Project:

Urban Microbial Atlas: Exploring Microbes in NYC's Subways and Bus System

Students:

Agamjot Kaur, Sophia Tkachenko

School:

Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, Queens

Mentors:

Fanny Matheis

Abstract:

New York City is a fast-paced metropolis which heavily depends on its extensive public transportation network. Every day, the NYC subway system transports approximately 3.2 million riders and the NYC bus system has approximately 1.4 million riders (MTA Ridership 2022). As ridership changes over time, so will the NYC transit microbial landscape. We aim to conduct a post-pandemic analysis of microbial diversity in the NYC Transit system and compare our data to that of previous studies to monitor population changes. We seek to employ DNA Barcoding in an effort to identify and monitor microbial populations and as such draw appropriate conclusions about their potential to pose potential health risks for everyday riders due to enhanced exposure (MTA Ridership 2022). We hope that such investigation propels public knowledge and speculation of the possible health danger as they continue to use NYC transportation, as well as spur further research into how to combat dangerous microbial diversity

Poster:

Team samples: