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In June, geology major Maricate Conlon ’11 (Sandy Hook, Conn.) learned techniques at the University of California Berkeley which she is now using to further Lafayette’s interdisciplinary project to develop a cost-effective, hybrid method of removing the contaminant perchlorate from groundwater. Conlon is also a member of the women’s swimming team.
In an EXCEL project under the direction of Professor Steven Mylon, I traveled west to Berkeley, Calif., this summer to perform research meant to further Lafayette’s project on perchlorate reduction.
Continuing work started by Hannah Fink ’09, I spent a week in Dr. John Coates’ environmental microbiology laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, learning skills to reduce perchlorate using bacteria anaerobically. Dr. Coates specializes in anaerobic bacteria and believes that biodegradation is the best way to reverse environmental contamination. His lab currently focuses on perchlorate, hydrocarbon degradation, and benzene oxidation.
The people in Coates’s lab ranged from undergraduate students to post doctoral researchers. Everyone who worked in the lab was very welcoming and excited to share their knowledge and discoveries with me.
Working ‘hands on’ with the graduate students in the lab, I observed and recreated the procedures and grew three strains of perchlorate reducing bacteria including the most recent isolate from Coates’ laboratory, Dechlorospirillum strain VDY. I have now brought these cultures and the knowledge of the processes back to Lafayette in the hopes of furthering our perchlorate reduction process.
I’m looking forward to being in contact with Dr. Coates and his graduate students. When we link our developments at Lafayette with their work, we have a chance of creating a very interesting remediation method. The two institutions will be working together to combine Lafayette’s ion exchange methods with the Coates lab’s innovative enzymatic degradation process.
This project is an example of Lafayette’s goal in its new strategic plan to strengthen its dedication to the life sciences. The College is planning to establish an integrated center for the life sciences.