This summer, more than 80 students and faculty kept campus abuzz with the hum of hands-on field and lab research. The Seaver Summer Research Community’s work covered topics in biology, health and human sciences, mechanical engineering, computer science and more disciplines across the college. With such a diversity of research projects to choose from, we spoke to some of the students about their unique summer experience. Today, we spotlight Isabelle Bermudez ’25, a biology major who worked under the mentorship of biology professor Michelle Lum this summer.
Describe your research in a way that a high school student would understand it.
I work with Dr. Lum and our research focuses on plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) which promotes plant growth and survival under different stressors, like drought. PGPR can be used as a bioinoculant, which means bacteria is added to seeds before they can be planted. However, this method of adding bacteria is not always practical because the bacteria does not always survive in storage before being planted. Different seeds coating have been found to act as good binders for bacteria. We focused on looking at xanthan gum, gum arabic, CMC, and sodium alginate and whether this would help bacterial viability. We also focused on different bacterial strains and whether they improved growth and germination of primrose seeds under drought stress.
Why would someone outside your field be interested in your project?
Someone outside of this field would be interested in this project because the effects of climate change are continuing to increase. It’s important to find solutions to rising issues of drought or high salinity so that we can protect native species and preserve biodiversity in our ecosystems.
What are some of the lessons students learn while working on research?
As a student, you learn how to take initiative over your projects. Although you have your research mentor to guide you along the way, they want you to learn for yourself. It makes you think ahead and helps create a big picture of what your research is about and how you want to add to it.
How does doing research complement coursework?
All biology students take BIOL-112 which is what my research is a continuation of. This class focuses on PGPR and our lab actually screens through the different bacterial strains collected from the students to see how they might be useful in promoting plant growth.
What advice would you give to someone on the fence about doing research?
If you’re on the fence about research, learn more about what each professor is doing. There’s a lot of amazing research going on, but you want to make sure you’re involved with something that interests you. Also talking to the different students involved in research is super helpful. You can get a student perspective of how much time you’ll spend in lab and whether you think it’s the best for you.
Will your work this summer lead to any foreseeable outcomes (i.e. publications, presentations, poster sessions, patent applications, etc.)?
This summer, my research partner and I started working on our scientific journal. With our continued research and Dr. Lum’s guidance, we hope to have something published in the next year.
Do you plan to continue your project in the future? If so, when?
In the fall, we plan to continue our research so that we can determine whether other bacterial strains promote plant growth and whether seed coatings improve bacterial viability.
