Riley E Bigham

Personal Information

Class of 2023

Senior Biochemistry Major

Hometown: O'Fallon, IL

Phone: 618-207-7391

Email: Rbigham@monmouthcollege.edu

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

SOfIA (Summer Opportunities for Intellectual Activities)

August 2019

• SOfIA Project: The Chemistry Makerspace

Richard "Doc" Kieft Summer Research

Advisor: Dr. Bradley Sturgeon

Summer 2021

• Developed methods for future microbiome research
• Methods include Qiagen DNA isolation kits (Powerwater, Fecal, and Soil), PCR & Sequencing
• Worked with Dr. Laura Moore and her research members
• Future Research: The inhabitants of an aquatic microbiome and their effect on a healthy aquatic ecosystem
• Final Presentation: Understanding the Aquatic Microbiome

The microbiome is a unique set of microbes living in a particular environment. The microbes that make up the human microbiome are established at birth and evolve throughout life. These microbes are essential for our well-being by regulating our immune system, synthesizing vitamins, and protecting us against certain disease-causing bacteria. The demand for new research has risen in popularity in the past 20 years allowing new discoveries connecting the microbes to the human condition. An example is the use of fecal transplants for treating obesity. New developments have allowed us to understand cause and effects from the rich community of microbes within different environments. As with the human microbiome, aquatic systems also contain a unique collection of microbes. The goal of this project is to evaluate the microbes present in aquatic systems and to correlate the presences of these microbes to the overall health of the aquatic ecosystems.

Shedd Aquarium

A few Doc Kieft research students and our advisor, Bradley Sturgeon had the opportunity to take a behind the scenes tour of the Shedd Aquarium microbiome lab. There we met Frank Oliaro, the lab manager of the microbiome project. Here we learned the processes of DNA isolation, PCR, and sequencing. Oiaro also recommended the Earth Microbiome Project page to review the 16s Illumina Amplicon protocol for future PCR and sequencing methods.

The week of September 5th we contacted Frank Oliaro on questions about taking the next step for sequencing. He answered our questions and offered to sequence some of our samples at his lab in the Shedd Aquarium. As of September 13th, he is sequencing our first 11 samples of DNA (Soil, Water, and Fecal).

Presentations

• June 2021: Richard "Doc" Kieft Summer Research Program

Title: Understanding the Aquatic Microbiome (Oral Presentation)

• August 2019: Monmouth College SOfIA Program

Title: The Chemistry Makerspace (Oral and Poster Presentations)