Wet Lab: New members had a meeting to learn and discuss PCR. New members set up and ran PCR reactions in the lab with guidance. New members had a meeting to learn and discuss lab techniques including DNA cleanup, nanodrop, and transformation.
Product Development: Preparing to start work for the season.
Policy and Practices: Preparing to start work for the season.
Business: New members analyzed last year's winner of Best Supporting Entrepreneurship, Tec-Chihuahua AureoBus in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. The goals of this assignment were to learn from a high-quality example of the kind of work that the Cornell iGEM business subteam should be aiming for, and what things we should or should not do with our market research, corporate sponsorship, etc. New members organized all the key takeaways from the AureoBus project into a Google Slides presentation and presented it to the subteam during our weekly meeting.
Wiki: New members had a meeting to learn the basics of HTML, CSS, and GitHub. New members discussed wiki requirements and expectations for the brainstorming process.
Wet Lab: New members set up and performed DNA cleanup, nanodrop, and gel electrophoresis in the lab with guidance.
Product Development: Subteam members researched brainstorming topics, completed ECE training, and considered the ethics, audience, and applications of their brainstorming topics. Subteam members signed up for coffee chats with team leadership.
Policy and Practices: The subteam began brainstorming, and discussing the different facets of the projects that should be addressed, including ethics, policy analysis and outreach events to better share and understand public perceptions. New Members were given their third assignment related to brainstorming local outreach events and different ways to engage with both the local and broader audience in an inclusive and directed manner. Old members analyzed overarching ethical dilemmas related to different fields of science that synthetic biology touches to get a better understanding of the varied discussions within each field.
Business: This week in the business subteam we went over market analysis and industry evaluation along with segmentation. This week the new members prepared a slideshow for their project proposals for team brainstorming.
Wiki: New members presented their first assignment: creating a wiki page about themselves using HTML and CSS. They learned the basics of Figma and were introduced to the second training project: creating mockups of existing websites using Figma.
Wet Lab: Wetlab leads hosted office hours to talk about WL portions of brainstorming. New members completed the Weill Hall Access Form along with all the training required for it.
Product Development: Subteam members considered the business portions of their brainstorming projects and familiarized themselves with iGEM judging criteria. New subteam members completed another ECE training assignment. Subteam members attended a team social event. The whole team took team photos following a weekly meeting. Subteam members attended both a small group session for brainstorming and the aforementioned coffee chats with team leadership.
Policy and Practices: The subteam refined key ideas from impactful projects and expanded upon policy-based guidance for particular projects.
Business: Began brainstorming for round 2 of brainstorming presentations. Second Business assignment: Google doc detailing what the steps would be for each of the 4 specific forms of IP as the new members try to get them for their projects. Also went into which one, licensing or franchising, works better and went into detail about specifics.
Wiki: New members continued work on brainstorming assignments. Members began determining design features for each idea, such as color palettes and logos. New members continued work on the second training assignment.
Wet Lab: New members had a meeting to learn and discuss sequence design.
Product Development: Subteam members had mid-winter break, continued to work on brainstorming projects in the interim.
Policy and Practices: No specific subteam meeting was held due to mid-winter break. PnP members were encouraged to continue working on their brainstorming analysis, as well as continue thinking about different policies and other human practice related work that would affect the overarching projects.
Business: Learned about market analysis in the business meeting (TAM, SAM, SOM) and introduction to PEST(LE) analysis. Learned about CapIQ software and IBISWorld software and how it can be used to analyze specific industries or companies that are competitors
Wiki: New members presented the second training assignment and gave each other feedback. The first part of the third and final training assignment was introduced. Members were asked to being researching UI/UX features and JavaScript animations.
Wet Lab: Wetlab leads hosted office hours to talk about WL portions of brainstorming. New members completed a procedural design assignment and discussed it during the wet lab meeting.
Product Development: Subteam members focused on the PD aspects of remaining brainstorming projects. Subteam members began attending weekly subteam-specific meetings.
