A National Science Foundation grant has been awarded to King's College for microbiology laboratory equipment that will be used in undergraduate research at three local colleges. David Glick, Ph.D. and Brian Mangan, Ph.D. of King's College will share a new gas chromatography system installed at King's with Michael Sulzinski, Ph.D. of the University of Scranton and Kenneth Pidcock, Ph.D. of Wilkes University.
The grant will demonstrate that shared use of equipment can foster the integration of research and education among undergraduate microbiology students and four highly skilled faculty investigators at three institutions of higher education.
Two gas chromatographs configured with a computer and special software will facilitate new research in two areas. Separate, but related, research will identify and analyze lipids (fats) in bacteria, fungi, and fish through laboratory studies at the three institutions. Additional research will focus on Susquehanna River ecology, analyzing the effect of the environmental contaminant, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), on fish, and the effect of acid mine drainage on the abundance and diversity of river bacteria and fungi. One of the gas chromatographs will be dedicated to analyzing lipids (fats) extracted from bacteria and fungi. Once the lipid analysis has been done, the computer software supplied will allow the identification of the particular bacteria or fungus. The other gas chromatograph will be dedicated to the analysis of an important environmental contaminant known as PCB (Polychlorinated Biphenyl). This second instrument will also be used to examine which chemicals, in a mix, bacteria degrade.
Prior to this NSF grant award, no institution of higher education in northeastern Pennsylvania possessed a gas chromatography system configured for research to identify and analyze microbes by their fatty acid profile. The research also has basic scientific importance. It will provide new insights into the ecology of soil and river bacteria and fungi as well as increasing our knowledge of the impact of PCB contamination on the life cycles of fish.
The acquisition of this important equipment will strengthen the integration of undergraduate education, research and research training at all three institutions of higher education.
