Luz Breton
Luz Breton is an associate professor at the Biotechnology Institute of The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She has written extensively on the use of microbes in bioremediation and their association with heavy metal resistance.
Her work is concerned about the availability of safe and clean water resources for human consumption. In Mexico, rivers near high-density urbanization are being exploited and this is posing a risk to human health. As a NCSCE-TCI Fellow, Luz is collaborating with Davida Smyth, from the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement to develop several projects related to wastewater-based epidemiology, airborne transmission of microbes, and antibiotic resistance in urban ecosystems. Working on the local rivers of her community, Luz is currently studying the influence of hospitals on the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms in the Apatlaco River and plans to publish her findings this year.