WEEK 14: The Last Presentation

S-STEM FAMILY

This is it. Our last presentation for the semester! I really enjoyed presenting at Metro Tech High School, I got to see a lot of familiar faces. I also got to hear a lot of questions, some of which, really stumped me. But honestly, I appreciate the questions, it makes me reflect more on my project and how it can be used in real life. After hearing certain questions about microplastics, I am going to read more research papers and try to learn as much as I possibly can in order to prepare for future presentations. None the less, I feel like I presented my poster well. I am so glad I got to meet so many wonderful people here and for those of you transferring, I wish you all happiness and luck.

Week 13: The Last Two Weeks

Figure 1: Extraction method 

        I would just like to congratulate everyone for staying strong and getting through the semester! I would also like to congratulate everyone who presented at the Arizona-Nevada conference! Two of our TRIAN scholars won awards and that's such an incredibly achievement. Now it is time to get ready for the final presentation at Metro Tech, hopefully there will lots of people and lots of questions. I am really looking forward to continuing my project during the summer and finishing all three extraction trials. I am really excited to see my results and create a lovely poster filled with data and graphs for next semesters conferences. 

Week 12: ASU West Conference

     I was able to attend my very first science conference today and let me just say, It was not what I was expecting at all. There were very few people and the questions being asked were not as intimidating or difficult as I was expecting. I did get to present my poster and I feel like I did well.  I was very nervous about this conference but I know It was likely first time jitters and I will become more confident over time. I think everyone did such a wonderful job today! There were so many interesting posters and a large array of topics; I look forward to attending more conferences with the TRIAN program.

WEEK 11: Creating a Poster

Research Poster Image: Container
filled with 25g of sediment,
~.5g of microplastics, and 50mL
of DIH20.

This week I was able to perform extractions on two more microplastic-sediment containers. I performed 4 extractions on the first container, and 22 on the second container. The rest of the time I was polishing up my abstract and methods; Matt was kind enough to give me feedback on my poster before I submitted. I made sure to add images and to not add too much information since Its essentially supposed to be an overview of our project. I am a bit nervous for the symposium and I am certain I am not the only one. But this is a learning experience and I am excited to be able to further develop my research skills.

WEEK 10: SLOW AND STEADY

Container 1 & Its 8 subcontainers 

This week wasn't as great as I anticipated it to be; recently I have been feeling upset with myself because of how slow my project has been progressing.  I have spent most of my time shredding plastics and because this process takes time, I am not where I wish to be with my research. I have been incredibly busy with my classes and have been struggling to complete my hours and balance my schoolwork. It felt like I was making too many mistakes, but I suppose life is comprised of trials and errors; so I can't beat myself too much about it.

container 1 sediments after 23 extractions    

Today, I was able to begin my first extraction of microplastics, which felt great because I have been anticipating it for so long. I used DI H20 as a floatation medium and extracted plastics from the surface by simply pouring off the floating particles. Some of the microplastics would not float or often got trapped under the sediment, so I had to tamper with the sediment using a stirring rod. I performed the extraction 23 times on my first container, collecting a total of 8 subcontainers which had the extracted plastics inside. I am writing down the weight of each container and keeping track of the number of extractions I perform on each sample. I extracted the plastics out of container one and have 29  more containers left to go. I also have my protocol developed and will hopefully shred enough plastic to commence trial 2 once I finish.

Week 9: New Week New Findings

Zhang, S., Yang, X., Gertsen, H., Peters, P., Salánki, T., & Geissen, V. (2018). A simple method for the extraction and identification of light density microplastics from soil. Science Of The Total Environment, 616/6171056-1065. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.213

       I came across a new article which discussed a simple and affordable method for extracting microplastics from sediments. I was geeking out about it because it was published this month and the methods and procedures were similar to the ones I am using for my research.I received more insight on how certain properties of the soil and flotation mediums (solutions) could cause the plastics to absorbed into soil particles! I realize this may sound super boring to some of you, but I got excited because I was able to alter some of my methods and make them more efficient. I began weighing 30 specimen containers this week after altering my methods, I will use these containers to collect the extracted microplastics. I was originally going to use a funnel to separate the sediment from the plastics but Matt and I were looking over the article; they used filter paper but we felt that would be less efficient. We decided to retrieve the floating plastics from the surface by simply pouring off the top layer and tampering with the sediment so we can get more to float up. I am also looking into their use of ultrasonic vibrations.

