We kept a notebook so that you can find a brief overview of our team's activities from week to week.
February 3
First meeting as a team, selected the brainstorming leader
February 6-12
Established the ground rules for team meetings
Team members presented information on a past iGEM project that succeeded in the competition
We critiqued each project and evaluated what allowed each project to succeed
February 13-19
Attended a workshop on reading scientific papers with Dr. Moriana Garcia from the University of Rochester Libraries
Reviewed the iGEM safety policies to ensure our project ideas were viable
Presented interesting current scientific research articles that inspired project ideas
February 20-26
Continued brainstorming project ideas
Thought of problems local to the Rochester area
Thought of problems in multiple iGEM project tracks to ensure variety in our project ideas
Presented our 27 ideas to each other and began to eliminate project ideas for our top 10 project ideas. For those interested in our brainstorming process please look here [link to the brainstorming write up]
February 27-March 5
Finished narrowing down the list of project ideas to the top 10 ideas
Presented our top 10 ideas for feedback to the advisors
March 6-12
Spring break, no meetings, but we individually continued to research and develop our top 10 ideas
March 13-19
Met with the 2021 University of Rochester iGEM team for advice
Narrowed down the top 10 project ideas to the top 5 project ideas
March 20-26
Researched and developed the top 5 project ideas
March27-April 2
Narrowed down the top 5 project ideas to the top 3 project ideas
April 3-9
Presented our top 3 ideas for feedback to the advisors
Picked our project
Selected team roles
April 10-16
Signed up for subteam roles (Wet lab, Hardware, Modeling, Policy and Practice)
Finalized biobrick candidates and split the project up into two modules, the buddy sap module and the ropy syrup module
Began reaching out to maple farmers
April 17-23
Presented biobrick ideas to the advisors and received feedback
Continued refining the ideas for the biobricks and hardware associated with each module of the project
April 24-30
Continued refining the ideas for the biobricks
Started making the lab safety protocol
May 1-7
Finals week, no meetings
May 8-14
Wrote protocols to be used for experiments in the summer
Presentation on basic lab safety/techniques by the wet lab teaching assistants
May 15-21
Wet lab bootcamp run by the teaching assistants
Learned basic lab protocols such as pipetting, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and aseptic techniques for bacteria
Started reaching out to companies for donations of needed chemicals or funding
May 22-28
Introduced the invert sugar module after discussions with maple farmers
Chose to use ropy syrup to make hydrogels
Continued putting together sequences for the biobricks
Began planning for the Disability Justice in STEM Webinar Series
May 29-June 4
Ordered the biobricks
Continued working on protocols
Continued soliciting donations from companies
June 5-11
Continued working on protocols
Continued soliciting donations from companies
June 12-18
Continued working on protocols
Eliminated hazardous reagents from our protocols and edited them accordingly
Continued soliciting donations from companies
June 19-25
Made chemically competent E. coli TOP10 and BL21 cells
Biobricks arrived
Ordered aptamer biobricks
June 26-July 2
Began attempts to join the halves of the dextran biobrick using stitch PCR and overhang PCR procedures
July 3-9
Biobricks were amplified and digested in preparation for 3A assembly
Continued to attempt to join the halves of the dextran biobrick using stitch PCR and overhang PCR procedures
July 10-16
Performed 3A assembly on all complete biobricks
Began attempts to transform E. coli cells with the biobricks
Used NEBuilder procedure to join the halves of the dextran biobrick
July 17-23
Continued attempts to assemble and transform E. coli cells with the biobricks
Began chemically reducing graphene oxide
July 24-30
Continued attempts to assemble and transform E. coli cells with the biobricks
July 31-August 6
Continued attempts to assemble and transform E. coli cells with the biobricks
Synthesized BSA beads
Made chemically competent BL21 cells
August 7-13
Continued attempts to assemble and transform E. coli cells with the biobricks
August 14-20
Made electrochemically competent BL21 cells
Retried the NEBuilder kit of the two halves of the dextran biobrick
Synthesized BSA beads
August 21-27
Miniprepped all of the biobricks
August 28-September 3
Created dextran hydrogels
Assessed the quality of the synthesized BSA beads
September 4-10
Performed small scale induction tests of EibA, EibD, choline oxidase, and all of the glucose oxidase variants in E. coli BL21 strains
Performed a colony PCR of the dextran biobrick
Performed a pH test of the dextran hydrogels
Microscopic examination of the BL21 cells expressing EibA/EibD
September 11-17
Reattempted to PCR the dextran biobrick
Continued purifying the glucose oxidase an choline oxidase enzymes
Transformed the glucose oxidase enzymes with two and seven mutations into E. coli shuffle strains
Tested the effect of induction concentrations on EibD expression and autoagglutination
Fluorescence microscopy of EibD-expressing cells bound to anti-GFP antibody and GFP
September 18-24
Performed small scale induction tests of the glucose oxidase enzymes with two and seven mutations in E. coli shuffle strains
Continued purifying the glucose oxidase and choline oxidase enzymes
Tested GFP biosensor on GFP samples of different concentrations
September 25-October 1
Continued purifying the glucose oxidase and choline oxidase enzymes
Prepared and harvested more EibD-expressing bacteria
Repeated testing on the effect of addition of antibody on EibD-expressing bacteria
Tested asparagine biosensor on asparagine samples of different concentrations
Repeated testing of GFP biosensor on GFP samples of different concentrations
October 2-8
Continued purifying the glucose oxidase and choline oxidase enzymes
Performed activity testing on the glucose oxidase variants and the choline oxidase
Reperformed the growth test on the dextran hydrogels
Continued performing the sedimentation assay on EibD
October 9-15
Wiki freeze