Dr Letitia Pillay's research interests focus primarily on the concentration, behaviour and potential remediation of contaminants (both organic and inorganic) in environmental ecosystems, with a particular focus on metal mobility and speciation in plants, sediment, water and to a more limited extent marine biota.
The bioavailability and speciation of metals in environmental and biological samples are key to understanding their toxicity and impact on living organisms. Understanding these parameters allows for comprehensive assessments to be made on the extent that pollutants will affect an ecosystem and potentially allow for the development of remediation processes, both long and short term. Her speciation research has focused on using a combination of hyphenated techniques, and X-ray synchrotron techniques, as well as chemical methods to assess bioavailability. The measurement of isotope ratios in sediment has become an important aspect in environmental research and enables the identification of anthropogenic contaminants and allows for the determination sediment deposition rates.
Another research focus is based on hyperaccumulator plants which are capable of taking up elevated concentrations of metals from soils. These plants can have a major impact on successful phytoremediation processes. My current research involves understanding the uptake mechanisms and identification of compounds responsible for hyperaccumulation in plants. This will allow for manipulation of uptake processes which in turn may enhance remediation or provide novel techniques for remediation.
