Calvin College science department uses NSF grant to monitor Plaster Creek

Calvin College has received a $338,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, allowing it to purchase abstate-of-the-art instrument it plans to use to monitor Plaster Creek, a local waterway so contiminated that human contact is not recommended, says biology professor Randall DeJong.

According to the article:

Students and faculty who monitor the creek will be able to conduct tests considerably faster and implement more sample sites because of the instrument, DeJong said.

The highly sensitive instrument uses a process called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which amplifies DNA molecules and can detect low levels of DNA.

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