countries that do not have good sanitation.

When I started to read the research I didn't even know that the hormone was present in the water, especially in the water that we drink. I got very excited and kept reading more about it. I read that a high level of hormones in the water is dangerous for the environment, the animals and human health. But the thing that really made me want to read more was to know that my own country had a problem with hormones in the water and most of the people didn’t even know before this work was published. According to an article written by Yuri Vasconcelos and published in a magazine called PESQUISA FAPESB, scientists are worried because these compounds rapidly spread through the planet's reserves of water.

The goal of this research was to discover if the transgenic yeast that they created could detect hormones in the water. The detector works this way: first, the transgenic yeast has a human gene receptor and a gene of a luminescent bacteria. Then the yeast is introduced in the water. At this point the human gene receptor attracts the hormone called estrogen from the water into the yeast. Then while these molecules of hormones are inside the yeast they react with the gene of luminescent bacteria and emit a luminosity. This luminosity can’t be seen by the eye so they need to use a special microscope.

This detector can be the salvation of so many things. While we can detect these hormones in the water we can find a better way to take them off from our supplies of water. With this initiative we can prevent the feminization of fish and amphibians, as well as sexual abnormalities in shellfish. Finally, we can also prevent the premature menstruations of girls and the reduction in numbers of sperm in men.