I identified my research area by trying to find a commonality between my mentor, Dr. Efting, and my own interests. I am a double major in psychology and biology, I wanted to try to incorporate both of these aspects into my capstone project. Dr. Efting is interested in cyanobacteria, one of the oldest organisms on Earth, so I attempted to find an association of her topic of interest with another subject that intrigued me.
I found that there are not only cyanobacteria in our environment, but that it’s on our skin, in our oral cavity, and in our gut. These three locations are the primary microbiomes on the human body that inhabit a variety of bacterial groups and aid in maintaining homeostasis, with cyanobacteria making up a very small portion of each.
My capstone project aligned our research interests and came up with the question of how the cyanobacteria in our microbiome could affect mammals in several ways. I found that it plays a role in certain diseases, as the number of cyanobacteria fluctuate in one of the microbial sites on the body, resulting in a dysbiotic, or unbalanced state of bacteria. This state reduces homeostasis and has many negative effects on the human body.
I was happy to be able to relate the overarching question to the field of psychology as well, because cyanobacteria produce certain toxins called neurotoxins that deplete neurons in the body. This realization helped me connect diseases such as Alzheimer’s and ALS, diseases that cause neuron depletion, to the cyanobacteria producing toxins in the environment.
I was motivated to determine if cyanobacteria within our microbiome specifically can create toxins in our bodies, resulting in the development of a certain disease. This question has never been explored nor answered, so I took advantage of this opportunity to complete my capstone on this topic and tried to find out if the claim was truly possible.
Exposure to cyanobacteria, especially for people who live near contaminated lakes, is an issue in society that should be more known due to the many negative effects that this exposure can cause.
After finalizing my capstone, I was not able to determine any definitive results that toxins can be produced in the human microbiome itself. However, I have confirmed that cyanobacteria and its toxins can enter the mammalian body in a variety of ways, resulting in the development of certain diseases. The type of disease can impact the number of cyanobacteria in our microbiome including breast cancer, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and many neurodegenerative diseases.
I would further expand on the topic by looking deeper into the features of cyanobacteria in our microbiome to determine if there is any way that they can produce toxins there without the connection to the external environment around us.
I expected this capstone to be very literature based, which it was since it would be a health hazard to make direct contact with cyanobacteria contaminated lakes and would be nearly impossible to get samples from individuals to determine the cyanobacteria in the microbiomes. Organizing the information gathered and finding the articles to record the necessary information was the most difficult part of the project, while putting together the essay itself was the easiest part since I organized my evidence properly.
The aspect of the project that surprised me the most was how in-depth it was and how many references I used, as I did not expect to find over 500 articles for references. I am glad to have acquired knowledge about a biological topic and that I was able to incorporate a few psychology aspects into the project. I am also grateful to have worked with Dr. Efting over the past year as well. She has made me a better writer in the process and dedicated her time to assisting me with this project. Overall, I am proud of this research and learned a lot of information. It was a great and productive experience.
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