MSU students research anti-fungal compounds, mold samples from flood

A tragedy for Minot was also something of a boon for Minot State University associate professor Mikhail Bobylev and his team of student researchers. Bobylev has spent many years researching anti-fungal compounds and last summer's flood produced many different mold samples right here in Minot for Bobylev and his students to combat.

"It was very interesting," Bobylev said, describing how different colors of mold white, green, black, brown grew in different places on the wall of one of the flooded houses where the team collected samples. Student researcher Braden Burckhard, a senior chemistry major from Burlington, said the mold-covered wall resembled a kaleidoscope picture.

The team members painstakingly collected the mold samples from two different locations last October.

Finding suitable buildings to test in presented something of a dilemma for the team, since many homeowners began demolition and restoration work on their flooded homes as soon as they could get back into them. Luckily, Burckhard happened to know the owner of a badly flooded house on University Avenue who gave written permission for Bobylev and his students to collect mold samples there. Bobylev and student researchers wore protective gear before they set foot in the flooded homes to protect them from the mold. Bobylev said he even had to use a special camera to take pictures inside the houses, since an ordinary camera would be contaminated by mold and would soon have mold growing in every nook and cranny. The special camera was sealed to prevent mold from entering it and had to be washed off as soon as the team left the house.

Burckhard said he valued the hands-on experience, which took him out of the science lab and out into the field.

"It gave us a chance to provide research to the community," said Burckhard.

Burckhard and fellow students researchers used cotton swabs to collect samples from different mold colonies in the flooded homes and, back at the lab, isolated each sample to prevent them from being infiltrated with other samples of mold or from outside contaminants. Samples of each mold type collected were taken and sent to Home Mold Laboratory in Walled Lake, Minn. The lab identified each type of mold and what illnesses it might produce. For instance, one type of mold the group found was a white mold identified as "acremonium alabamense." The lab indicated that this genus of fungi can produce a number of serious diseases if it grows in a human being, including osteomyelitis, peritonitis, meningitis and endocarditis, among other ailments. It is also a serious allergen, aggravating hay fever and asthma.

Bobylev said the white mold sample and other mold types can be dangerous to humans and animals, though they are most dangerous to people who have compromised immune systems, such as cancer or AIDS.

This is why it's important to wear protective gear when cleaning out a flooded house or collecting samples, like he and the students did. Bobylev said he found one sample in Burckhard's neighbor's house that interested him, since it is a type of mold that might be most commonly found in a warmer environment like Yellowstone Park. The human body provides a perfect incubator for this type of fungus, which thrives in a warm environment, said Bobylev.