ONU professor developing new technique to monitor phosphorus in
watersheds Christopher Spiese, Ohio Northern University
assistant professor of chemistry, is working on the development
of a new technique for measuring dissolved phosphorus in
freshwaters that could introduce a new testing method that will
allow for a more cost-efficient and quicker way to monitor
watersheds. Working with ONU student Joanne Berry, a junior
biochemistry major from Brunswick, Ohio, Spiese reached a
breakthrough in 2011 when a novel reagent (a substance that,
because of the reactions it causes, is used in analysis and
synthesis) formed a yellow-green fluorescent compound in the
presence of phosphate. Working together, the two have
synthesized six related compounds and have screened five of them
for their ability to detect phosphate. Spiese added that one of
these is nearly a fully successful candidate. The findings were
presented this month at the American Geophysical Union Fall
Meeting in San Francisco, and future efforts will foc