Escherichia coli Serotype O157:H7 Colonization Quantification With Varying Rates of Microplastic Particles In The Spring River Watershed Groundwater
Category
High School
Department
Undeclared
Student Status
High School
Research Advisor
Karisa Boyer
Document Type
Event
Location
Student Center Ballroom
Start Date
10-4-2025 2:00 PM
End Date
10-4-2025 4:00 PM
Description
Microplastics are a rising concern within the scientific community, polluting oceans and waterways around the world. This experiment was conducted to assess if microplastic particles can be causally linked to increased growth of Escherichia coli in the wild. To assess this, four sample groups were created with increasing amounts of microplastic particles per group. To quantify bacterial growth, absorbance readings were taken and Trial 1 samples were plated on Tryptic soy agar (TSA). In order to give this project real-world applications, groundwater from the Spring River Watershed was used. The hypothesis was, if E. coli was grown in constant conditions with increasing proportions of microplastics then sample groups with greater microplastic counts would reflect greater colony counts. A test trial was conducted to determine constants for the experiment such as total volume (mL) of groundwater, total volume (mL) of Tryptic soy broth (TSB), and incubation temperature and time. The experimentation period was broken down into two 72-hour trials. The data from this experiment suggests that a causal relationship between microplastics and increased bacterial growth does exist. Statistical analysis from the E. coli growth on TSA plates calculated a p-value of 4.09483E-108 which is statistically significant.
Escherichia coli Serotype O157:H7 Colonization Quantification With Varying Rates of Microplastic Particles In The Spring River Watershed Groundwater
Student Center Ballroom
Microplastics are a rising concern within the scientific community, polluting oceans and waterways around the world. This experiment was conducted to assess if microplastic particles can be causally linked to increased growth of Escherichia coli in the wild. To assess this, four sample groups were created with increasing amounts of microplastic particles per group. To quantify bacterial growth, absorbance readings were taken and Trial 1 samples were plated on Tryptic soy agar (TSA). In order to give this project real-world applications, groundwater from the Spring River Watershed was used. The hypothesis was, if E. coli was grown in constant conditions with increasing proportions of microplastics then sample groups with greater microplastic counts would reflect greater colony counts. A test trial was conducted to determine constants for the experiment such as total volume (mL) of groundwater, total volume (mL) of Tryptic soy broth (TSB), and incubation temperature and time. The experimentation period was broken down into two 72-hour trials. The data from this experiment suggests that a causal relationship between microplastics and increased bacterial growth does exist. Statistical analysis from the E. coli growth on TSA plates calculated a p-value of 4.09483E-108 which is statistically significant.