Policy and Practices: PnP new member education was completed and future subteam meeting organization were outlined for future reference. An initial interview was completed with Dr. Mikail Abbasov, an organic chemistry professor, who encouraged Oncurex as a novel use of Ursolic Acid and a potential application to cancer. An interview was completed with Dr. Wong, a PhD student studying chemical synthesis. He stated he believes that producing ursolic acid using synthetic biology was an extremely valuable potential process to address cost disparities. Members began developing ideas and topics for outreach at Splash!, including different applications of synthetic biology, creating a mock iGEM project team and hosting an ethical dilemma debate. Members continued thinking about different ways to reach a wider audience, and completed an assignment related to social media and virtual based outreach.
Business: All new members worked on market analysis business assignment for the week (TAM, SAM, SOM, and PEST(LE)) analysis of a specific biotech industry
Wiki: Members presented their third projects and received feedback from one another.
Wet Lab: Members completed a sequence design assignment and discussed it during the wet lab meeting. Members took feedback and made revisions to the procedural design assignment. Members set up bacterial plates and perform transformations in the lab with guidance.
Product Development: Brainstorming continued - subteam members focused on PD aspects of various brainstorming projects.
Policy and Practices: Brainstorming was advanced, and interviews were discussed. PnP members began reaching out to interviewees for their assigned brainstorming ideas. An interview was completed with Dr. Kevin Siegenthaler, who elaborated upon the use of yeast as a potential model organism for ursolic acid, and that lipid extraction would be a likely pathway for extraction. Members also continued working on the conceptual ideas behind the brainstorming project as well, and analyzed next steps and stakeholder interests. Splash! Outreach event was set on April 27th. This consists of explaining different layers of synthetic biology research through the layout of Cornell iGEM’s subteam set up. members focused on making different presentations representing different facets of iGEM.
Business: This week the subteam worked on SWOT analysis and Porter’s 5 forces. We did this as practice with chosen biotech industries in the subteam and used this knowledge to develop our respective brainstorming projects. The business plans of the projects we are brainstorming are becoming more fully developed, which will help us when it’s time to create the entire business plan for the chosen project.
Wiki: New members were introduced to the second part of the third training assignment. Each member was asked to choose two of the animations they found during their previous research to implement on a wiki page from last year's competition wiki.
Wet Lab: Members had a meeting to learn and discuss lab techniques including colony PCR and Gibson assembly. Members conducted research on ursolic acid optimization and LNP production.
Product Development: Brainstorming continued - subteam members remained focused on PD aspects of the brainstorming project. Subteam members registered for the iGEM jamboree.
Policy and Practices: Interviewees were reached out to based on the respective project ideas in brainstorming. Each project in the brainstorming was discussed among the team for strengths and weaknesses per project, as well as the role PnP plays in each project. Research for presentations were started for Splash! and compiled for future use. Members also attended training sessions in preparation for Splash!, which included how to work with minors training, boundary training and emergency training.
Business: Members registered for the iGEM jamboree. Continued work on market analysis from last week
Wiki: New members continued work on the third training assignment. New members were introduced to the logo design project, in which they would work with a partner to create two designs for the winning project.
Wet Lab: Members took feedback and made revisions to the sequence design assignment. Members also began modeling kinetics involved in the MVA pathway and production of UA to find the best variant of alpha amyrin synthase (AAS) and which gene to knock out for improving the yield of ursolic acid.
Product Development: Brainstorming continued - subteam members remained focused on PD aspects of the brainstorming project.
Policy and Practices: As brainstorming was completed and Oncurex was determined to be the final project, PnP continued to analyze the role stakeholders and human practices as a whole played within the project. Research was broken up into three distinct parts: the technical details behind the project, the ethics and legislation behind regulations, and overall ursolic acid details. The primary concern for PnP is understanding the role Ursolic Acid plays in different sects of medicine. Preliminary research indicated important potential in anti-cancer treatments. Interviewees were divided among PnP members with the goal of understanding the role of ursolic acid in medicine from a stakeholder perspective. An interview was completed with Dr. Agnes Slawska, who emphasized the need for ethics and pointed us to look into the specific potential Ursolic Acid has in cancer treatments as the possible main application. Presentations were planned for CUrself as an Engineer, a program encouraging highschoolers in engineering fields and the MIT Future of Biology Conference, a conference dedicated to speaking to a larger public about the role biology plays in daily life.