One Down, Two to Go.

Specimen containers #6-#10; containing plastic #2 

(High-density Polyethylene)

My first trial has begun! On Thursday, I was able to set up my first 30 containers using solution 1: distilled water.  I will have to let the microplastics, solution, and sediments sit together in their containers for a week before I can begin the extraction process. I will be running these through a funnel and a water vacuum to isolate as many of the microplastics as possible. In the meantime, I will still have to shred more plastics for my two upcoming trials.

WEEK 7: Trial One Will Commence Soon

Microplastics shredded using
a grater. 

Microplastics taken from
 vacuum filter 

   I continued to shred plastics this week. The vacuum that was used to collect the microplastics ended up picking up unwanted stuff, so I spent the majority of my time tweezing out small particles of unknown material that were mixed in with the microplastics.  I have shredded a total of 2.4 grams of polyethylene terephthalate, which sounds like a small amount but it will be more than enough to commence my first microplastic extraction trial. From this point on I will be using a grater to shred the plastics because it eliminates the need to spend hours taking out particles of unwanted material and requires less energy.
 

Week 6: Shredding all These Microplastics Might be a Macroproblem

        Hey guys, so a lot of conferences are coming up soon and I'm a bit nervous about the state of my research. I will need to shred  3 types of plastics as quickly as possible in order to continue conducting my experiment. The process is lengthy and tiring, but I am most likely going to extend my STEM hours in order to continue making microplastics with Jasmine. I really want to collect all of my data by April in order to join Matt and Jasmine in Nevada for a science conference. for those of you who do not know about my research project, I am essentially utilizing a microplastic extraction protocol established by fellow S-STEM Scholar Jasmine Patricio and testing the extraction percentage of three solutions: sodium chloride, carbonate potassium, and distilled water.

Week 5: Shredding Plastics

    This week Jasmine and I  utilized a power tool to shred a bottle of Powerade. We both need polyethylene terephthalate to continue our research projects.The process was very entertaining yet tiring. Jasmin and I hope to obtain about 4 grams of polyethylene terephthalate by next week. Although this power tool is a definite upgrade from a cheese grater that Jasmine had to use the last semester, it still requires time and effort. We shredded about 1/5 of a gram of microplastics in about 25 minutes. Which is not too bad, and hopefully we can finish shredding most of the plastic on Friday.

Week 4: Microplastics, They're Not So Fantastic.

"Plankton Munching on Microplastics" 

Our oceans and fresh lakes are contaminated with microplastic debris. Plastic Production is estimated to be at 225 million tons per year. (Browne 2007). Unfortunately, most of this plastic ends up in our marine and freshwater systems. There are two ways microplastics enter our water systems: either as primary or secondary microplastics. Primary microplastics enter marine and freshwater systems as “raw plastic material, such as virgin plastic pellets, scrubbers, and microbeads (Browne et al. 2007.) secondary plastics begin as large plastics but overtime, they begin to mechanical or biologically degrade, making them smaller and smaller. The degradation occurs through photodegradation, where the sunlight causes the plastic to oxidize and turn into smaller pieces (Browne et al. 2007.). Microplastics are defined as “plastic particles, smaller than 5 mm in diameter” ( K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner 2014). The six different types of plastic are Polyethylene Terephthalate, high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. Microplastics are made out of these different plastics, and their densities, shape, and size all vary. Because of this, each type of plastic will be present in either the surface of the water (low density) or in sea sediments (High density). This is a determining factor of what species consume these plastic particles (Browne et al. 2007.)Organisms, both vertebrates, and invertebrates have been found to ingest microplastics. (Microplastics. 2014.) A study conducted on rodents determined that the microplastic Polystyrene can go from the digestive tract to the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system supplies molecules to the bloodstream, therefore, the potential of these microplastics ending up in different body tissues or the blood itself is not impossible. 

