The Iyer laboratory has collected over 70 identified bacterial microorganisms that degrade a variety of xenobiotic compounds including organophosphate pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons and organic solvents.  

In addition to their bioremediation potential, genomic sequence data from these strains can be mined for useful information.

The presence or absence of different bacteria and xenobiotic biomarkers at a given site provides critical information on potential xenobiotic distribution (such as pesticides) dispersed across the environment.

One major research focus of the ESRM is to utilize our collected microorganisms as soil sensors in genomic-spatial analyses for environmental monitoring applications.  

Students too may now use the maps provided on this web portal to learn more about our collection of soil sensing microbes and to study and compare the distribution of xenobiotic degradation activity across sampled regions.