S2:9 Just a Girl Living in a Plastic World

Just a Girl Living in a Plastic World
Going into this research project, I knew that people, including myself, use plastic in their daily lives. However, it wasn't until I started my experiment that I realized just how dependent we are on plastic. Think about it and ask yourself, "How many times today did you use plastic or plastic-related materials?" As for me, when I reflected on this, I realized I come into contact with plastic several times a day. Almost everyday, including today, my microwavable lunch comes in a plastic container. The fork I use to eat lunch is plastic. My water bottle is plastic. That's a lot of plastic!
Aside from pondering about how much plastic society depends on, I also began to start my project poster while I waited for the small glass petri dishes to get delivered by Amazon. Once they arrived, I washed them in distilled water and placed them into the laminar air flow hood to dry. It was a long process but pretty to look at.

S2:8 It's All About Control

It's All About Control
This week was all about brainstorming how to control for the independent variable since. Initially, distilled water seemed to be a good control but when I ran it through the filtration system and analyzed the sample, I saw a significant amount of microfibers and other unknown pieces of material under the dissection scope. As a result, I decided to try and filter a large quantity of distilled water several times in hope that I would see the quantity of microfibers and particles decrease after each filtration. After filtering the distilled water sample three times, I can still see the presence of microfibers and unknown pieces of material. I am going to try and filter the sample a few  more times and see if I can at least filter out all the microfibers.

S2:7 Out of the Lab and Off to D.C.

Out of the Lab and Off to D.C.
This past week was particularly hectic, but I would redo it in a heartbeat. I missed the first part of the internship week, because I had to fly to Washington, D.C. for a few days. I'm part of this political advocacy fellowship program where we are taught to advocate to our legislative members for the continuance of antipoverty programs like SNAP, MEDICAID, USAID, and the Global Fund. During the fellowship year, we fly out twice to Washington, D.C. and speak with Senate and Congressional Representatives. My favorite part of the policy summit was speaking with representatives on the importance of continuing to increase the funding for the Global Fund and USAID Fund, because Tuberculosis is the leading infectious disease killer among people around the world. Supporting programs like the Global Fund and USAID  can help other countries gain access to newer equipment and educational support to help with programs that reduce childbirth-related death rates, lower rates of TB infections, and many other programs. I also really enjoyed seeing how science can intersect with policy. After lobbying some AZ representatives, I flew back to Phoenix and picked up on the Microplastics project. Project highlights from this week included receiving the all glass jars and disseminating them out to fellow interns. I also spent some time brainstorming faster ways to collect water samples from around the Valley of Phoenix. I decided that I am going to ask my biology classmates to bring in samples. I think I will be able to collect water samples from all 13 villages in Phoenix. My goal is about 30 samples. We shall see what happens!

S2.6: I Saw Some Stuff Under the Microscope!!!!

 I Saw Some Stuff Under the Microscope!!!!

This week in internship, I started to run samples through the vacuum filter. So far, I have a total of seven samples (Shout out to everyone who collected and brought in a sample from their home!) and have tested four samples. The video above provides insight into the experimental process. Our attempt is to reduce contamination since theoretically, microfibers can be found in the air, and basically everywhere. With that being said, all the samples are ran in a laminar airflow. The first seven samples were collected in glass jars that contained black plastic caps, and this was due to lack of access to other collection containers.  Moving forward, we are now able to collect future samples in glass jars with metal lids to reduce water sample interaction with plastic. After running the four samples and analyzing them under the microscope, I saw what appeared to be microfibers in most of the water samples. I am looking forward to using non-plastic containers to collect and test more samples. 

S2.5: Off to an Exciting Start!!!

                                                                Off to an Exciting Start!!! 
Despite having three exams, this week went pretty well. I do have to give a shout out to my favorite study-buddy/tutor, Willie (see above video). In regards to the internship,I was super stoked when the filters arrived this week. Yesterday, I was able to run a sample test (referred to as "blank" of my experiment by using distilled water and filtering it through the vacuum filter for any microplastics and/or microfibers. Interestingly enough, after filtering and staining the filter, I saw the presence of microfibers when placed under the dissection microscope. The next time I am in the lab, I am going to stain a filter and place it under the dissection microscope without filtering any water. The purpose of running the blank and looking at an unused filter is to try and identify any potential sources of microplastic/microfiber contamination prior to filter the water samples. Basically, we want to be able to tell if the samples of water are being contaminated by our equipment during the filtering process. I am also looking forward to helping out with the Hermanas conference tomorrow! I really enjoy outreach!

