Do people's microbial signatures affect their environment?
School Name
Center for Advanced Technical Studies
Grade Level
12th Grade
Presentation Topic
Environmental Science
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Abstract
Many experiments have studied the impact that humans have on the indoor environment, leaving many researchers to speculate that an air signature can be traced to a particular individual. One study done at the University of Oregon verified this by sampling the air signature surrounding eleven individuals. They found that each environment was unique, proving an individual can release their own microbial cloud (Meadow, 2015). These studies have concluded that human occupancy is a cause of elevated bacterial concentrations in the indoor environment (Hospodsky, 2012), but none have focused on what factors, such as gender and age, may affect this change. This project's purpose is to determine what factors specifically affect their microbial signature present in the room. This is done by having rooms with either one gender or one age group, and testing the air signature with petri dishes, environmental swabs, and a TSI particle sizer. After the samples were collected, they were cultured in petri dishes to extract the DNA for identifying the organisms present. This provides evidence for correlation of gender or age and the resultant microbial community.
Recommended Citation
Lowman, Morgan and Shealy, Kamryn, "Do people's microbial signatures affect their environment?" (2018). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 224.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2018/all/224
Location
Lassiter 220
Start Date
4-14-2018 10:15 AM
Presentation Format
Oral Only
Do people's microbial signatures affect their environment?
Lassiter 220
Many experiments have studied the impact that humans have on the indoor environment, leaving many researchers to speculate that an air signature can be traced to a particular individual. One study done at the University of Oregon verified this by sampling the air signature surrounding eleven individuals. They found that each environment was unique, proving an individual can release their own microbial cloud (Meadow, 2015). These studies have concluded that human occupancy is a cause of elevated bacterial concentrations in the indoor environment (Hospodsky, 2012), but none have focused on what factors, such as gender and age, may affect this change. This project's purpose is to determine what factors specifically affect their microbial signature present in the room. This is done by having rooms with either one gender or one age group, and testing the air signature with petri dishes, environmental swabs, and a TSI particle sizer. After the samples were collected, they were cultured in petri dishes to extract the DNA for identifying the organisms present. This provides evidence for correlation of gender or age and the resultant microbial community.
