Author: Amy Eggers                Major: Biochemistry

Researching and writing off-campus during COVID-19 lab shut downs

My research involves testing the sugar reduction efficiency of an enzyme platform constructed within the laboratory; this platform is known as a mobile enzyme sequestration platform (mESP). The benefit to this platform is that it has been designed to be tolerant to high heat and low pH’s in order to “protect” enzymes that break down plant waste. This has real world impact when it comes to broiler digestion of feed, and the amount of feed that a broiler is able to convert to energy and in turn, body mass.

I chose this topic because it has such useful application for broiler farmers, so that the amount of broiler feed used can go further into producing more chicken mass for consumption. Essentially, broiler feed oftentimes has undigestible feed parts in it. This can include up to 6% of soybean mass on average that is not digestible by chicks. The mESP can aid in the digestion of these anti-nutritive sources by protecting enzymes that would normally be broken down in the low pH conditions and high temperatures of the broiler gastrointestinal tract. This project uses a colorimetric assay to test for the amount of glucose that is released when this platform is used on chicken feed. It has been a wonderful project to work on after I found my mentor by emailing him interested in his research my sophomore year.

I have learned so much throughout my time in this lab and my funding period. I learned about the way that in vitro work is done, pipetting techniques, and ultimately, how to fail. A large part of research is trying over and over to have something work. Ultimately, there will be more faulty trials than ones that turn out how I want them to be and I have learned that although frustrating, this is essential to the scientific process. The number one thing I have learned in my time working on this project is how to ask essential questions and problem solve, as that is the backbone of what science truly is.

Another thing that I learned while working on this project was how to be able to cooperate with and learn from others. My faculty mentor, Dr. Ruben Ceballos, was wholly helpful and I am sure that he will continue to be as I go on to defend my thesis. He both held me to a high standard to continue writing and researching when my time in the lab was unfortunately shortened due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements. I was able to have one-on-one Zoom meetings with my professor to discuss where I should begin with writing my thesis and the beginnings of a possible publication. A grad student in my lab, Nour Fatema, was also helpful in keeping me up to date on the project from her end. I was able to virtually understand her protocol as she continued collecting data for this project while I was unable to be in the lab due to social distancing requirements in the lab. Overall, despite difficulties with COVID-19, this past semester was very enriching, and I learned a lot about working virtually with others, researching, and hope for success in completing my thesis.