From West Bengal to Keene: Priyanka Roy Chowdhury’s research on arsenic

With new research grants, Professor of Biology Priyanka Roy Chowdhury continues to build community through the studying of the community itself. Her lab primarily researches multiple environmental stressors and how they impact a living system. With the help of undergraduate students, she is currently researching chronic arsenic levels and their long-term effects using a model species called daphnia, commonly known as water fleas.

“I never specifically aimed to be an evolutionary biologist,” said Roy Chowdhury. “I was always interested in working with invertebrates.”

Roy Chowdhury was born in West Bengal, an area well-known for being “the epicenter of groundwater arsenic pollution,” she said. While obtaining her master’s degree in India, she noticed a line of accumulated arsenic on the body of fish. She worked with these fish while she remained in India.

Roy Chowdhury said once she arrived in Keene, she realized, “Somehow when I came here they had the same issue, not at that level, but bedrock leaching into the groundwater that created those arsenic levels. I realized, ‘Oh okay, you’ve come full circle.’”

To test the long-term effects of chronic arsenic levels,  Roy Chowdhury is using daphnia, which has a 40-day lifespan. These macroscopic organisms share genes that are common to humans. She has her students grow these organisms over ten generations in small concentrations of arsenic not to kill them, but to stress them. Then they look at what is happening to their body as a result and compare them to the control daphnia not exposed to an external environmental factor.

The goal of Roy Chowdhury’s research is to study the long-term impact of specific organs in the body in reaction to long-term exposure to arsenic.

Roy Chowdhury’s work gives hands-on experience in scientific research by allowing undergraduates to assist her directly in her studies.

When talking about the importance of lab work, she said, “It’s very important that they start early because then only you can present your work to the scientific community. It’s not going to start happening if you work in a lab for six months.”

All the data collected by her lab is from undergraduate students. Federal grants allow her to have students working during the summer, with their only focus being on the research.  When asked about undergraduates, she said, “For seven to eight years there have been a lot of undergraduate students who have contributed to this research.” Roy Chowdhury has 10 to 12 students currently working alongside her. Her right-hand assistants who work directly alongside her are Reilley Smith and Megan Ham, both of whom described their close relationship with the professor.

“I do have a really close connection with [Roy Chowdhury] so it’s really easy for me to stay, then find a different job,” said Smith, reflecting on why she decided to stay in Keene after graduating.

Ham echoed this sentiment, adding,  “I feel like I’ve always had more assistance with my professors and classmates. You just have a closer connection to the professors.” She credits her relationship with Roy Chowdhury for providing her with a good opportunity.

When asked about her favorite part of the job, Roy Chowdhury said, “I think it’s mentoring the students. They have such brilliant ideas, from when they come in their first year to when they are independently writing their proposals. That growth is unbelievable to witness, and at the same time, it feels nice to think that maybe I had a small role to play in that.”

The student becomes the teacher, but the teacher learns more from the student.