Embedded Files
At Dominican, Biology, Chemistry, and Kinesiology majors are given the opportunity to conduct research under a professor. The sequence begins in the spring semester of freshman year with BIO 2990, which puts students in a rotation of different research groups over the course of 15 weeks. The rotation period lasts around 2-3 weeks with each professor and during that time, students are able to conduct different experiments and activities regarding the research of the professor. Some examples of research that professors at Dominican have done are stem cells, bioaerosols, malaria, and coral reefs. After that first semester, students are then put into BIO 4990, where they are placed into a research group to continue research with the professor until their fall semester of junior year. Overall, it's an insightful experience and allows students to get research experience early on.
Poster presentation at Science Symposium with Research Group
Dr. Koh's Research Group
Dr. Koh's Research Group
For my research group, I was placed with Dr. Christine Koh who is conducting research on aerosol science and spectroscopy. In our research, she has broken us up into three different groups with focuses on bioaerosol detection, environmentally persistant radicals, and confocal imaging.
My project consists of bioaerosol detection. In this project, it has been divided into two stages, the liquid culture phase and aerosol phase, in which the results for both were presented at two different conferences. In our project, we determine how polyaromatic hydrocarbons, such as its precursor catechol, rate of polymerization are affected with other factors, such as bacteria and metals. By doing so, we hope to best simulate real life conditions to determine the rate at which a toxic compound in our atmosphere polymerizes into the toxic compound that is harmful to us.
More information about our work in Dr. Koh's lab can be found here.
In Spring 2024, Dr. Koh introduced a new research project to us. This research project concerned the catechol polymerization rate when combined with metals and bacteria.
In this first stage, we mixed measured amounts of catechol, copper (metal), and E. coli and B. cereus (bacteria) in buffer solutions of 0.95 M NaCl. Over increments of 2 hours for 36 hours, we measured the absorbance of the catechol and its polymer using the UV-vis spectrometer. In our initial and preliminary results, we found that in a liquid culture, bacteria and copper increase the rate of polymerization.
In the second stage of this experiment, we will be performing this same process in an aerosolized environment in order to best simulate that of our real-life environment.
47th Annual West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (WCBSURC) at Santa Clara University
In Spring 2024, I had the opportunity to present my lab research concering catechol polymerization at the 47th Annual West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (WCBSURC) at Santa Clara University. By invitation of my overseeing Principal Investigator, Dr. Koh, she supported my work with both gathering the data results as well as preparation of the materials for the conference. As this was my first academic conference, it was intimidating at first to be in an environment surrounded by other researchers such as myself. From this experience though, I was able to connect with like-minded individuals and push myself out of my comfort zone with this opportunity to present in front of others. Through an oral presentation with accompanying slides, I gave my presentation in front of student researchers and other PIs. At the end of the presentation, there were time for questions where I answered a couple regarding my work. Overall, it was an extremely insightful experience that allowed me to take further pride in my work conducted under Dr. Koh.
3rd Annual Fall Symposium at Dominican University of California
In Fall 2024, at the Annual Fall Symposium held at Dominican University of California at the end of each semester, I was able to present my work in the lab to my fellow classmates, professors, and students from the local high school with my research partner, Ashley McDonald.
In this presentation, it was a continuation of our last experiment presented at WCBSURC, but this time during its second stage of the experiment, the aerosol phase. In this phase, we had catechol and their derivatives aerosolized into the UV-VIS spectrophotometer alongside different metals of Fe and Cu to distinguish the metals' effects on the catechol.
Dr. Koh's Research Group 2023-2024
Page updated
Report abuse