2016 UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS
Determination of Mercury Levels in Flora of San Juan County, NM
Mentor: Dr. Callie A. Vanderbilt, Biology & Chemistry, San Juan College
OVERVIEW: This project measures mercury on plant tissues and nearby soil in San Juan County due to power plant pollution
BACKGROUND:
Mercury is a toxic heavy metal. Symptoms of mercury poisoning include tremors; emotional changes; insomnia; neuromuscular changes; headaches; performance deficits on tests of cognitive function; kidney damage; respiratory failure and death (from high levels). Inorganic mercury can be transformed in the environment, especially in lake and river sediments, into a potent neurotoxin, methylmercury. Once mercury enters an ecosystem it can bioaccumulate (accumulate within the tissues of an organism over its lifetime) and biomagnify (organisms that feed higher up in the food chain have higher levels of mercury in their tissues).
Elemental (inorganic) mercury can be found in coal. When the coal is burned in a coal-fired power plant, the mercury is not removed by scrubbers, and is injected into the atmosphere. San Juan County NM is home to two coal fired power plants, located near the San Juan River between Farmington and Shiprock. Atmospheric lifetime is between 0.5 and 2 days, so the mercury is mostly deposited locally, including on leaf and needle surfaces.
Levels of mercury in regional soils, waters, air and fish populations have been examined. Plants could serve as biomonitors of the amounts of mercury deposited from the atmosphere in different terrestrial areas. However, very little is known about the concentrations of mercury in local plant tissues.
The research conducted in the summer of 2015 determined the mercury levels on needles of pinyon pine (Pinusedulis) and juniper (Juniperusosteosperma), as they are not deciduous, and it was believed that they could represent a multi-year sample of mercury deposition. However, due to a limited number of pinyon and juniper trees in the primary depositional areas (downwind of the power plants), other plants were studied in 2015, including the shrub species rabbitbrush (Ericamerica spp.) and four-winged salt-bush (Atriplexcanescens). We determined that there was not a significant difference between deciduous and evergreen plant accumulation of mercury.
This year’s project would expand on these findings, to determine (1) whether the two shrub species could serve as biomonitors of mercury levels in the local, terrestrial ecosystem, (2) correlations between mercury levels in plants and in samples taken from nearby soils, and (3) correlations between mercury levels and distances from the power plants.
Location of project:
San Juan College (Farmington, NM), the biology and chemistry labs; collecting trips to local plant populations.
What would the research student do?
Research student(s) would be included in all aspects of the project. They would:
- Conduct literature searches for methodologies for collecting samples and removing mercury from plant tissues;
- Prepare reference standards;
- Collect samples;
- Process the samples;
- Learn to operate the ICP-OES to determine levels of mercury;
- Learn basic GIS techniques to prepare a map of sample locations and mercury levels;
- Participate in at least one poster session at FLC and SJC.
What would the student’s schedule be while working on this research?
The project would run May 16-June 24. The student(s) will be expected to work Monday to Friday approximately 8:30-5. Most of the work will occur on the San Juan College campus. Travel will be required to collect plant tissue from native populations within the Four Corners region. Research will be conducted during the days, and not on weekends. Locating, reading and discussing peer-reviewed papers will be expected.
What courses should a student have completed before participating in this project?
The successful student(s) should have completed Introductory Biology I (or equivalent) and at least one semester of college-level chemistry.
FLC courses: BIO 113, CHEM 150.
SJC courses: BIOL 121, CHEM 110 or CHEM 111
Analysis of Environmental Samples for Heavy Metal Content following the Gold King Mine Spill
Mentor: Dr. Callie Cole, Chemistry, Fort Lewis College
OVERVIEW:
This multidisciplinary project combines field and lab research. Students will visit local farms and ranches to learn how to properly take various environmental samples in collaboration with Dr. Kevin Lombard of San Juan College. Students will then prepare these samples for analysis and analyze these samples for their heavy metal content. Additionally, students will analyze historical samples taken in Fall 2015 to provide some comparison to their Spring/Summer 2016 data.
BACKGROUND:
On August 5th, 2015 an accident at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, CO led to the release of over three million gallons of contaminated water into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River. This incident brought the issue of acid mine drainage to the forefront of both the national and international media. Although various city and non-profit entities have studied heavy metal contamination post-incident, few projects have combined analyses of many environmental sample types including water, soils, and plants. Looking at a variety of environmental samples provides a more thorough picture of if and how heavy metals are accumulating in the Animas watershed system. The results of this project will lead to a better understanding of the fate and transport of toxic metals in the Animas watershed following an unanticipated contamination event.
