Mining-polluted water a potential source of antibiotics: University research reveals links between algae and health benefits.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: Mining

Research from Laurentian University in Sudbury is showing that waterbodies located within five kilometres of abandoned Northern Ontario mine sites could be a potential new source of antibiotics.

Led by Dr. Ashley Scott, a professor of bioengineering at the Bharti School of Engineering, the research was published in a recent issue of Phycologia, a journal that features work related to the scientific study of algae, or phycology.

Through his earlier work, Scott had studied microalgae to determine if they could be used to produce biofuel. But because of their beneficial attributes, he speculated the algae could also be used to produce health products, particularly antibiotics.

In the North, where there is an abundance of waterbodies impacted by decades of mining, he wondered if those stressed environments could produce algae with antibiotic properties.

"It's like anything: our body only produces these extra things if we're stressed, and algae are no different," Scott said. "And because they're living in a stressed environment, would antibiotics be possibly one of them?"

In 2011, he and his team visited 40 sites across Northern Ontario, close to mines that had long been abandoned, and took samples from nearby waterbodies. They then tested the algae in the water against various bacteria.

The results showed that, when tested against Staphylococcus aureus (a common, naturally occurring bacterium that can cause infections of the skin, lungs, brain or blood), 37.5 per cent of the algae was effective against it.

What's more, the minimum concentrations of algae required to inhibit the bacterium were lower than in any previous reports. In other words, the antibacterial property Scott found is more potent than what's been uncovered in previous research.

Scott called the results "exceptional."

"I think this is probably one of the most exciting projects I've stumbled into," he said.

From a broader perspective, the work is significant because, as bacteria become more resistant to existing antibiotics, new sources are needed, Scott said. He's also trying to determine if antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids, which have been linked to health benefits, can be gleaned from the algae.

Perhaps even more exciting, from an industry perspective, is that it's an opportunity to address the longstanding problem of how to deal with polluted water left behind by mining.

"I'm not saying algae is going to resolve the problem, but it's part of this need to look elsewhere...