Business: Meeting was asynchronous this week as members continued to work on their market analysis projects
Wiki: Members worked on the third training assignment and held a virtual work session for the logo design project.
Wet Lab: Subteam members were on Spring Break, so no wet lab activities took place.
Product Development: Subteam members were on Spring Break, so no product development activities took place.
Policy and Practices: Members planned outreach for the Cornell BME Banquet, focusing on the role of human practices in project creation.
Business: Subteam members were on Spring Break, so no business activities took place.
Wiki: Subteam members were on Spring Break, so no wiki activities took place.
Wet Lab: Members took a couple days to update inventory for the Weill Hall lab space. Members completed the stochastic model, and both sensitivity analysis and graph theory models were further developed.
Product Development: PnP was on Spring break, members continued to reach out to stakeholders based on Dr. Slawska's guidance on anti-cancer potential. Presented an overview of bioreactor designs to the team at the weekly meeting. Created and presented a poster for the BME Banquet that walked through the organization, practices, and goals of iGEM PD.
Policy and Practices: Members continued reaching out to stakeholders to understand the potential of the project. PnP considered the various facets of human practices that needed to be considered from stakeholders as well, and specifically updated our stakeholder engagement to cover fields in cancer treatments, technical details, and overall ursolic acid use based upon our research.Members discussed medal criteria and the research done into this year's project. The poster was finalized for the BME Banquet, focused on the work PnP and human practices as a whole completes within the iGEM framework. An engagement event was set up at Makerfaire, and was discussed for possible outreach and understanding of the project with the greater New York community.
Business: The subteam got ready for giving day. Practiced mail merge by sending a test message to the other members and prepared a list of alumni to reach out to for fundraising
Wiki: Members presented the third training project and gave each other feedback. Members presented their logo designs and a voting form was sent out to all team members to choose the final logo. Members were introduced to the banner design and merch design assignments. Members would again be working in pairs, but with a different partner for each.
Wet Lab: Members hosted a CUrself as an Engineer event for high schoolers curious in syn bio. Members completed the stochastic model, and both sensitivity analysis and graph theory models were further developed.
Product Development: Subteam members looked further into the parts needed to build a CSTR reactor. PD moved into a new location on campus – subteam members spent most of their time this week packing / moving equipment and materials between the two. Parts list needed for CSTR reactor assembled to make future purchasing easier.
Policy and Practices: Stakeholder outreach was continued based on Dr. Slawska’s feedback and the technical integrations of the project. Due to a lack of response from stakeholders, stakeholder outreach was reassessed. Emails and surveys that were initially sent out were reviewed for possible discrepancies, and updated to include new technical and stakeholder information. Splash! presentations were finalized and prepared for presentation. Members completed specific presentations each related to a subteam on Cornell iGEM Members presented at the BME Banquet, speaking to the Cornell community emphasizing the importance of continuous engagement and feedback of synthetic biology with society. Some members of PnP presented at the CUself as an Engineer program ran by Cornell encouraging high schoolers in engineering. The students were extremely interested in the the vast interdisciplinary potential of synthetic biology, and many showed interest in synthetic biology and joining iGEM as a program. Other members presented at the MIT Future of Biology Conference about the purpose of synthetic biology in iGEM. Many questions were focused on the last potential of iGEM, and students were walked through how to conceptualize their own project from the technical details to societal perspective
Business: Finished applying for the Cultivarium grant due 4/18. Attended BME banquet and helped run iGEM business stand for 30 mins. Continued organizing and assembling the grants list document. The IP group made a list of what we think of each other's sub-teams IP that needs to be protected and we will file for them accordingly soon.
Wiki: Members presented their banner designs and gave each other feedback. A voting form was sent out to all team members to choose the final banner. Members continued work on the merch design assignment.
Wet Lab: New members performed calculations for a sample Gibson Assembly and set up the reactions in the lab with guidance. Members worked on a Gibson Assembly worksheet to complement the training. Members completed the stochastic model, and both sensitivity analysis and graph theory models were further developed. Members also found that the MdOSC class of AAS enzymes would have the highest activity compared to alternatives.
