Project:

Discovering the World of Bacteria in The Kew-Forest School

Students:

Daeden Archer, Xinhui Zhang, James Tu, Ethan Han

School:

The Kew-Forest School, Queens

Mentors:

Akira Wong

Abstract:

Bacteria are prokaryotic microorganisms that can flourish in almost any condition. Diverse populations of bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Corynebacterium, and Staphylococcus can be found in almost any surface different surfaces in school facilities such as desks, chairs, and floors. Previous studies have shown that in school, depends on the type of contact, the bacteria diversity could be influenced and affected. Our team is interested in investigating if differences in human interaction can have an effect on the bacteria community of our school. We propose collecting random samples of bacteria from the surface of table, chair, and ceiling from an upper school classroom, a lower school classroom, the faculty lounge, and the cafeteria. Bacteria will be grown and isolated on LB medium agar plate before being sequenced with 16S rRNA to identify the bacterial species. We hope that through our project a greater awareness about the hidden microbial diversity around our school can be created.

Poster:

Team samples: