Presenter(s)
Kezia Lemke
Abstract
Environmental estrogens act as endocrine disrupting chemicals, thereby affecting the metabolism, synthesis, and receptors of hormones. For this reason, estrogens can have serious health consequences for aquatic wildlife by negatively affecting their reproductive abilities. Synthetic estrogens, such as 17α ethynylestradiol, the synthetic analog of 17β estradiol, are particularly potent, and are shown to have more harmful effects at lower concentrations. This illustrates the importance of developing sensitive and efficient methods for 17α ethynylestradiol and 17β estradiol detection, so that areas of high concentration can be recognized and methods to decrease the estrogen concentrations can be put in place. To this end, an estrogen detection method that employs Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) will be developed to concentrate environmental wastewater samples and to remove contaminants. This will be followed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to separate the estrogens. After separation, the fluorescence detection of the estrogens will allow low concentrations to be detected due to the sensitivity of fluorescence analysis. Fluorescence detection will also enable method efficiency because few compounds fluoresce, allowing for limited chromatographic contamination from other compounds. Environmental water samples will be taken from wastewater treatment plants that use different methods to treat their water, as the effect of wastewater treatment method on estrogen concentration has not been thoroughly explored. Overall, the goal of this research is to determine an efficient and sensitive detection method for 17α ethynylestradiol and 17β estradiol to evaluate wastewater samples where relatively low but detectable concentrations of estrogen are expected to be found.
College
College of Science & Engineering
Department
Chemistry
Campus
Winona
First Advisor/Mentor
Jeanne Franz
Location
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Start Date
4-23-2026 10:00 AM
End Date
4-23-2026 11:00 AM
Presentation Type
Poster Session
Format of Presentation or Performance
In-Person
Session
1b=10am-11am
Poster Number
50
Detection of 17α Ethynylestradiol and 17β Estradiol in Wastewater
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Environmental estrogens act as endocrine disrupting chemicals, thereby affecting the metabolism, synthesis, and receptors of hormones. For this reason, estrogens can have serious health consequences for aquatic wildlife by negatively affecting their reproductive abilities. Synthetic estrogens, such as 17α ethynylestradiol, the synthetic analog of 17β estradiol, are particularly potent, and are shown to have more harmful effects at lower concentrations. This illustrates the importance of developing sensitive and efficient methods for 17α ethynylestradiol and 17β estradiol detection, so that areas of high concentration can be recognized and methods to decrease the estrogen concentrations can be put in place. To this end, an estrogen detection method that employs Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) will be developed to concentrate environmental wastewater samples and to remove contaminants. This will be followed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to separate the estrogens. After separation, the fluorescence detection of the estrogens will allow low concentrations to be detected due to the sensitivity of fluorescence analysis. Fluorescence detection will also enable method efficiency because few compounds fluoresce, allowing for limited chromatographic contamination from other compounds. Environmental water samples will be taken from wastewater treatment plants that use different methods to treat their water, as the effect of wastewater treatment method on estrogen concentration has not been thoroughly explored. Overall, the goal of this research is to determine an efficient and sensitive detection method for 17α ethynylestradiol and 17β estradiol to evaluate wastewater samples where relatively low but detectable concentrations of estrogen are expected to be found.
Comments
Lemke, Kezia J