Jazmine Hudson, FCLC 2025

MAJOR: Integrative Neuroscience

BIO: Jaz Hudson is a current junior in the Honors program at Fordham College Lincoln Center majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Religious Studies. She is passionate about health, mental wellness, and social justice. She hopes to pursue a career in research and medicine to aid and uplift underserved communities. Her favorite place in the city is the Rose Reading Room in the New York Public Library.

PROJECT TITLE: The Impact of Ionic Liquids on Horseshoe Crabs

MENTOR: Dr. Alma Rodenas-Ruano, Department of Natural Sciences

ABSTRACT: Environmental toxins affect aquatic environments, many of which are waste products from industrial companies. As an alternative to this, many industries have switched to the use of ionic liquids due to their usefulness in breaking down substances such as cellulose and chitin. Though the switch was considered a more environmentally friendly alternative, ionic liquids have been considered toxic in recent studies. Ionic liquid waste can find its way into water ecosystems, impacting wildlife. Horseshoe crabs are one species that live in impacted waters. Many studies have suggested that horseshoe crabs are resilient to other pollutants and toxins. However, the impact of ionic liquids on horseshoe crab development has yet to be explored. Thus, we hypothesized that any ionic liquid would not impact horseshoe crabs at any stage during development. To test this, we exposed horseshoe crabs at the early 20-1 stage and the 20-2 stage to ionic liquids [Omim][Cl], [Emim] [dmp], and [emim] [oAc]. We had batches of crabs with the internal and external chorion intact and removed. We collected daily morphology, mortality, and developmental data. 

We found that ionic liquids impacted horseshoe crabs, particularly [Omim][Cl]. Our data also suggests the protective properties of the external and internal chorion. Younger crabs with the chorion removed displayed abnormal phenotypes and lower survival rates. Older crabs exposed with the chorion removed displayed delayed development compared to control groups. Ongoing experiments are being completed to increase our sample size, and further analysis is being performed on behavioral data for our tested crabs.