Our overall goal is to establish, in collaboration with Dr. Kevin Lombard of San Juan College/NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Farmington and the agricultural community in the Animas watershed, a sustainable sampling and analysis methodology to better understand the concentration distribution of heavy metals (including Fe, Al, Cd, Ba, Cu, As, Sb, Co, Cr) in environmental samples including water, soils, and plants. The concentration of these metals in the river water surged following the spill, but returned to baseline within 10 days of the incident. However, heavy metal laden sludge and sediment remains on the banks and in river eddies. It is possible that disturbance events such as spring runoff will mobilize the metals currently tied up in the sludge layer, possibly leading to their redistribution within the ecosystem. Thanks to a productive interdisciplinary collaboration between geosciences, biology, and chemistry at Fort Lewis College, we currently have soil and plant samples gathered from several local farms from Fall 2015 immediately following the GKM spill. Therefore, during this summer’s research period, students will have the opportunity to study samples from the season immediately following the spill (Fall 2015) alongside spring/early summer samples following the spring runoff (Spring/Summer 2016). This will provide a unique comparison of seasons to elucidate the natural increase and decrease in heavy metal concentration due to various seasonal transport mechanisms.
A central focus of this summer research project will be on the quantitative analysis of heavy metal content of these environmental samples using atomic emission spectrometry (Agilent Microwave-Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer, or MP-AES). This is a brand new state-of-the art instrument capable of detecting very low concentrations of heavy metals. Throughout this project, students will calibrate and maintain this instrument, learn background correction techniques, and design analysis methods to increase the signal-to-noise ratio for various heavy metals. These laboratory skills, in combination with field sampling experience, will provide students with an exciting view of STEM in and out of the lab, while addressing a scientific problem extremely relevant to the Four Corners area and beyond.
Location of project:
Chemistry Department, Fort Lewis College(Durango, CO)
What would the research student do?
During the 6 week research period in the summer of 2016, students will be involved in a multidisciplinary research project combining both field and lab work. Students will visit local farms and ranches to learn how to properly take various environmental samples in collaboration with Dr. Kevin Lombard of San Juan College. Students will then prepare these samples for analysis through drying and acid digestion according to published methods. Last but not least, students will learn how to quantitatively analyze these samples for their heavy metal content using an atomic emission spectrometer (Agilent Microwave-Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer, or MP-AES). Using standards of known concentration, students will calibrate the instrument and gain an understanding of the instrumental response at various heavy metal concentration levels. They will then use these calibrations to determine the concentration of heavy metals in the samples that they have gathered. Additionally, students will analyze historical samples taken in Fall 2015 to provide some comparison to their Spring/Summer 2016 data. Throughout the research project, students will meet with Dr. Cole and her collaborators to discuss their preliminary results and findings, increasing their ability to communicate scientific data. Finally, each student will prepare a poster to present the work that they have accomplished during the research period.
What would the student’s schedule be while working on this research?
I plan to conduct research during the 6 week period from May 16th – June 24th, M–F, 8am-4pm.
What courses should a student have completed before participating in this project?
FLC courses: CHEM 150 and CHEM 151.
SJC courses: CHEM 111 and CHEM 112.
Using Plant Derived Natural Products to Improve Honey Bee Health
Mentor: Dr. William Collins, Chemistry, Fort Lewis College
OVERVIEW:
Students will test use of newly synthesized essential oils to protect honey bees at the FLC College Research Apiary. This will include (1) feeding studies with honey bees at the apiary; (2) analyzing the bees’ blood to see if the synthesized molecules are transported in the blood; and (3) determine where the molecules migrate within a hive when fed to nurse bees.
BACKGROUND:
Worldwide honey bee (Apismilifera) populations are in a state of decline. While there are many different factors, the primary contributor to honey bee population losses is the aptly named, ectoparasitic mite: Varroa destructor (Figure 1). These mites both weaken bees’ immune systems by feeding on hemolymph fluid (akin to blood), and are attributed as the primary vectors by which viruses are passed between beehives. Current anti-mite molecules (acaracides) suffer from ineffective delivery and may actually be assisting natural selection processes for drug-resistant Varroa mites. To directly address this problem, a new class of highly selective, anti-varroa mite molecules will be developed and tested for efficacy with honey bee populations at the Fort Lewis College research apiary.
As a starting point for these investigations, it has been recently shown by several research groups that naturally occurring, non-toxic, essential oils such as thymol and carvacrol (constituents of oil of thyme and oil of origanum) show promise against the Varroa mite (Figure 2). Nevertheless, efficient and selective delivery of these molecules within a standard beehive remains a challenge. Because the method of delivery of these oils is to volatilize and effectively fumigate the hive, their efficacy is severely impacted by fluctuating temperatures within the hive (e.g., low temperatures reduce the volatility of the oil which in turn reduces the effective dose of acaracide in the hive; high temperatures increase the volatility of the oil which leads to toxic levels of the oil to the honey bee colony). Thus, despite the enthusiasm from the beekeeping community on the discovery of these non-toxic, acarcidal molecules, the delivery of these essential oils is often imprecise and has been shown to lead to long-term problems with colony health.
