PCBs are polychlorinated biphenols. They were banned in 1979 but they're
still produced inadvertently through various chemical processes. They can find their way
into basically stormwater runoff. And so they might be in road paint, for example,
and when it rains and goes into storm water that's a pathway for PCBs to enter the Spokane River. So,
although they were banned from being produced in the late 70s, because they have that property of
not breaking down very easily they build up over time and can cause problems in the environment.
Spokane has a high concentration of PCBs in the river and the soil and air.
If there are pollutants and contaminants in our environment, that affects not just the wildlife
but also humans. And these areas often tend to disproportionately affect people of color. It's
important for us in Spokane to make sure that we're addressing the issue because
we do have tribal populations that rely on fish as a main source of food. My partner and I looked at
native bacteria in PCB contaminated soil to try to bioremediate or degrade the PCBs out of the
soil in order to find a better disposal method of PCBs in Spokane. So we can take our soil,
extract DNA, and then sequence that and find what species are in our soil. Previous students started
this research about three years ago with The Lands Council. We hope to find which species of bacteria
bioremediate the best and then we can kind of use knowledge we gain from that to apply it to water
and the Spokane River in the future. We had started our own research on how
mushrooms can break down PCBs so that they're not harmful to human health, and learned that
North Central High School has the premier science lab in all public schools in Washington State.
So it was this great opportunity to get some real results and testing done right here locally with
the students. In this lab we are better equipped than many colleges in terms of the equipment for
molecular biology specifically. The web chemistry that these girls had to do to get to this point
involved protocols that some PhDs couldn't do. So I am 17 and the research that we have been doing
has also been in the literature that we've been reading
and then the sequencer that we use has only been around for about two years. What a lot
of researchers do is take that DNA sample that they work really hard on and ship it to another
company to get it professionally sequenced. And what we want to do is teach the students
what those professionals are doing so that they can see themselves in those jobs. During our
research, our bioremediation of the PCBs actually happened very quickly. The next steps would be
to do this research on a larger scale and a longer time and also outside. And then we're going to
present our findings to the city of Spokane and try to get them on board with the disposal method.
This is a real problem that they are helping address. This isn't an example,
this is actual data that we are using to help reduce contaminants in the Spokane River. It's
so great to have kids be a part of this. As we're told, we are the future. Our generation,
once we grow up, we're going to have to deal with these issues and we're going to be the people
pushing and fighting for solutions. So, I think it's really important to learn these skills at a
young age that we can take them and improve upon them as we grow. I love seeing students engage in
what's happening in their backyard. These guys are the next generation of our workforce. If
they can come out of high school with a potential to solve a problem that we're facing right now,
then I encourage them to keep going and give us a call when they're ready for a job.