      There are three size levels of plastic, macroplastics (£5 mm), microplastics (<5mm), and microscopic plastic (<1 mm) (Browne et al. 2007.)  Microplastics are becoming increasingly smaller, making them much more likely to be consumed by organisms. There has been research conducted to study the consumption of microplastics by marine life.  One specific study, conducted by Marine ecologist and biochemist Andrew Watts and colleagues at the University of Exeter in England, fed microplastics to mussels, they then fed these mussels to crabs. It took 14 days for these crabs to excrete these microplastics, compared to the normal 2-day digestive process. Andrew and his colleagues also placed these crabs in tanks that released a high concentration of microplastics over the crabs’ gills for 16 hours, three weeks after the trial these crabs were still releasing microplastics from their system. ( Akpan 2014.)  It is unclear whether these microplastics can travel up the food chain or why these microplastics take so long to be expelled from an organism’s system. The effects of microplastics on food chains and organisms remain an unresolved enigma in the science community. Thus, it is crucial to conduct more research on microplastics.

                                                             References

     Akpan, N. (2014). Earth & Environment: Microplastics lodge in crab gills, guts: Creatures absorb particles through food and via respiration. Science News, 186(3), 9.  Retrieved from

http://ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A378556722/SCIC?u=mcc_phoe&xid=f7b3b0c6

Browne, M.A., Galloway, T., & Thompson, R. (2007). Microplastic – an emerging contaminant of potential concern? Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 3(4):559-561. DOI: 10.1002/ieam.5630030412

Coppock, R. L., Cole, M., Lindeque, P. K., Queirós, A. M., & Galloway, T. S.(2017). A small-scale, portable method for extracting microplastics from marine sediments. Environmental Pollution, 230, 829-837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.07.017

Floating plastic trash common in oceans. (2015, February). The Science Teacher, 82(2), 18+. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495940175/SCIC?u=mcc_phoe&xid=e9dd8768

Gasperi, J., Wright, S. L., Dris, R., Collard, F., Mandin, C., Guerrouache, M., . . . Tassin, B. (2018). Microplastics in air: Are we breathing it in? Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, 1, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2017.10.002

Hussai, N., Jaitley, V., & Florence, A. T. (2001). Recent advances in the understanding of uptake of micro particulates across the gastrointestinal lymphatics. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 50(1-2), 107-142.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-409X(01)00152-1

Kedzierski, M., Tilly, V., César, G., Sire, O., & Bruzaud, S. (2017). Efficient microplastics extraction from sand. A cost-effective methodology based on sodium iodide recycling. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 115(1-2), 120-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.12.002

Masura, J., Baker, J., Foster, G., & Arthur, C. (2015, June ). Laboratory Methods for the Analysis of Micro-plastics in the Marine Environmentarine En. Retrieved from NOAA Microplastics methods manual, retrieved from

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/publicationsfiles/noaa_microplastics_methods_manual.pdf

Meyer-Rochow, V., Gross, V., Steffany, F., Zeuss, D., & Erren, T. C. (2015).

     Commentary: Plastic ocean and the cancer connection: 7 questions and

     answers. Commentary: plastic ocean and the cancer connection: 7 questions

     and answers, 142, 575-578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2015.08.015

 Microplastics. (2014). In K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Science (5th ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/JIBCIC122267752/SCIC?u=mcc_phoe&xid=ce024b5d

Talvitie, J., Mikola, A., Koistinen, A., & Setälä, O. (2017). Solutions to microplastic pollution – Removal of microplastics from wastewater effluent with advanced wastewater treatment technologies. Water Research, 123401-407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.005