Patricio’s thesis year was inspired by ongoing research in Professor Jay Mellies’ lab investigating groups of bacteria which can break down plastic. Biology major Morgan Vague ’18’s thesis work was the genesis for this research. Patricio tells us about his experience counting 40,000 spores individually through a microscope, and about how his research gave him totally different results than he expected.

Reed community members can read Patricio’s thesis, “A Tale of Two Species: Uncovering the Interactions Between Bacillus and Pseudomonas on PET Plastics,” online in the Electronic Thesis Archive.