By Trinity M. Griffus. Honorable Mention Research Story. Undergraduate Research Opportunity Conference 2024.
Having lived in Japan for three years, I used my love for filmmaking to explore the
vibrant culture and landscapes of the country. I was given the opportunity to make a short film in
Tokyo, allowing me to explore the city. My adventures in Japan helped me gain awards for my
stories and visuals. Upon graduating high school, I pursued my passion for film by applying to
the University of New Mexico for the Fall 2020 semester. I was starting my freshman year by
arriving in a new city, a new school, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic,
I spent my first classes in front of a computer screen. Challenges arose, and my academic
journey encountered hurdles such as difficulties with Blackboard, professors learning the
systems themselves for the first time, and delays in access to UNM facilities and resources. As
the pandemic subsided, I could finally attend classes in person and meet my peers, leading me to
local film projects such as a music video production. Struggling to finance my education during
my freshman term and part of my sophomore year, I took a hiatus to work toward establishing
New Mexico residency and paying back my debt to the school. During this break, I realized that
film no longer aligned with my aspirations as a career but instead as a hobby. I regained my love
for gardening, a passion I had for a while but never had the time to fulfill. I found excitement and
fascination in raising and taking care of my plants. Through meticulous care, I uncovered a
passion for plant pathology, delving into topics like plant-fungi symbiosis, variations of
nutritional needs, and other botanical topics. My journey from reels of film to the soils of
gardens has led me to a newfound path rich with potential and excitement.
My husband was one of my biggest supporters when I decided to switch my major to
STEM. Initially, I hesitated as I thought I was not cut out for science and couldn’t keep up with
those far more intelligent than me. I focused on film and photography throughout high school,
which became my identity and purpose. The idea of pursuing something completely different
was terrifying to me. However, my husband was supportive and could see that Biology had the
potential to be my new passion just as much as film had been. With a renewed sense of purpose,
I redirected my focus toward pursuing a major in Biology, driven by a newfound fascination with
plants and their intricate relationships with fungi. Little did I anticipate the swiftness my journey
would take in propelling me up an accelerated path of research and discovery within the realm of
astrobiology.
After that year-long hiatus, I resumed my academic journey during the Spring 2023
semester, enthusiastic about the Opportunity scholarship to alleviate my financial constraints. In
April, I found out about Research Day, which showcased the work of biology students
researching and working on projects during the past semester. I was particularly interested in
seeing the plant-related projects done on campus, and I had the ambition of getting involved.
During the verbal presentations, I was enthralled by the diversity of what biology had to offer.
However, one presentation stood out to me the most. This presentation was given by another fellow undergraduate, Louis Hight. He explained his experiment with sunflowers and mycorrhizae fungi grown in Martian regolith.
I was utterly fascinated by the plant-fungi symbiosis in exoplanet settings. He explained how others could get involved in research through
a program called NASA Minds. At first, I didn’t write down or save the information, initially
because of my amazement and fascination, but then I was brought down by feelings and thoughts
of being inadequate and inexperienced. However, my husband, ever diligent and knowing I
would love the opportunity, didn’t hesitate to photograph the information. I worked up the
courage to finally reach out and ask how I could get involved. He responded by introducing me
and helping me get involved with NASA Minds.
NASA Minds is a project funded by NASA for the Artemis mission. Its primary objective
is to offer undergraduate students from minority-serving institutions a chance to enhance their
research, experimental, and professional skills. In the project, I was appointed as the
Undergraduate Lead responsible for coordinating meetings, submitting deliverables to NASA,
and ensuring that everyone has the necessary resources to complete various aspects of the
project. After discussing furthering my research experience, I was allowed to take on and
continue Louis’s previous project alongside NASA Minds. I reevaluated and brainstormed ideas
for this year’s experiment with Louis and my faculty advisor, David Hanson. With their help, I
applied for research funding through ASSURE. Once accepted into the ASSURE program, I
immediately started thoroughly planning and setting dates for my experiment.
As space missions get ever more frequent and the prospect of colonizing exoplanets
become increasingly realistic, a pivotal question arises: how can we establish a dependable and
sustainable food source for potential settlements on planets like Mars, where complex organic
soil matter is absent? I initially had numerous ideas about the direction of my project, ranging
from planting in a garden bed and observing how mycorrhizae facilitated nutrient transfer
between individual plants to observing and measuring each plant in separate pots. After engaging
in lab meetings and discussions with my mentors, I opted to plant the sunflowers individually in
pots and utilize fertilizer to quantify how much the fungi aided the plants. This decision led me
to formulate my research question: Does Rhizophagus irregularis assist in plant resource
acquisition for Helianthus annuus cultivated in Martian and Lunar regolith? The data collected
from this experiment could be a foundational platform for more intricate experiments I plan to
undertake.
