Student-faculty research on microplastics’ impact on local environments aided by University partnership聽
When senior biology major John Petronis enters Jianzhou He, Ph.D.’s lab at 91涩漫’s College of Science and Mathematics, he sets his bag down, puts on his headphones and gets to work analyzing water samples.聽
“Most of what I research is focused on the communities we live in,” Petronis said. “So a lot of the samples I monitor come from Tybee Island and the Savannah River.”
Petronis uses a Shimadzu particle size analyzer to identify and analyze what He calls emerging contaminants, specifically microplastics.
“Globally, we produce hundreds of millions of metric tons of plastics every year, and only about 9% get recycled,” explained He. “Microplastics are less than five millimeters, but the impact they’re having on the world right now is immeasurable, and it’s growing by the day.”
As these materials break down, they enter local waterways, rivers, marshland and drinking water, said He. They can be toxic, harming marine wildlife, disrupting food chains and affecting the ecosystem they occupy, making them a major environmental concern.
“There are currently no regulations or standards that monitor the amount of microplastics in our environment,” He said. “So there’s no record of how they behave in a coastal area like ours.”
Studying these chemicals in a more diverse ecosystem helps Petronis and He develop a thorough assessment of the risks they pose and propose practical solutions to reduce their presence. They use advanced technology from Shimadzu Scientific Products, Incorporated, to support their research, giving students like Petronis a chance to work with the latest in industry-standard equipment.
“This research wouldn’t be possible without the tools from Shimadzu,” said He. “My students could not complete their work otherwise.”
Equipment like the particle size analyzer helps them identify these chemicals on a granular level. They also want to see how environmental (UV) exposure changes them over time, so Petronis uses the sunlight simulator machine to produce results in minutes instead of the 3,000 hours it would otherwise take. But Petronis, a full-time student with a full-time job, doesn’t mind putting in the time.聽
“I want to have a deeper understanding of how we exist in our world,” he explained. “The environmental science aspect鈥 mean, that’s the equivalent to cleaning your room. I look at the Earth and think, ‘I want to clean this place up. I want to take care of what’s been given to us,鈥� and this research opportunity has done just that.”