Week 10 - STEAM Research Poster

Hello!

Hope everyone is having an easy week. I know most of you have already turned in most of your research rough draft.

My lab this year has been a little hectic just cause there was things that have came up. Life can be pretty hard sometimes and balancing everything can be hard. I've learned that taking some time to meditate and breath to ease anxiety and stress is the #1 key. Please do so, and also take care of your mental health.

I will be presenting my research poster I put together for my statistics class with my group. It was so much fun to be a leader as they knew I had the experience with presenting (even though I don't consider myself an expert) they were able to rely on me for help. (: Hope to see some of you there so you guys can look at what data I analyzed this semester. (:

Week 8: Finishing up Identifying Microplastics + Microfibers

Hello!

Hope everyone's week is starting off good! I was not in last week since ASU had their fall break! This week I came in very refreshed since I spent my weekend up in Flagstaff exploring and chasing the fall colors at Snowbowl. It was so memorizing and beautiful! Makes me wish Phoenix could have Aspen and Ponderosa trees down here. Here are some pictures I took. (:

This week, I am wrapping up identifying the micro-plastics and microfibers from our samples from the American Samoa. So I got a bit confused with the part of my project. I know I had said we are investigating the organic contaminants and micro-plastics in the Philippians (which the rest of the group is focused on that project), but what I am doing is double checking a new method that was used in the previous semesters that Beth Polidoro's group has finished up doing. I looked at three out of four sites of samples that had gone through 4 different washes using hydrogen peroxide and sodium chloride to see if there would be more microplastics and microfibers extracted. From what I've had to discover, its pretty good to say that there is a good amount of microplastics and microfibers that were identified using this method. Here are some pictures of my set up in lab. 

Week 6!

Hello everyone!

I wish I had taken pictures of what I did in the lab this week! I continued identifying the microplastics and microfibers under the microscope while my lab partner Kristi was measuring bivalves clams shells and weighing out the tissue for a doctoral student's research with Dr. Beth Polidoro. The reason for examining the marine organism like clams is because they filter feed, meaning they take a particulate food such as phytoplankton from the water. While doing this, they are taking in concentrations of contaminants and accumulate in the tissue of the organism. I found this super interesting since I love seafood because now doing the research of how most marine ecosystems are becoming more and more polluted, we need to find the importance of continuing to find more research in this field and continue educating others. Maybe we should eat less of what we eat weekly of seafood to reduce our chances of any chronic problems such as reproductive disorders, muscular and neurological abnormalities.

Let me know if you guys have any questions with the research im doing! (: Im learning more and more from you guys. I hope your guys project is going well!


- Francisco

Week 5: Contination of Research

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone's week has been productive. I had to miss this weeks lab at ASU West due to car situations, glad that is over now. If you've seen Jasmine's post this week, you may have received a glimpse of what we are currently working on this semester. It is truly inspiring to be apart of future scientists who are wanting to learn, grow, and help bring awareness of what is being discovered underneath a microscope.

Like I said previously, Beth brought back water samples from the Philippines in the form of SPMD's (Semipermeable Membrane Devices) and Silicone Monitoring Device Wristbands. We are hoping that two different methods we will be using to test water contamination will give us the best results.

I didn't know until now that Beth has an article on ASU's Global Engagement page! I recommend for those who are curious to read about what we are doing, to look further into it. "https://asunow.asu.edu/20190918-global-engagement-asu-beth-polidoro-swat-lab-seafood-safe-microplastics"

Cant wait to be back in the lab next week!

Oh! I almost forgot to mention, who's all ready for November's Conference at ASU Tempe?! Super excited!!!!!

- Francisco

Week 4: Dilluting Samples in Hexane

Hello Everyone,

Hope everyone has been doing great! Its been a really long week since I have been dealing with car situation and what not, but its not the end of the world. This week in lab we finally proceeded with gather our samples (SPMD's and silicon wristbands) that were submerged in Philippines water, allowing the plastic to absorb bacteria or any organic chemicals. Once we rinsed off the plastic with DI water to get rid of any algae growth, we put it in it's proper container and submerge it with Hexane. The reason behind using Hexane as a solvent extraction is for its non-polar nature, low latent heat of evaporation, and high selectivity to solvents. After labeling everything, Beth Polidoro and Jazmin left it prepared for the next group of interns to go ahead and put it on the rotatory for a few days. We should see how it comes out! Beth Polidoro told us that the wristbands will swell when emerged in Hexane! So cool!

Week 3: Identifying contaminants under microscope

Hi guys! Hope everyone has had a productive week. This week Beth Polidoro got the microscope we needed to identify the microplastics and microfibers! To start identifying the microplastics/microfibers off the sample, I had to first coordinate the sample that way I knew where the microplastics/microfibers were located at. I labeled everything in my lab notebook with the sample name and drew out what coordinate the microplastics were at. 

It's pretty awesome seeing the microplastic underneath the microplastic because it is so hard identifying them with just your eyes. Who would've known! I'm excited to see how many of them we go through. All I know is we have a long way to go! Excited to show you guys the results. 

- Francisco 

Week 2 - Identifying Microplastics and Microfibers

Hello Everyone, 

I hope everyone's week has been great. I had kind of a hiccup this week. I ended up getting rear ended on monday on my way to ASU West which was not so great, but I'm glad I was fine. It kind of shifted my entire week though haha. I went in thinking I would already be starting on my project but Beth Polidoro ended up not having the right microscope to look at the micro-plastics! So it kind of ended up working out because I had been late because of the car accident I had. 

Next week will be the official start for me to identify the microplastics and microfibers samples that Beth has prepared for me. I believe there is a total of 30 samples total that I will be looking at. 

