Daniel Weng, Charlene Leung, Cathy Lian, Jack Gao, Ms. Sarah Torrie, Yerusha Nuh, Kostandin Dhimitri
Through the Students on the Beamline program, the VPCI Beamline Team travelled to the Canadian Light Source to conduct research after winning the 2008 Beamtime Prize. Composed of six high school students, the team conducted an experiment that centred on researching the capability of using the Far-IR beamline to distinguish between various species and strains of yeast by analyzing their headspace gases. Current fungi detection methods are extremely slow and can rarely determine the precise species and/or strain of fungi present. The research was conducted with the intention to further develop quicker and more accurate methods of fungi detection and identification. Various yeasts were chosen to be fermented and have their resultant headspace gases collected. The absorption spectra of these gases were analyzed for differences. Research conducted prior to the experiment showed that the majority of the gases are comprised of CO2 and H2O, causing the spectra to become saturated or extremely unclear. This and various other obstacles were faced throughout the procedure of the experiment. Analysis of the spectra showed that there is evidence that infrared synchrotron light can be used to differentiate between various years. However, due to the lack of clarity within the spectra, there are no conclusive results.
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Dr. Brant Billinghurst (CLS), Daniel, Mrs. Tracy Walker (CLS), Cathy, Mrs. Sarah Torrie (VCPI), Charlene, Yerusha, Nino, Jack, Mr Felipe Almeida (VCPI) |
There was a lot to learn about spectroscopy, the nature of gaseous molecules, and vacuum systems – all before we could start prepping for the experiment! |
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Posing inside the beamline experimental hutch |
Carefully measuring and preparing the samples. |
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It is not only important to understand what the readings mean, but also to record all the pertinent ones for later comparison during data analysis. |
They couldn’t believe that they were allowed to run the computer ... |
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The data was a little more complicated than they expected ... |
And they couldn’t even escape the lesson the rest of the students were having back home... |
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Saskatoon in the winter does include snow, and cold, and hoar frost, and fog, and lots of fun! |
Data analysis included very painstaking comparisons of each absorption peak looking for differences. |
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Last modified: 2010-02-17 16:02:09
