Team:Greenfield IN-Rihm-HS/Team

Our project this year is to design, create, and test a working cadmium water tester. We are going to do this by altering the existing biochemical pathway that Yeast has to recognize the cadmium, and then create our own code that will make it fluoresce red. When we originally had the idea for a water tester, we looked for metals, pesticides, and other harmful substances that are a problem in water supplies. Through much research, we found that cadmium is often a byproduct of many industrial processes, and is often leaked or exposed to the environment. Also, yeast recognizes the presence of cadmium already, so we figured it would be much more simple to alter an existing pathway than to create an entirely new one. We hope through research and experimentation that we are able to make cadmium much more detectable in the environment.

Advisors:

• John Rihm: attended Indiana University, has a Master's degree in Biology, and has over 35 years teaching experience.
• Rebecca Schini: attended Indiana University Purdue University, is working on a master's degree in Biology, and has been teaching for 4 years.

Undergrads:

• Chris Thompson: Junior, wants to attend Purdue University to study BioTechnical Engineering.
• Lucas Ruff: Senior, attending West Point Military Academy next year.
• Brent Poling: Junior, wants to attend Wabash University to study Pre-Med.
• Austin Frazier: Junior, wants to attend Indiana University to study Biology or Pre-Med.