Talitha Nelson

My honours project aims to quantify the role of Antarctic krill swarms in the Southern Ocean iron and carbon cycles.

More specifically, I have:

1. Followed a globally standardised procedure for the cleaning and conditioning of materials to ensure low-level contamination sampling and trace-metal analysis

2. Diluted and concentrated stock solutions, and prepared buffers and reagents

3. Worked with an Offline SeaFAST system for the pre-concentration of samples prior to anaysis

4. Fine-tuned and developed a method for the analysis of iron-binding ligands following published methods

5. Ensured the safety of myself and my peers when working with hazardous chemicals (such as Mercury and Hydrogen Fluoride) by following Safety Data Sheets and Safe Work Procedures.

5. Used R and Excel to analyse results

6. Gained experience in report writing, particularly for submission to peer-reviewed journals, with the guidance from supervisors

I volunteered as a research assistant analysing seawater samples from East Antarctica for iron-binding ligands. This work is currently being drafted for submission to Frontiers in Marine Science.

During this project I gained experience:

1. Calibrating and maintaining a Metrohm 797 Va Computrace voltameter.

2. Working in a team of two to analyse samples under the given timeframe and resolve issues encountered with both the method and the instrument

3. Communicating clearly and efficiently to my team member

4. Preparing reagants and buffer solutions

5. Reading and reviewing a scientific report for submission to a peer review journal

I completed a 6-week independent research project as part of the Bachelor of Marine and Antarctic Studies degree. My project involved analyzing seawater samples for iron-binding ligands using the Competitive Ligand Exchange - Adsorptive Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry method. My success in this project was reflected by receiving a final grade of 91%.

I developed skills in:

1. Working efficiently and independently to solve issues encountered with instrumentation and methods by reading published scientific reports and seeking guidance when needed.

2. Trace-metal clean techniques

3. Analysing raw data using a ligand fitting program (ProMCC)

4. Compiling and interpreting the results in the format of a scientific report