S2.4: Would You Like Some Plastic With Your Water?

Vacuum filter that will separate the H20 and microplastics

Would You Like Some Plastic With Your Water?
This past week, I continued to work on my project background. I did some more research on existing studies regarding microplastics but still have only found one preliminary study on microplastics in global drinking water. I also continued to work with my project mentor, Matt, to collect the materials needed to conduct the experiment. The highlight of my week in the internship was Matt being able to find the same filter paper and pore size as outlined in the procedures we are following from another experiment. I should be able to start filtering the water by early next week.  So far I have four tap water samples collected from the central phoenix area. I am extremely grateful that two fellow stem-members agreed to bring in water samples from their kitchen sinks. My goal is to collect water from Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western regions of Phoenix. We shall see what the next week in the lab brings!

S2.3: Snapshot of the Microplastics Research Proposal

(Reference 6)

The Presence of Microplastics in the City of Phoenix Public Drinking Water

Over the past decade several research experiments have indicated that society is now in the “Age of Plastic” and traces of plastic can be found virtually everywhere. Even when plastic seems to be broken down, not visible to the naked eye, it is still present on the microscopic level and polluting air, surface water, oceans, sediments, and marine life including types of seafood (Rochman et. al. 2015). Microplastics are also found in personal care products and machine-washed clothing (Wright and Kelly 2017). However, the question remains as to whether microplastics have polluted public drinking water. It appears as though only one public observational experiment surveying tap water has ever been performed. Research conducted by Kosuth et. al. (2017) collected 150 water samples from six regions on five continents, including parts of the US and found that 83% of tap water around the world contained microplastics, and of the samples taken in the United States, 94% of water contained microplastics. The researchers of the experiment expressed the need to further test geographical regions, and include more information about water sources and ground filtration methods prior to human use to better understand potential pathways of contamination. Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country and the eighth fastest growing city in the United States (USA Today 2018). It is imperative to test Phoenix public drinking water for a number of reasons: Phoenix is one of the fastest growing cities; research on microplastics in tap water for the City of Phoenix is not publicly available and possibly has not be researched to date; and to contribute data to the emerging field of microplastics and its effect on human health.

Research questions

Are microscopic plastic particles and fibers present in public drinking water throughout the
City of Phoenix.

Are microscopic plastic particles and fibers present in filtered water and store-bought bottled water?

Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: Samples of drinking water taken in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area will be positive
for microplastics.

Null Hypothesis: Samples of drinking water taken in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area will be
negative for microplastics.

Independent Variables: Location and type of  drinking water sample

Dependent Variable:  The amount of microplastics found in water sample

Control Variable: Vacuum Filter, Deionized Water (500mL), 2 mL Rose Bengal Dye,
Volume of Water Sample (500mL), water sample collection method, vacuum filter paper
(1.75 µm), laminar airflow cabinet, and Microscope.

Key Words:

Microplastics: Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long
which can be harmful (adapted from the NOAA)

Drinking Water: tap water which comes from public sources, residential homes, filtration
systems and bottled water

References

1.Comen, E. (2018, January 15). The fastest growing (and shrinking) states: A closer look. USA

Today. Retrieved February 08, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/
2018/01/15/fastest-growing-and-shrinking-states-closer-look/1019429001/

2. Gerd Liebezeit & Elisabeth Liebezeit (2014) Synthetic particles as contaminants in German

beers, Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, 31:9, 1574-1578, DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2014.945099

3.Kosuth, M., Wattenberg, E., Mason, S., Tyree, C., & Morrison, D. (2017, May 16). Synthetic

Polymer Contamination in Global Drinking Water (Rep.). Retrieved February 01, 2018, from Orb Media website:
https://orbmedia.org/stories/Invisibles_final_report

4.National Ocean Service. 2017. What are microplastics? National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration. United States Department of Commerce. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html

5.Rochman, Chelsea M., Tahir, Akbar, Williams,Susan L., Baxa Dolores V., Lam,Rosalyn,

Miller,Jeffrey T., Teh, Foo-Ching , Werorilangi,Shinta, Swee, Teh. Anthropogenic debris in seafood:
Plastic debris and fibers from textiles in fish and bivalves sold for human consumption. Sci Rep. 2015; 5: 14340.
Published online 2015 Sep 24. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4585829/

6. http://www.phoenixasap.com/gfx/phoenix-villages.png