Effect of Sugar Level in Yeast Medium on Growth Rate and Recovery (Jun 2020 – August 2020)

Selected as one of 20 students to participate in a rigorous independent research program mentored by Rockefeller University researchers. Due to the pandemic, the program was reoriented to a virtual program. I participated in the Cultivating Wild Yeast track, where we cultured wild yeast samples at home with plants, flowers, and familiar food products, studied how yeast is used as a model organism, discussed scientific journal articles on genetics research using yeast, and designed and implemented independent research projects with our at-home yeast cultures. Also attended program-wide lectures on the Scientific Ecosystem and What is Research?

I am currently collaborating with my mentors in the Cultivating Wild Yeast track, Jeanne Garbarino and Odaelys Walwyn, to write a protocol for an image processing procedure I developed for my final project for comparing the concentration of yeast cultures with photos taken on a phone camera and Wolfram Mathematica. I cultivated yeast in apple juice medium at home and used a series of dot assays and self-developed image processing techniques to determine the effect of varying the sugar content of the apple juice medium on the growth rate (cloudiness) of the yeast. I also investigated how yeast recovers from exposure to artificial sweeteners.

The protocol will be published on the Rockefeller University website as part of an online curriculum on doing science at home, and potentially a larger paper about teaching science research to high school students amid the pandemic.