Fogarty scholar immersed in research

Fogarty scholar Katarina Kollarova at work in the Hygienic Lab. - Photo by Meghan Nichols

Nearing her fifth month of study at Iowa, Kollarova, a Ph.D. student in microbiology at the Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, is starting to reflect on a few of those questions, as she presents the findings of her Fogarty research project.

The Fogarty International Training and Research Program in Environmental and Occupational Health offered through the UI Center for International Rural and Environmental Health (CIREH), is an opportunity for scholars from Central and Eastern European countries to continue their training by pursuing a research project at Iowa. It also utilizes one of the most important tools in scientific research: the exchange of ideas.

CIREH’s International Training Program is funded by a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center. Offered at the UI since 1995, the program emphasizes the benefits of cross-cultural scientific collaboration. Researchers are invited for a short term, beginning in late summer through the fall semester. There are five Fogarty scholars this year, and a total of 25 have participated in the program. The scholars attend classes, work in laboratories or research facilities, and pair up with a mentor to further develop their projects.

"The idea is to have the scholars develop their research interests here and then take something back to their institution and colleagues, by teaching a workshop to others in their field," says Robin Ungar, associate director of CIREH. "We want this program to help them grow professionally."

Each day Kollarova catches a bus to the Hygienic Lab, part of the Oakdale Campus, dons a white lab coat, and immerses herself in environmental microbiology.

With the aid of mentor Nelson Moyer, a public health and medical microbiologist and senior program manager at the Hygienic Lab, Kollarova makes progress in her water pollution project. With a two-part focus, the study is aimed at first finding new pollution indicator organisms that may differentiate animal from human fecal pollution, and second, locating and characterizing sources of water contamination.

Moyer, who has a special interest in environmental health, describes the Hygienic Lab as "Iowa’s public health lab," with a mission of assuring a healthy quality of life for Iowans.

"The Hygienic Lab is Iowa’s primary laboratory under the Safe Water Act," Moyer says. "Surface water contamination is of great concern to the Environmental Protection Agency, and with the intensive agriculture here in Iowa, there may be water contamination from pesticide usage or fecal pollutants from farming."

The study involves "isolating and enumerating selected indicator organisms from various polluted environments," Moyer says. In order to do the investigative fieldwork and hunt down the 10 particular microorganisms evaluated as pollution indicators, Kollarova is employing several involved lab procedures including membrane filtration, multiple tube tests, and direct plating from collected samples. These tests serve as ways to count the number of organisms in polluted water.

The project has been a welcome challenge for Kollarova, who came to the University with a more extensive clinical microbiology background and with less experience in the environmental aspects of the discipline. Environmental microbiology draws upon more diagnostic, quantitative characteristics such as detecting organisms, discovering how many there are, and questioning their significance.

One aspect of Kollarova’s training that Moyer has helped to cultivate is the importance of asking questions.

"Research is constantly asking questions," Moyer says. "The concept of always asking ‘why?’ was new to Katarina."

There have been several firsts for Kollarova since her arrival at the University and to the United States. The 24-year-old is one of the youngest Fogarty scholars participating in the program this year.

Her impressions of the state and the University range from the "very green" landscape of Iowa compared to urban Bratislava, and the "kind people" she has met in the classroom and Hygienic Lab.

"I worked in a totally different field," says Kollarova of her training at Comenius University and her work in immunochemical methods at the Institute for Preventive and Clinical Medicine. "This is a good chance for me not to only see an American laboratory system but to compare the school system as well."

Kollarova prefers the American style of instruction for several reasons, particularly because of the interaction between professors and students. She finds that studying and exams are concerned with the student’s understanding of the material and how to apply that knowledge into a job. She also believes that the testing system in the United States is "better and more fair to students than the written or oral exams" in her country.

"I am happy I came here to learn new research methods," Kollarova says. "I feel like I finally woke up, and now I know it will take many years to get more skilled."

Article by Arianne Nardo