Laurie competes in Lego competitions and teaches an after-school Lego physics program for fourth graders. She is also active in sports, sings, and plays cello. Her career choices include architecture, medicine, or science: "I'm currently very interested in microbiology and oceanography."
Bacteria gain energy for replication by the transfer of electrons and thus need electron donors. Laurie found that in the biological remediation of a toxic spill in which bacteria were used successfully, lactate was used as an electron donor. During remediation, the bacteria also produced acetate, another electron donor, which then seemed to accelerate toxin degradation. Laurie hypothesized that acetate used initially would boost bacterial growth more than lactate under controlled conditions.
Laurie used Pseudomonas stutzeri KC in her tests. In one flask, she placed the bacteria and lactate to recreate an environment similar to the cleanup project. A second flask contained the same bacteria plus acetate as the initial electron donor. Three other flasks used as controls contained only bacteria, lactate, or acetate. The flask containing the bacteria with lactate as an electron donor continued growing after bacteria with acetate ceased growing.
