Meeting with Dr. Andrew Fire. April 26, 2022
Dr. Andrew Fire is a Professor of Pathology at Stanford University and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his work on the discovery of RNA interference. Over the course of his tenure, Dr. Fire has published uncountable paper on genetics, germline maturation pathways, and RNA synthesis. Dr. Fire’s guidance has led us to seek specificity in our fluorescence system. Following his advice we will consider obtaining a range of PFOA derivatives to determine what level of similarity is necessary to cause fluorescence in prmA.
| Issue | Integration |
|---|---|
| How do we know that only PFOA will cause red fluorescence in our chassis | Test our system with PFOA derivatives and negative controls of zero similarity and ultrapure water to determine the specificity of our system |
| Future of Synbio | A workflow that leads to visible detection of contaminants will pivot the conversation about unsafe drinking water from the lab to the field. |
Meeting with Klevin Lo. "INSERT DATE", 2022
After meeting with Klevin Lo from Milky Way Investments we learned the importance of science communication and long term potential with regards to our research. While talking to Klevin Lo an associate in charge of biotech investing we received insight to the challenges of product development and communicating the group's purpose to fully encompass the true goals and potential of a given company. The main determinant for whether Klevin continues communication with a potential partner is if he believes the science behind the product is worth pursuing. The reason most do not receive funding is because the science communication is lacking. This can be applied to all aspects of our project since we need to ensure our science is sound and our ability to communicate to all audiences must meet a high standard to be taken seriously in the world so that our research can be used to help with PFOA detection. We applied this knowledge by reaching out to graduate students to critique our project to test the soundness of our project, as well as our communication ability.
| Issue | Integration |
|---|---|
| R. jostii is the chassis the original group used but E. coli which we planned to use due to handleability. However, the machinery present for prmA is likely only in R. jostii | The graduate student’s critique made us use our communication ability to reach out to the original group and other researchers with regards to obtaining R. jostii samples. |
| Using red fluorescence protein was the original idea but from critiques using a stronger and possibly more common protein could prove beneficial. | We decided to use “INSERT FP” fluorescent protein due to its ability to have a strong fluorescence making it easier to pick up with the human eye and the ability to easily purchase a premade plasmid. |