{"id":233393,"date":"2026-03-16T10:15:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/plastic-bottles-transformed-into-parkinsons-drug-using-bacteria"},"modified":"2026-03-16T10:15:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:15:35","slug":"plastic-bottles-transformed-into-parkinsons-drug-using-bacteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/plastic-bottles-transformed-into-parkinsons-drug-using-bacteria","title":{"rendered":"Plastic bottles transformed into Parkinson\u2019s drug using bacteria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/plastic-bottles-transformed-into-parkinsons-drug-using-bacteria2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A drug to treat Parkinson\u2019s disease can be made from waste plastic bottles using a pioneering method, a study shows. The approach harnesses the power of bacteria to transform post-consumer plastic into L-DOPA, a frontline medication for the neurological disorder. It is the first time a natural, biological process has been engineered to turn plastic waste into a therapeutic for a neurological disease, researchers say.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists at the University of Edinburgh <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2023-11-plastic-eating-bacteria-materials-products.html?utm_source=embeddings&utm_medium=related&utm_campaign=internal\" rel=\"related\">engineered E. coli<\/a> bacteria to turn a type of plastic used widely in food and drink packaging\u2014polyethylene terephthalate, or PET\u2014into L-DOPA. The process involves first breaking down PET waste\u2014some 50 million tonnes of which are produced annually\u2014into chemical building blocks of terephthalic acid. Molecules of terephthalic acid are then transformed into L-DOPA by the engineered bacteria through a series of biological reactions.<\/p>\n<p>Using the new technique to produce L-DOPA is more sustainable than traditional methods of making pharmaceuticals, which rely on the use of finite fossil fuels, the team says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A drug to treat Parkinson\u2019s disease can be made from waste plastic bottles using a pioneering method, a study shows. The approach harnesses the power of bacteria to transform post-consumer plastic into L-DOPA, a frontline medication for the neurological disorder. It is the first time a natural, biological process has been engineered to turn plastic [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,19,1506],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-chemistry","category-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}