This project will address this abovementioned challenge by chemically modifying the essential oils with a sugar molecule. This modification is hypothesized to do several things: 1) The molecule will become water-soluble and non-volatile. This will allow the compound to be delivered in a specific quantity in a sugar-syrup solution of feed to the bees instead of fumigation. 2) The molecule will act as pro-drug, in which the sugar is initially enzymatically cleaved from the essential oil in the bee gut (Scheme 1). The bee can then distribute the active anti-mite molecule to other bees in the colony or deliver the anti-mite molecule to bee larvae. 3) After ingestion, the essential oil molecule is metabolically transported from the gut to the bee’s hemolymph. Having appreciable concentrations of these essential oils in the hemolymph of a bee is hypothesized to completely deter, or at least offer some level of protection, from the feeding behavior of the Varroa mite.
Location of project:
This project will take place in two locations: 1) the Chemistry Department at Fort Lewis College, and 2) the Fort Lewis College Research Apiary. Both locations are in Durango, CO.
What would the research student do?
Students would work side-by-side with Dr. Collins and other undergraduate research students performing feeding studies with live bees from our research apiaries. We will be analyzing the blood (hemolymph) of these bees after ingesting the anti-mite molecules and we will be analyzing where these molecules get deposited in a hive. We will do this through mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS), which is an analytical technique that looks at the masses of various molecules.
What would the student’s schedule be while working on this research?
There is some flexibility to this schedule, but ideally the six-week research period (all consecutive) would begin on the 23rd of May or later. Students will be expected to be either in the lab or at the research apiary (depending upon the day) from 9am to 5pm.
What courses should a student have completed before participating in this project?
FLC courses: CHEM 150.
SJC courses: CHEM 111.
Analysis of Honey, Plant Extracts, and Proteins by Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry and Capillary Electrophoresis
Mentor: Dr. Eric Miller, Chemistry, San Juan College
OVERVIEW: This project involves the development of instrumentation and methods used to separate and identify mixtures of chemicals. We will be using these techniques to study the chemical composition of local honey, local plant extracts, as well as proteins involved in learning.
BACKGROUND:
Honey produced locally in San Juan County has shown success in treating MRSA (staph) infections and is currently being studied in clinical trials by a group of physicians in Farmington, New Mexico. As part of this work, Dr. Don Hyder, Professor of Biology and Horticulture at San Juan College, our students, and myself have been working on analyzing this honey to determine the active chemical composition. Last year we identified several compounds in the honey. Two chemicals in significant concentrations were found with known antifungal and antibacterial properties. This summer we will be looking to quantify compounds in this honey by Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), an instrument with the capability to separate mixtures of chemicals and analyze them individually. We are using a somewhat new sampling technique called Solid Phase Micro Extraction (SPME) used to introduce the compounds of interest into the GC-MS.
A secondary project will involve the completion of a home built Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) system for the analysis of plant extracts and protein analysis. CE is another type of instrument that separates mixtures of chemicals for individual analysis but by different means as a GC-MS. The interest in analyzing certain local plant extracts is related to the honey project in an effort to source the plants responsible for the remarkable properties of the honey. We also wish to investigate using CE to detect certain proteins of interest related to neural learning models. This is in support of Dr. Veronica Evans, Professor of Biology at San Juan College, who is studying the molecular events occurring during formation of long term memories utilizing tobacco hornworms. The CE system uses a fiber optic diode array spectrophotometer, a type of instrument used to analyze light, for chemical detection. We will be installing a fiber optic light source component for the CE instrument and then testing the system for these applications.
Location of project:
San Juan College Chemistry Laboratory, Farmington, New Mexico.
What would the research student do?
Students will work as a team on both projects. They will learn the theories of operation of GC-MS and CE instrumentation. They will assist in the development of methods of analysis including extracting the samples, running the analyses, and interpreting the results. Students will prepare calibration standards using basic chemistry techniques. The CE system will require some hardware installation and testing which will also involve learning the software used to run the components. Students will present their work as a poster presentation at local meetings and possibly other state and national meetings.
What would the student’s schedule be while working on this research?
Students will work 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Thursday, for a total of 30 days starting May 16 and ending July 6, 2016.
What courses should a student have completed before participating in this project?
Students will need to have completed General Chemistry I and II by the beginning of the summer 2016.
FLC courses: CHEM 150 & CHEM 151
SJC courses: CHEM 111 & CHEM 112
Liquid Sodium Research for Generation IV Nuclear Reactors
Mentor: Dr. Billy Nollet, Engineering, Fort Lewis College
OVERVIEW:
Students will design an instrument capable of measuring oxygen concentration and nuclear coolant that could be used for a modern nuclear reactor.
BACKGROUND:
Technological development of improved energy production methods is increasingly important in today’s world. The leading candidate for the next generation nuclear power reactor uses liquid sodium as the primary coolant (rather than water, which all current American reactors use). The next generation reactors will be able to burn spent nuclear fuel which currently is stored on site at nuclear power stations. These new reactors will be able to close the fuel cycle, meaning that no long term radioactive byproducts will be produced. In addition, as with all nuclear technology, no greenhouse gasses are produced as a byproduct of power generation.