While organic matter on Earth is essential in cultivating plants, NASA scientists have
achieved previous successes in germinating plants in Lunar regolith. Rhizophagus irregularis, a
type of mycorrhizal fungi, has effectively aided plant growth by regulating nutrition and
hormonal balances and facilitating resource acquisition, suggesting potential applicability in
Martian regolith. Helianthus annuus, commonly known as sunflowers, are recognized for their
rapid germination and growth rates, making them ideal candidates for expediting research
progress in this project. The hypothesis is that since plants have successfully germinated in
synthetic lunar regolith and mycorrhizal fungi are utilized to enhance resource acquisition in various soils. The application of mycorrhizal fungi in Martian regolith will benefit plant growth.
The overarching objective of this project is to investigate whether a symbiotic relationship
between Helianthus annuus and Rhizophagus irregularis can contribute to regulating plant stress
responses and nutrition. By employing measurements to monitor growth rates, progress, and
overall plant health across six different substrates (soil, soil with mycorrhizae, synthetic Martian
regolith, synthetic Martian regolith with mycorrhizae, synthetic Lunar regolith, and synthetic
Lunar regolith with mycorrhizae), this study aims to evaluate the potential benefits.
I started the experimental portion of my project in the first week of February, believing
that it would give me ample time for the plants to grow. During the germination stage, the seeds
were soaked in DI water for 24 hours to encourage faster sprouting of the sunflowers, mainly due
to the time constraints for the UROC presentations. After evaluating the amount of supplies and
space I had to work with, 30 plants were used for the experiment, with ten allocated to each
substrate, consisting of 5 plants per sample, the only exception being the Lunar regolith, which
only had six sprouted plants and three plants per sample. I planned to have 40 plants, 20 for
Earth soil and 20 for Martian. However, there was a limited supply of the Martian regolith
available. The inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi occurred when the plants reached an average
height of 3-4cm (about 1.57 in), and the fertilization provided for the plants was applied
simultaneously. Throughout the experiment, I was diligent when monitoring and collecting data
for analysis, including daily watering and plant height measurements. I also maintained regular
assessments of plant physiology to track their development and response to their environment. I
found that the plants in one tent would dry out faster than those in the other, probably due to the
moisture within the tents.
After making graphs of the plant growth of each sample type, I found a slight difference
between the plants grown in the Martian regolith with and without fungi compared to a
substantial difference in growth for plants in the lunar regolith with and without fungi. When
comparing the photos of the root structures of the plants, there were significant differences
between the plants grown in Martian regolith with and without fungi compared to a slight
difference between the plants grown in Lunar regolith with and without fungi. During the plant
extractions from the substrates, the roots were checked for mycelia, of which both the Martian
and Lunar regolith plants showed signs; however, two out of the earth soil plants showed little
mycelia, and one plant showed no signs of mycelia. This meant that there were issues during the
inoculation stage. I plan to redo the Earth soil plant samples with mycorrhizae fungi to establish
a more reliable source for data. Currently, I am waiting for the stable isotope δ13C and δ15N
analysis to be used as an integrated measure of plant water stress. This would clarify if the
mycorrhizae helped the plant reduce stress responses during the initial growth stage.
In the future, I’ve noted ideas for improvements in increasing and diversifying the data
collection. I aim to address temperature and humidity fluctuations by implementing monitoring systems to ensure optimal conditions for plant growth. Daily photographs will also help me better track the progress of the plants and identify any potential issues that may arise. Conducting
chlorophyll assays to assess the photosynthetic efficiency of the plants and determine their
overall health will also benefit in establishing a more thorough examination of each plant.
Another aspect I intend to explore is the pH levels of the regolith to understand their impact on
plant growth better. I also aim to expand the scope of my experiments by growing more plants
per substrate to gather comprehensive data and enhance the reliability of my findings.
Throughout this project, I learned so much about how plants grow in various substrates
by studying and watching these plants grow. I have a long way to go in developing my research
techniques and analytical skills to ensure a more thorough experiment plan and execution. I also
learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses. My definitive strengths included my
organizational skills when planning and executing my experiment. This skill was also shown
when recording and organizing the data to ensure it was easy to follow and understand. Some of
my weaknesses I encountered where my rigidness in which plants get inoculated and which
won’t resulting in uneven distribution between sample types. Since this is the first research
project I’ve done independently, I was able to evaluate the effectiveness of my techniques along
with what areas I’ll need to improve upon.
In conclusion, my research aims to shed light on the potential benefits of mycorrhizal
fungi in improving plant growth and resilience, particularly in challenging environments. The
results of this experiment and furthering our understanding of the mechanisms underlying plantfungi
interactions suggest that if the fungi demonstrate effectiveness in enhancing plant resource
acquisition, it could have significant implications not only for plants grown in exoplanet
environments but also for enhancing agricultural and food productivity in New Mexico,
specifically in response to ongoing effects of climate change.