Product Development: Subteam began working on schematic for our reactor design – each member created a sketch and a final draft was created from the best parts of each.
Policy and Practices: An interview was completed with Dr. Matt DeLisa, who works with molecular mechanisms of protein synthesis and bioreactor structure. Dr. DeLisa gave key advice into both wet lab and product development of the project in terms of bioreactor modification, and plant byproduct formation from synthetic biology. An interview was completed with Dr. Shaoyi Jiang, who works with yeast and lipid nanoparticles. Contrasting Dr. Siegenthaler’s initial recommendation, Dr. Jiang stated the difficulties of lipid nanoparticles in our specific system, and suggested we look into the use of yeast extracellular vesicles as another pathway. Members of iGEM presented at Splash! on each subteam in Cornell iGEM. Various questions were posed to students on different fields of synthetic biology, and students created their own projects based on their interests. PnP developed infographics and flyers on three main topics for social media and Maker Faire, focused on explaining Oncurex and synthetic biology in an easy to digest manner.
Business: Krispy Kreme fundraiser on 4/22. Made progress towards filing the patent for the integrated bioreactor/biosensor. Applied for the Promega Grant
Wiki: Members presented their merch designs and gave each other feedback. A voting form was sent out to all team members to choose the final merch design.
Wet Lab: Both stochastic and sensitivity models were completed, and it was concluded that knocking POR2 will lead to the highest yield of UA.
Product Development: Subteam looked into designing and implementing a cartridge-based sensor system, but decided against it as the idea was deemed impractical.
Policy and Practices: Dr. David Specht, a researcher focused on Vibrio Natriegens manipulation, was interviewed regarding our model organism and difficulties with PCR and Gibson Assembly in our project. Members of iGEM presented at Maker Faire in Syracuse, a large scale conference showcasing projects around the NY area. It was an incredibly valuable experience speaking with members of the general public from professors to students about our project. PnP held a large scale stakeholder focus meeting based on discussing next steps for stakeholder engagement and outreach.
Business: Applied for a provisional patent. Prepared a new sponsorship slide deck and prepared a new sponsorship packet in collaboration with Wiki
Wiki: Members discussed the summer timeline and expectations.
Wet Lab: Leads discussed methods for improving yield of ursolic acid as well as methods for quantifying the yield. We decided on knocking out POR2, but low cost methods for ursolic acid quantification were not found.
Product Development: Subteam members spent this week and the following week preparing for final exams.
Policy and Practices: Members continued reaching out to stakeholders to understand the potential of the project specifically focused on cancer treatments and ursolic acid. Due to difficulties with stakeholder interview engagement, additional research via a review of literature on ursolic acid was started in the form of a Ursolic Acid Historical Handbook analyzing the origins of Ursolic Acid and it’s historical context. PnP discussed summer plans related to possible outreach events, including science educational videos, infographics, continuing the handbook, and stakeholder engagement. PnP began discussing a collaboration with Wiki for an Oncurex specific game based around “fruit ninja”. Deliverables regarding how to make the game education were drawn up.
Business: Presented our work for the semester at gbody. Subteam had a wrap-up meeting discussing goals for next semester
Wiki: Members decided which teams they wanted to work on over the summer. The subteam was divided into game development and design/web development.
Wet Lab: Leads discussed methods for knocking out POR2, and we decided on using a PCR mediated knockout method which replaces the target gene with a sequence of choice to knock out the gene. Subteam members prepared and took final examinations.
Product Development : Subteam members prepared for final examinations.
Policy and Practices: An interview was completed with Dr. Chris Fromme, a researcher for Molecular Biology who specializes in yeast usage. Dr. Fromme helped explain to us key components of yeast genetic modifications with plasmids and provided numerous resources. An engagement event was lead at Sciencenter both based on ursolic acid and general science topics. The main audience was kid engagement, and it was noticed that many younger kids did not necessarily understand the premise of the project or synthetic biology. This encouraged us to create a Children’s Book focused on educating kids about synthetic biology.
Business: Subteam members prepared and took final examinations.
