In this project, participants will create sourdough cultures from their home environments and nurture them over several weeks collecting daily samples from their feedings. These samples will then be cultured in the Penn State Schuylkill Microbiology laboratory. Upon culturing, specimens of interest will be set against safe relatives of know pathogens to determine if there is any antimicrobial activity against those strains.
Students can also expand their project by examining how the microbial diversity changes over the life of the starter and compare that to development of starters using other flour types and other conditions. Since other scientific projects have shown that local conditions can impact the microbial activity, having participants from around the state with different home styles can actually give us another layer of information for how our modern lives can influence this ancient product.
This is a volunteer or for-credit opportunity, though resources will be provided to the student. Students do not need to be at the Schuylkill campus to participate in the initial development, though plating and continuation of the project would require visits to campus. Individual student plans can be modified
A Canvas course with required readings, as well as directions are provided. Initial training is safety training through Penn State. Additionally, methods can be taught over Zoom so that the student can prepare their space and experiment at home. A sourdough starter would be created in a mason jar with flour and has to be fed daily for the duration of participation. The feedings and recordings daily take about 20-30 minutes, which comes to about 4 hours a week. In the lab, the time requirements are low because it is mainly plating and checking plates, which takes about 1 per week.
Students must be enrolled at Penn State. Students from any major can apply, as long as they have an interest in Sourdough Scholarship. All background and techniques will be taught.
Students should submit what their interest is in the project and what they hope to gain from the experience. This can be included in the email.
If you are interested in the position, please email the Principal Investigator, Mary Ann Smith, at mvs14@psu.edu