It sounds like something from a science fiction movie, but sophomore Brennan Deshotel is learning the genius of superworms and their ability to breakdown pollutants in the environment.
Before she became a student, Deshotel reached out to Marquette University for help in conducting research on how these invertebrate animals degrade plastics that are detrimental to the earth’s health.
“A mentor gave me a small population of superworms and told me about their degradation capabilities,” Deshotel says.
After, Deshotel had her heart set on studying these creatures. She was able to find a home in Dr. Chris Marshall’s lab.
The Marshall Lab studies many aspects of microbiology, from bacteria to viruses, and currently maintains eight different projects.
“The big projects involve trying to clean up pollutants in the environment — a process called bioremediation, tackling the rising problem of antibiotic resistance and finding alternative energy sources,” says Marshall, an assistant professor of biological sciences in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences.
When it comes to Deshotel’s project, she’s been experimenting with PFAS, carbon chains that attach to fluorine molecules creating a bond that prevents degradation. They are dubbed “forever chemicals” because these molecules will accumulate in organisms for years, moving throughout the food chain. Exposure to PFAS can cause countless health problems. Although Deshotel’s research is proving forever chemicals are not as infallible as many believe.
“Superworms can survive off plastics, and their isolated gut bacteria can be used to degrade pollutants,” the environmental engineering student explains.
To better understand the degradation process that the worms use, Deshotel has been conducting feeding trials using PFAS. A lot of her current day-to-day tasks involve researching new ways to plan experiments. Coding is also necessary in the lab, as Deshotel works through data and sends DNA samples from trials to be sequenced.
As Deshotel furthers her research with superworms, she works closer toward finding a new way to help clean the environment — a notion that the Marshall Lab is happy to help with.
“We want to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. We hope to discover processes and technologies to clean up pollutants, to rapidly diagnose and treat sick patients and generate clean biofuels all by understanding microbes better,” Marshall explains.
Working in the lab has been a rewarding experience for Deshotel — and she’s grateful for the flexibility it grants her.
In the future, she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in microbiology and then study how biological systems can remove pollutants or be turned into fuel.
“My goal in all my scientific endeavors is to create something that helps the environment or improves the world in some way,” Deshotel says. “If I can make that a career, I’ll be happy.”
