Post by blackcrowheart on Jun 11, 2006 17:33:36 GMT -5
Drinking water study unites MSU, Little Big Horn College
June 07, 2006 -- By Evelyn Boswell, MSU News Service
www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=3790
<http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=3790>
Richard Monroy collects a water sample from the Little Big Horn River
on the Crow Indian Reservation. (Photo courtesy of Mari Eggers).BOZEMAN
-- Once a month, Crystal Richards and Emily Colgate head to the Crow
Indian Reservation where they spend the day swabbing faucets and
collecting water from taps and streams. One afternoon a week, students
at Little Big Horn College leave the classroom for similar reasons.
Together, the MSU and Little Big Horn College students are monitoring
drinking water on the reservation, learning more about research and
enjoying each other's company, according to students and an instructor
in the INBRE-funded project. INBRE in Montana is a statewide network of
universities, colleges and research institutes who want to expand
biomedical research and improve opportunities for students seeking
careers in the medical professions.
"It's really the first opportunity we have had to offer our science
majors research experience here at home on issues relevant to the local
community as opposed to going away for a summer, working on issues in
somebody else's community. They seem to be really loving it," Mari
Eggers said of the project that sends her students around the
reservation every Thursday afternoon. Eggers teaches biology and
environmental science at Little Big Horn College.
Little Big Horn College students have been monitoring water quality for
several years during the summer, Eggers said. But INBRE allowed her to
expand the program so students could participate during the school year,
learn new research techniques, have more opportunities for inquiry-based
research and explore environmental health issues beyond drinking water.
Mercury, for example, is a concern since it has been found both upstream
and downstream from the reservation.
"It's a cool project -- very interesting and getting bigger all the
time," said Richards, an MSU senior in cell biology and neuroscience.
Colgate is an MSU graduate student in microbiology. She and Richards are
supervised by Tim Ford, head of MSU's microbiology department and
program director for Montana INBRE.
Students from both schools are looking at pathogens and chemical
pollution in the reservation's water, Eggers continued. The Little Big
Horn College students are testing for coliform bacteria and other water
quality parameters like pH, nitrates, dissolved oxygen and conductivity.
The MSU students take the water samples back to MSU, where they test for
Helicobacter pylori which is associated with stomach ulcers and other
gastric problems. Students from both schools will eventually look for
two additional bacteria, known as Mycobacterium and Legionella. The
students are also collecting sediment cores, which will be tested at MSU
for mercury and other contaminants.
The MSU students said H. pylori appears to be more prevalent in Native
Americans than the general population, but they don't know if that's
true of the Crow Reservation. They hope their project will help discover
the answer. In the meantime, they are trying to find the best technique
for monitoring H. pylori.
"There is not presently a standard procedure for testing for H. pylori,"
Eggers said. "That's what Emily is working on. She's developing a
genetic technique to identify it. There's a lot that's not known."
The project addresses environmental health on a reservation-wide scale
and may expand to reservations across the state, Richards and Eggers
said. But they added that it has affected their own lives, as well.
"Since I started this project, I pretty much fell in love with
microbiology and decided I wanted to go to grad school," Richards said.
"I didn't know that before."
Colgate said, "I think I'm becoming a lot more interested in the public
health side and would like to get into medicine maybe and combine the
clinical and research."
June 07, 2006 -- By Evelyn Boswell, MSU News Service
www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=3790
<http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=3790>
Richard Monroy collects a water sample from the Little Big Horn River
on the Crow Indian Reservation. (Photo courtesy of Mari Eggers).BOZEMAN
-- Once a month, Crystal Richards and Emily Colgate head to the Crow
Indian Reservation where they spend the day swabbing faucets and
collecting water from taps and streams. One afternoon a week, students
at Little Big Horn College leave the classroom for similar reasons.
Together, the MSU and Little Big Horn College students are monitoring
drinking water on the reservation, learning more about research and
enjoying each other's company, according to students and an instructor
in the INBRE-funded project. INBRE in Montana is a statewide network of
universities, colleges and research institutes who want to expand
biomedical research and improve opportunities for students seeking
careers in the medical professions.
"It's really the first opportunity we have had to offer our science
majors research experience here at home on issues relevant to the local
community as opposed to going away for a summer, working on issues in
somebody else's community. They seem to be really loving it," Mari
Eggers said of the project that sends her students around the
reservation every Thursday afternoon. Eggers teaches biology and
environmental science at Little Big Horn College.
Little Big Horn College students have been monitoring water quality for
several years during the summer, Eggers said. But INBRE allowed her to
expand the program so students could participate during the school year,
learn new research techniques, have more opportunities for inquiry-based
research and explore environmental health issues beyond drinking water.
Mercury, for example, is a concern since it has been found both upstream
and downstream from the reservation.
"It's a cool project -- very interesting and getting bigger all the
time," said Richards, an MSU senior in cell biology and neuroscience.
Colgate is an MSU graduate student in microbiology. She and Richards are
supervised by Tim Ford, head of MSU's microbiology department and
program director for Montana INBRE.
Students from both schools are looking at pathogens and chemical
pollution in the reservation's water, Eggers continued. The Little Big
Horn College students are testing for coliform bacteria and other water
quality parameters like pH, nitrates, dissolved oxygen and conductivity.
The MSU students take the water samples back to MSU, where they test for
Helicobacter pylori which is associated with stomach ulcers and other
gastric problems. Students from both schools will eventually look for
two additional bacteria, known as Mycobacterium and Legionella. The
students are also collecting sediment cores, which will be tested at MSU
for mercury and other contaminants.
The MSU students said H. pylori appears to be more prevalent in Native
Americans than the general population, but they don't know if that's
true of the Crow Reservation. They hope their project will help discover
the answer. In the meantime, they are trying to find the best technique
for monitoring H. pylori.
"There is not presently a standard procedure for testing for H. pylori,"
Eggers said. "That's what Emily is working on. She's developing a
genetic technique to identify it. There's a lot that's not known."
The project addresses environmental health on a reservation-wide scale
and may expand to reservations across the state, Richards and Eggers
said. But they added that it has affected their own lives, as well.
"Since I started this project, I pretty much fell in love with
microbiology and decided I wanted to go to grad school," Richards said.
"I didn't know that before."
Colgate said, "I think I'm becoming a lot more interested in the public
health side and would like to get into medicine maybe and combine the
clinical and research."