Wiki: Subteam members prepared and took final examinations.
Wet Lab: Subteam members read the paper discussing the engineering behind the PCR mediated knockout strategy. Leads interviewed professors for further insight into the project and they created relevant protocols from sources received.
Product Development: Subteam members arrived back on campus following break. Subteam members began to re-do an inventory due to materials moving in transit after the move. Established a cadence for summer meetings and expectations.
Policy and Practices: First priority of the summer was to focus on stakeholder engagement and feedback. PnP needed to understand the perspective of stakeholders not only in ursolic acid and cancer, but also pharmacy and other related fields, given that interviews over spring mainly yielded technical avenues and pointed us toward the continuation of cancer. PnP followed up with the interview with Dr. Chris Fromme regarding specific questions on yeast modification. He provided multiple possible directions for us. Members continued reaching out to stakeholders to understand the potential of the project specifically focused on cancer treatments and ursolic acid. Members began planning their scientific educational videos, building upon the previous series from last year.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: Members had a virtual meeting to review the summer timeline. Deadlines and checkpoints were established for the entire summer. Work began on creating the 2024 Sponsorship Packet, a collaboration between the Business and Wiki subteams.
Wet Lab: Primers were received, and the wet lab was split into groups for parallel projects. The freezers were defrosted.
Product Development: Subteam members finished the inventory. Subteam members began testing sensors in our inventory to see which ones still worked. Began comparing purchase list to inventory list. Subteam members began testing our pump inventory. Subteam members looked for potential reservoirs in our inventory.
Policy and Practices: PnP continued reaching out for stakeholders for cancer treatments, ursolic acid research and other applications of ursolic acid to understand different applications for Oncurex. Members worked on planning scientific educational videos, choosing the topics each member will present on. Topics include growing yeast, capillary action, oxidation. Members also worked on the Ursolic Acid Historical Handbook, meeting individually as a group to plan out different topics to include. PnP started writing the Children’s book in another collaboration with Wiki after the results of Sciencenter. We decided on the journey of an e. Coli due to it’s prevalence in the synthetic biology field as a staple model organism, and hoped to emphasize the vast amount of potential synthetic biology has.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: The game development team went over expectations from Policy and Practices for the game. The game would have educational popup questions that players could answer to unlock powerups. The Sponsorship Packet was fully completed and updated with all of Team Cornell’s current and past sponsors, as well as descriptions of our recent work.
Wet Lab: Primers were suspended and working stocks were made. Plasmids (KanMX and pRS306) and WT yeast (SEY6210) were gifted by the Fromme lab.
Product Development: Subteam members continued to test necessary components. It was found that we needed new pH probes. Sous-vide, oxygen bubbler tested and found to be working. Temperature probe tested and found to be working.
Policy and Practices:An interview was completed with Dr. LuAnn Van Campen, a bioethics specialist regarding EUDI. PnP interviewed Dr. Jini Hyun, an oncologist from Weill Cornell. She was excited to hear our project, and explained to us the process of cancer treatments and where Ursolic acid would fit in. Given the nature of the project, we found it apt to reach out to and learn from cancer patients as well, and started drafting an IRB in response. Members completed the presentations for the science educational videos based on the topics decided. The children’s book was completed and sent to Wiki for review and illustrations. Considering that at Sciencenter, we met many families whose primary language was not english, we decided that translating the children’s book to different languages would increase accessibility for many.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: The game development team began familiarizing themselves with the base code that would be built upon for the game. Game development team leaders were assigned for each week of the summer. The design team worked on improving the designs made during the spring semester.
Wet Lab: Liquid cultures and glycerol stocks were made. OD was measured for the liquid cultures before making glycerol stock. YPD media was made and autoclaved for the yeast glycerol stock and liquid cultures.
Product Development: Subteam members tested the necessary boards (Arduino, L298N motor controllers) to ensure working order and sufficient quantity. Subteam members updated documentation and researched past projects for examples.
