{"id":8154,"date":"2021-10-06T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T14:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/?p=8154"},"modified":"2023-06-23T10:45:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T14:45:41","slug":"munoz-ruiz-receives-masters-in-toxicology-from-umes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/sans-news-releases\/munoz-ruiz-receives-masters-in-toxicology-from-umes\/","title":{"rendered":"Munoz Ruiz receives master’s in toxicology from UMES"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Enid<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Enid Munoz Ruiz, <\/strong>a native of Aguada, Puerto Rico, recently defended her thesis, \u201cAssessment of Microplastics in Placopecten magellanicus<\/em>.\u201d  Munoz Ruiz completed a master\u2019s degree in toxicology with a concentration in aquatics from UMES.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMicroplastics are plastic fragments, pellets, fibers and cosmetic beads less than 5 mm in size,\u201d Munoz Ruiz said.  \u201cIn recent years, these emerging contaminants have been found in tap water samples all over the world and in a vast array of aquatic organisms with the possibility of toxic effects in them. The objective of my research was to test if the important ecological species Atlantic Sea Scallops, Placopecten magellanicus<\/em>, were contaminated with microplastics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Munoz Ruiz volunteered onboard the vessel Hugh R. Sharp during the 2018 Scallop Survey Cruise conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Over 200 scallops were dredged in George\u2019s Bank and the Mid-Atlantic Bight for samples, she said.  The scallops were then dissected to collect the gills, digestive tracts and muscle in order to determine bivalve plastic uptake. Micropolymer assays were conducted through chemical digestion and visual quantification of microplastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll microplastics found were fibers and not fragments from larger plastics. There were no significant correlations or differences in microplastic concentrations among scallop tissues and sex regardless of the region,\u201d she said.  \u201cOn the other hand, larger scallops contained higher amounts of microplastics, because they have more surface area for the microplastic to adsorb onto.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince sea scallops are important commercial organisms with fisheries dredging over 50 million pounds annually for seafood consumption, this research directly contributes to NOAA\u2019s goal to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources,\u201d Munoz Ruiz said.  \u201cIt provides the scientific foundation for understanding further research on the toxicity microplastics can have on important ecological commercial species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While at UMES, Munoz Ruiz worked as a graduate assistant funded by the NOAA Educational Partnership Program under the auspices of the Living Marine Resources and Cooperative Science Center.  She was also an active member of the UMES subunit of the American Fisheries Society and served as its treasurer this past year. She completed a six-month NOAA Experiential Research & Training Opportunities internship at the James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sandy Hook, New Jersey.  Her research advisor was Dr. Ali Ishaque, an associate professor in UMES\u2019 Department of Natural Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Munoz Ruiz holds a bachelor\u2019s in chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.  Once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, she plans to work as a community outreach coordinator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enid Munoz Ruiz, a native of Aguada, Puerto Rico, recently defended her thesis, \u201cAssessment of Microplastics in Placopecten magellanicus.\u201d  Munoz Ruiz completed a master\u2019s degree in toxicology with a concentration in aquatics from UMES. \u201cMicroplastics are plastic fragments, pellets, fibers and cosmetic beads less than 5 mm in size,\u201d Munoz Ruiz said.  \u201cIn recent years, these emerging…Read more Munoz Ruiz receives master’s in toxicology from UMES<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":18,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sans-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8154"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=8154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}