On Tuesday, April 5, senior biology major Christina Edwards received an Honorable Mention award for her research poster presentation at the annual meeting of the N.C. Water Resources Research Institute, held at N.C. State University in Raleigh.
The title of her research was “Soluble and cell-bound cyanotoxin (microcystin-LR) levels in freshwaters following chemical treatment for cyanobacteria”. Co-authors included Brant Touchette, assistant professor of biology; Christine Sweeney, an environmental studies major at Elon; and J. Alexander with the Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology at N.C. State. Touchette served as Edwards’ faculty advisor.
In this research, Edwards and her colleagues looked at production of a toxin produced by cyanobacteria, commonly called blue-green algae, in North Carolina lakes. They compared lakes which had been treated with a compound designed to control algal growth with untreated lakes. This is especially important since many lakes which provide drinking water in the area experience growth of cyanobacteria during summer months, with documented toxin production.
The Water Resources Research Institute is one of the main organizations in North Carolina looking at water resource management. More than 300 people attended the conference. Students from N.C. State, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and other campuses also presented research posters.