Team:WPI Worcester/Measurement

Measurement

During our project, we did a lot of assay development, and tried to quantify exactly how much lead our probiotic could absorb. The assay development included understanding how pH, timing, temperature, order of addition of components, and wavelength played a part in the assay’s accuracy. After a summer of different trials, testing each component and evaluating our results we decided the assay was not specific or standard enough for our project’s measurements; however, we were able to find a different kit that we then used to quantify exactly how much lead our probiotic was absorbing. We were able to take the absorbance, place it on the standard curve we developed and find, in parts per billion, how much lead was bound to the bacteria.