I will keep you guys up to date with my project. Hope everyone’s research is starting off well.

Week 1 - The start of the Fall Research

Hi guys, 

I hope everyone is starting out their research out very well. I'm still trying to get back in the groove of things, which has been a bit challenging but I am getting there. 

So for many of you who may be curious, what am I working on this semester over at ASU West? 

And to answer that, I am still learning more about it. Beth Polidoro had some of her undergrads go out to the Philippines to collect samples during the summer to bring it back to ASU so we could further examine any contaminants like microplastic or organic chemicals. The reason I'm so interested in working with Beth's lab has been in my high curiosity on pollution found in our water. It's nice to have multiple undergrads working in this lab. There's a total of six of us who some are graduating next year. I can't wait to show you guys what I will be working on, talk about the conferences, and opportunities I shall be obtaining from this.  

Other students will be starting the research this week but since I go in just on Monday's, I will be starting next week! Let me know if you guys have any questions or curious to know about any opportunities at ASU! (: Best of luck this entire semester everyone.

- Francisco 

Week 1: Introduction

Hi Everyone, 

My name is Francisco. I am a a junior at Phoenix College.  This will be my third semester being in the STEM/TRAIN program here at Phoenix College.  This year, I am doing research at ASU West examining water quality with Beth Polidoro examining water quality from samples brought from the Philippines. I plan on doing study abroad or get to travel to different places to examine/provide date of contaminants in communities that are suffering with high contamination.

This summer I did a summer research program over at ASU West, I learned a lot about how to write cover letters, ask for recommendation letters, and how to network and approach new opportunities. It was a lot of fun and I got to learn more about what I want to study. This year I plan on learning more about water quality and gaining experience with this field.

Dehydration Process - One Step Closer

Hello guys,

I hope everyone's week has been busy and great! I came back to most of the micro plastics I extracted from the DI water to being completely dried out. I weighed each cup and wrote down my data. Once I did that, I had already poured some DI from last week so that way I can continue to extract the micro plastics.  I redid the process again but this time adding less DI water to each cup so that way the dehydration process wouldn't take as long as it did the last time. I extracted most of the micro plastics as I possibly could but there still remained some micro plastics in the sediment. :( I created a new set of rows of weighed out sediment so I can start extracting a new set of micro plastics using a Sodium Chloride solvent.

From my observations, I feel like DI water did a solid job with seperating the micro plastics from the sediment. That could be because of the density of DI water.

Next week I will reweigh the micro plastics once it has finished dehydrating. I will continue with extracting micro plastics from sediment using Sodium Chloride.

Week 9: Getting Close to Finishing Up!

Hi guys!

I am getting close to wrapping up my project, i'm sure we all are! All these conferences coming up may have us on the edge of our seats, but we got this! So far I have already let the micro plastics sit out so they can dry and be weighed out. So far I have gotten half of the micro plastics from the sediment and have seen great results from using DI water! Next week I will be using Salt Water to extract most of the micro plastics from the sediment. We will see which solvent works best!

Week 8!

Hello everyone! I finally got to extract most of the micro-plastics from the sediment. From my observations, plastic 5 and plastic 6 were the hardest to extract! It was a bit tedious, but manageable. I filled most of the samples #1-#30 with distilled water again so I can be capable of extracting most of the micro plastics that I can from the sediment. After doing that, I will be proceeding with extracting the micro plastics using salt water to extract it. So far, I am pretty satisfied with the results that I am seeing and cant wait to get onto extracting micro plastics and micro fibers from our tap water!
- Francisco

Week 6: Continuing Extraction of Microplastics!

Hello everyone,

I hope your week has been great! This week, I finished off with extracting as much micro plastics as I possibly could using a micro-pipette. I really thought this would be simple but I didn't realize how much time and tedious work this could be! I finished extracting as much plastic from plastic 2 classified as HDPE, a high-density polyethylene. Now I am to wait for the sediment to dry so I can continue with redoing the process again. I will continue tomorrow with extracting the rest of the micro-plastics from plastics 3-5, known as polyvinyl chloride, low-density polyethylene, polypropylene. Have a good spring break everyone!

- Francisco

Week 3!

Hello everyone,

This week started out a lot smoother then last week. I wasn't a 100% sure with what I was doing last week, but luckily Matt was there to save the day and refresh my brain. This week I ended up weighing out all the micro plastics (weighing it from 0.46-0.53 grams) first, then putting them into their designation sample cups that contained the sediments. Once I mixed the sediment and micro plastics together, I were to weigh it again and record data. I used distilled water to fill all the sample cups up to the rim and give about a week a two to see the separation of the plastics from the sediments.

Week Two: Getting started on project!

Hello again,

The end of last week, I was introduced by Marcus on his project he worked on last semester which was extracting micro-plastics from sediments. I'm glad he was able to help me get a head start on this project, so thank you Marcus! The plastic I would be working on is plastic #6 known as polystyrene. I am to fill cup sample #30 all the way up with diluted water and give it about a week or two for the separation to occur. In about a week or two I am to separate the plastic that has risen and transfer it over to a new cup to weigh the polystyrene by itself. Until next week! Lets see how this goes!

Week One: The Start of Spring Semester

Hello everyone! 

It has technically been week three since the semester has started! I'm doing all online classes this semester for the first time ever, and I've been liking it but feeling weird at the same time. I guess im just so used to being present in class and having an instructor in person. It is taking me some time to get back in the groove but I think I got it. I'm excited for this semester though as I will be starting my research project which will be on extracting microplastics from sediments and tap water. We shall see how that will go! Today I meet with Marcus who will take me through the steps in extracting microplastics from sediments. I am stoked! Wish me all the luck this semester.