|
Posted 09/04/02
The planning and work that goes into conducting research is often just as interesting as its result. Take, for instance, Joel Wickre and Katie Martin-Dartmouth '03s who had the idea of collecting water samples in the community of Siuna, Nicaragua, to help determine the feasibility of building a well for the local hospital. The water in Siuna is non-potable, contaminated with fecal material and the detritus of a now-defunct gold mine. Wickre and Martin, who were involved in an earlier Tucker Foundation trip to the area, wanted to measure the levels of contamination in water samples from the community.
With the assistance of Margaret Karagas, associate professor of community and family medicine and associate director at Dartmouth's Center for Environmental Health Sciences, which funded the project, they developed a plan to conduct a communitywide study and to sample not only water but human toenails and hair for biomarkers of toxic substances, such as cyanide, mercury, and arsenic. Wickre and Martin spent a month procuring samples and surveying 49 families about water use and purification, food consumption, and health history. The students, with help from Karagas and others, developed procedures for data collection that ensured their research project had the accuracy of a true epidemiological study.
"They were extremely scientific in their approach," says Karagas.
Now in Hanover, Wickre and Martin are working with earth sciences research associate Stefan Sturup, who runs the trace element analysis lab at Dartmouth, to determine the levels of toxicity in the samples. Sturup will assist them in utilizing the lab's powerful equipment, which can detect chemical traces down to one or two parts per trillion, to help them determine the next step in their research process.
|
