Lead Poisoning Removal

Team: 1018

School: Jackson Middle School

Area of Science: health


Interim: Lead Poisoning Removal
Team number - 1018

Team members: Krysta Carabajal krystacarabajal6@gmail.com
Cassidy Chau cassidychau24@gmail.com

Teacher: Sharee Lunsford lunsford@aps.edu

Sponsor: Patty Meyer pmeyer2843@gmail.com

Mentor: Meghan Hill

Area Of Science: health




Definition of Problem: Currently there was a crisis in Flint, Michigan where children and adults have been drinking contaminated water with lead since 2011. This is still going on till this day. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan became a problem because they changed their water system to save money by switching from lake water to river water. The water pipe system delivered the water through lead pipes. These pipes were old and rusty which poisoned the water. The city and state government tried to cover up the issue over a period of 10 years.

The level of lead poisoning in Flint's children is still three times the normal limit for humans. Lead poisoning collects in the teeth, bones, blood, kidney and liver.The intestines absorb approximately 10-20% of lead. Taken in large enough doses, lead can cause paralysis, brain damaged, and stillbirth.Children are generally more sensitive to lead poisoning than adults. The greatest risk is to brain development, where irreversible damage occurs.

Lead Poisoning is removed from the body by Chelation Therapy. In chelation therapy, a patient is given disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) through a series of weekly intravenous (IV) treatments, each lasting about 30 minutes.In general, the medication seeks out and sticks to metals and minerals in your bloodstream, creating a compound that your body removes when you urinate. This is a long process therapy.

We propose a safer, less toxic way to remove lead from the body as in Chelation Therapy.
We plan to introduce magnetic nanoparticles into the bloodstream that will bind to blood and tissue cells that contain lead. We will then use a strong magnet to filter them out.

Plan: We need to understand how the cells in the body cope with lead and fight lead poisoning. We have more research to do. We plan to model how the lead spreads in the body, damages it, and how the process will work at the cellular level. We will inject our patient in the model with magnetic nanoparticles that combine with the damaged cells so that they can be removed. Our model will show the brain that has lead poisoning and how the nanoparticles rid the body of the lead. We plan to model our system similar to a double blood cell machine except with a magnet to pull magnetic nanoparticles that are bound to the lead. We plan to use NetLogo to model our project.

Works Cited
“Chelation Therapy.” HealthLink BC, www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/ty3205spec.
“Flint Water Crisis Fast Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 2 July 2019, www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/us/flint-water-crisis-fast-facts/index.html.
“High Blood Pressure (Hypertension).” HealthLink BC, www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/sth149819#sth149819-sec.
“Lead Poisoning and Health.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health.
Ratini, Melinda. “Chelation Therapy: Purpose, Procedure, and Side-Effects.” WebMD, WebMD, 22 Mar. 2019, www.webmd.com/balance/guide/what-is-chelation-therapy#1.
‘’Removal of lead from Aquatic solution using synthesized iron nanoparticles’’ int. J. nanotechnol.,Vol. 13, no. 1, March. 2017, pp.83-90
“Synthesis of calcium carbonate nanoparticles in eruthrocytes enables efficient removal of extracellular lead ions.” Ru,Guo, Bai, Xie, Ma, Zhu, Wang, Wang, Yang and Lu. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-019-0199-z
“Thrombophlebitis.” HealthLink BC, www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/stt11581#stt11581-sec.


Team Members:

  Cassidy Chau
  Krysta Carabajal

Sponsoring Teacher: Karen Glennon

Mail the entire Team