SJU Sigma Xi Fall 2025
Research Conference
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Posted November 26, 2025
I am excited to say that I took part in showcasing and contributing to two research posters as a part of Thomas Jefferson University: the Acid Mine Drainage and Soccer Turf Microbial research projects.
I joined Dr. Daniel Lipus' research in August 2025 as a part of the 3-credit research curriculum. I worked with the following individuals as a team: Monyca Oum, Anna Tran, and Julia Tran. The purpose of the research is to examine the biodiversity of acid mine drainages and to investigate the metabolic pathways in which metal-resistant microorganisms function in their extreme environmental conditions.
In Pennsylvania, AMDs are common as coal mines have been abandoned over time, leading to these mines flooding from rain or groundwater. As a result, microorganisms adapted to the mineral-dissolved water, such as iron and sulfur. As of now, the main objective of the research is to identify where these metal-resistant organisms are abundant in AMD sites and how they metabolically function, individually and as a part of their ecosystem. Future planning includes connecting the metal-resistant gene to the antibiotic-resistance gene, utilizing the data analysis as a future reference for pharmaceutical industries to efficiently produce antibiotics.
In the AMD project, I planned the enrichment pathway of the following AMD samples: biofilm, rock, sediment, crust, blower water, and outflow water. The enrichment pathway of the workflow is still in progress as the planning of the enrichment culture and the search for the media needed extended time. I've performed plenty of DNA extractions, PCR and qPCR procedures, and Nanopore sequencing. More data must be gathered for the remaining samples that have been yet to be examined. Only microbial abundance was examined and visualizd via box-and-whisker plots for the three sample types: biofilm, crust, and rock. Better DNA extractions on AMD samples in the future can lead us to a more accurate representation of the data and results.
Not only did I extensively work on the AMD project, but I also established some of the data analysis and visualization for the Soccer Turf microbial research project, investigated by Dr. Manuela Tripepi and Dr. Daniel Lipus. I've created the visualized analysis and plots via RStudio, using the data obtained from the Oxford MinION Nanopore Sequence technology. Microbial abundance, diversity indices, and taxon abundance were analyzed via box-and-whisker plots, equation calculations, and bubble plots across examined samples. The noteworthy takeaways were the observed high microbial abundance in some of the samples and the distribution of the most abundant taxons across the samples. Further bioinformatic analysis must be taken to investigate the type of species present in turf and non-turf samples.
At the conference, the teams of the research projects were confident in showcasing the data to others, ranging from undergraduate students to professors, coming from Saint Joseph's University, Arcadia University, and the Community College of Philadelphia.
Kudos to everyone who presented, and I look forward to working again with the team in the future!
Acid Mine Drainage Research
Click here to read more on my work and contribution for the AMD project!
Soccer Turf Research
I created and contributed to the project for the analysis of the data and results!
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