Agriscience fair project help!!

[123456]

I am trying to test the effect of pesticides on the ability for thyroglobulin protein to bind to iodine. Many pesticide workers have developed hypothyroidism from working with pesticides. Is there any way to test this or something similar?

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

This is a fascinating topic, and yes, there are ways to measure both pesticides and levels of thyroid hormone. I am attaching a reference in two parts, which includes methods for analysis. The analysis of pesticides requires a special extraction procedure in methanol/hexane/ether and access to a gas chromatograph. The analysis of thyroid hormone levels is done by a radioimmunoassay technique.

If you had access to a laboratory with this equipment, and if you could purchase or ask for donations of the expensive reagents, you would need to complete special forms to obtain permission to do a project on either humans or animals, and you would need a consent form for each human subject.

So, this topic would be extremely challenging to do for a science project. I cannot think of a way to adapt the analytical techniques to a method you could do in a school laboratory, so you would need to locate a local mentor and laboratory with the required equipment.

You might want to check out the science buddies website for other project ideas if this project is not feasible for you.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... deas.shtml

Please do let us know if you need any additional advice for the pesticide/thyroid project, or for any other project you might choose.

Good luck!


Donna Hardy

pesticide thyroid ref I.pdf

(183.06 KiB) Downloaded 326 times

[donnahardy2]

pesticide thyroid ref II.pdf

(189.7 KiB) Downloaded 343 times

[123456]

Thank you! This was very helpful. I might have acces to a lab if I get a reply from the person. In the study you showed me, it says the pesticide dieldrin was significantly high in hypothyroid females. is there a way to test what this pesticide does to make the person not be able to make enough hormones? if not, do you have any other suggestions to make my study on this topic unique? thank you so much.

[donnahardy2]

Hi,
You could do an excellent project if you have access to a lab to do this testing. Depending on the type of samples that were available, you could do a survey of the population or investigate the study the mechanism of action of pesticides on tissue culture cells.

Here is the Wikipedia website that describes the physiologic effect of an older pesticide, DDT, on humans. This pesticide has a structure similar to estrogen so interferes with the human endocrine system. The mechanism of deildrin is similar:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT

This reference describes an assay using estrogen-sensitive breast cancer tissue culture cells. You would do this type of assay if you wanted to study the mechanism of a pesticide on human cells. You should know that growing tissue culture cells is very expensive.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 2-0044.pdf\\

Please talk to your contact who works in the lab. Ask if the lab has a gas chromatograph and/or tissue culture facilities. If these aren’t available, ask what other types of equipment are available. Ask if samples would be available to test or if you would have to provide these for the project. You can finalize your project once you know what resources you have available.

If you can confirm the available equipment, I can help with a search of the literature that will allow you to design a completely original project.

When is your project due? If it is due April 1, you will need to select a project that will be quicker, and save this one for next year.

Donna Hardy

[123456]

yea, because of the resources im going to look into another topic and save this one for next year. the new topics i'm considering now are:

-What is the effect of common foods on the growth of oral bacteria?
-What is the effect of different cooking methods on the loss of vitaimin C in broccoli?
-Design a beach model less prone to erosion using plants, structures, and other creative engineering solutions. Compare it to a regular beach model.

please send me your opinions and suggestions. thanks again!

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

I think you have a talent for picking good topics, and you will have time to do the beach erosion or vitamin C project before your deadline if you can obtain the materials. Please try to do more background reading on each topic before your decide.

This project outline includes a method for analyzing for vitamin C. You will need iodine solution, starch indicator, and some vitamin C tablets to use as a standard. Look over this project and decide if you can do it. If you can get the materials together this week, and start writing your protocol, you could do the experiments next Saturday and write up your board on Sunday.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p044.shtml

Here is a project idea on erosion that you could adapt to a model. Be sure to read the references so you can understand the science behind what you are doing. It will be harder to measure results on this project, and you would have to follow the same timeline as above in order to complete your project.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentorin ... p012.shtml

The bacteria project would take at least a month to do unless you have agar and Petri dishes available immediately to use. Let me know if you have these available, otherwise you should save this idea for another year as well.

Let me know if you have more questions.



Donna Hardy

[123456]

thank you! i dont have agar and petri dishes available. so now i want to do the beach erosion project. i researched about the different methods used already to slow down beach erosion so i am also going to include those and compare it to my beach model. I also read the site you sent me and researched the erosion terms on it. I came up with a plan and a list of materials. to measure, could i find the difference in slope of the sand from the beginning to end?

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

Good choice. And it's great that you have a definite plan of action. Why don't you do a trial run and to measuring the slope to see if that will work? The trial run might give you some other ideas as well.

You should also take pictures so the science fair judges will be able to see your results. You should also see if you can devise a way to collect the run-off. Then you could measure the turbidity of the water, or filter the water through a coffee filter and weigh or measure the volume of the eroded sand.

Good luck.

Donna Hardy

[MelissaB]

Hi,

Depending on how large your model is, you should be able to get an electronic level at a hardware store. You can then lay this on the sand and it will tell you exactly what the angle of the sand is. I don't know how expensive they are, though.

[123456]

okay, thanks

[123456]

the models are made ...but i tried using an air pump for fish tanks to stimulate the waves, but it just made bubbles and it didnt have that much force. i also tried a fan, but it blew on the sand, which is not what i wanted. any ideas on what i can use to stimulate waves for my beach erosion project?

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

The fan will give an air erosion project.

I can't think of a good way to make waves, however. Are the models small enough that you could put them on an improvised seesaw and rock the model gently back and forth?

Donna Hardy