Appa Team’s essay was titled “Mosstector: Development of Transgenic Liverworts as Detection Agent and Sustainable Bioremediation for Illegal Gold Mine”. Yudha said that there are more than 2.700 locations of illegal gold mines which causes the state to suffer from an economical loss of 3.6 trillion rupiah.

Moreover, illegal gold mines use heavy metal such as mercury in its extraction process and dump its waste directly into its surrounding environment. This action causes river pollution which damages the environment.

The Mosstector idea can drop two birds with one stone. “We genetically modify the Liverworts using transgenic and synthetic biology so that it changes color in the presence of mercury,” explained Yudha.

The moss color change occurs due to an insertion of bacteria genes. Then, the color change will be detected using detectors that will be installed on riversides. The detectors will be equipped with an IoT system so that it can be more effective. Operator is only required to monitor the coordinates of devices that detect mercury through an application.

Furthermore, Appa Team also equips their design with a bioremediation kit to collect mercury samples from water bodies. This kit has a size of 1x1 meter and can collect 4,5 grams of mercury. The size can be modified to adjust with its capacity.

*Photo: Appa Team Doc.

Yudha said that the idea of this project came from the landscape ecology course which talked about an illegal gold mine inside a conservation area. The number of illegal gold mines is rising every year and they thought that it would be a good topic for an essay.

“Start from what is the problem, then we design a solution that can truly solve that problem,” said Yudha.

The Appa Team experienced twists and turns in their journey of finding the solution. Utilizing an organism as a biosensor is quite uncommon in Indonesia. In addition to that, the perspectives of safety, convenience, financial, and bio-impacts need to be considered so that the solution that they offer is feasible and safe to be implemented.

According to Yudha, you should not feel daunted when you want to participate in a competition. The more experiences that you gain from only participating, the more knowledge that will be useful in the next competition.

“Winning is just a bonus, the process is more exciting, even when you face twists and turns,” he concluded.

Reporter: Ardiansyah Satria Aradhana (Agricultural Engineering, 2020)
Translator: Favian Aldilla R (Civil Engineering, 2019)