Policy and Practices: An interview was completed with Dr. Ran Yin, an ursolic acid specialist regarding antioxidant and anti cancer activity of ursolic acid. Discussed Oncurex based game, and focused on introducing the educational component via science based questions and additions. PnP began reviewing past documentation of work in an effort to consolidate and connect all the information learned from past interviews and public and stakeholder engagement. Members continued preparing for science videos and working on the historical handbook. An outreach event was conducted at Thoreau Day Camp to discuss the possibilities of biology and science to children potentially not well versed. Ultimately, we found that our project was difficult to understand for those that do not have a strong science background, encouraging us to develop more concise and explorative infographics to explain our project via pictures rather than words.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: Work continued on assignments for the first deadline.
Wet Lab: Members miniprepped KanMX and measured nanodrop.
Product Development: Short break for the fourth of july. Continued to work on documentation updates. Investigated potential modeling softwares for the reactor.
Policy and Practices: PnP completed an interview with Dr. Susan Sadoughi and Dr. Joshua Zaritsky, a pediatric nephrologist to explore alternative applications of ursolic acid. Members discussed the collaborative game, finalizing the educational component as science based questions as incentives for accessory based power ups. A list of questions, accessories and backgrounds were drawn up and sent to Wiki. PnP continued finalizing the documentation of work for an internal documentation deadline focused on outlining human practices, education and inclusivity within our project
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: Work began on illustrations for the children’s book written by PnP. Feasibility of game features were discussed with PnP. The game development team began working on the implementation of those features. Assignments for the first deadline were completed and reviewed. The team met to discuss and modify assignments for the second deadline.
Wet Lab: Members miniprepped the pRS306 plasmid and measured it with nanodrop. Performed PCR on the KanMX plasmid and measured it with nanodrop. Realized that some of the eppendorfs are contaminated, so they were re-autoclaved. DNA cleanup was performed on the PCR product in an attempt to raise the 260/230 ratio.
Product Development: Ordered and received new parts. Performed first assembly of bioreactor during a “crunch day” work session. Assembled pump circuits. Assembled sensor circuits. Calibrated pH probes. Assembled reservoir systems.
Policy and Practices: An interview was completed with Dr. Blessing Aderibigbe, a Ursolic Acid researcher and with Dr. Ashish Saxena, an oncologist at Weill Cornell. PnP began translating the children’s book into 5 different languages, Korean, ASL, French, Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese). Documentation was returned to for any revisions and updates, including elaboration and adding photos. Materials were gathered for the scientific educational videos with the intent of recording within the next few weeks. The IRB protocol was officially submitted to the Cornell Review Board for approval with interviews and surveys for cancer patients.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: Work continued on checkpoints for deadline 2. Game development added popup questions to the game while design/web development continued work on graphic elements, the children’s book, and merch designs.
Wet Lab: Members miniprepped and performed PCR on pRS306 and it was measured with nanodrop. Gel electrophoresis was run on the PCR products. It looked like there was no product for any of the PCR reactions. Reached out to mentors and decided on changing annealing temperature along with adjusting DMSO concentration. AAS thing 1 and 2 were received and members ran PCR on it. Members reran gel to see if it was the gel or the PCR products that were bad. Nothing showed up, but it was discovered that the gel was run backwards resulting in the DNA falling off the gel. PCR with KanMX was rerun with different annealing temperatures. Members attempted gradient PCR but was halted due to a missing activation key.
Product Development: Worked on programming for the bioreactor using the arduino IDE. Re-calibrated sensors using pH buffer. Combined sensor and pump portions of the reactor.
Policy and Practices: An interview was completed with Dr. Sean Nicholson from policy analysis and Dr. Ying from health consulting. They both pointed out the key markets in CDMO’s. Conversation over email with Dr. Bruce Ganem, an organic chemist, regarding the potential of modifications was held. Held an extended PnP meeting regarding any pertinent questions left in the project regarding FDA approval and clinical trials. Given the results of the Thoreau Day Camp, we decided to focus on more accessible means of explaining our work. This came in the form of infographics and images, encouraging us to develop infographics regarding our project to more easily conceptualize the process behind our work. Given the nature of the game collaboration with Wiki, PnP opted to return to the game and develop explanations to each of the questions in an effort to increase understanding of the more technical aspects of our project.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: Assignments for the second deadline were completed and reviewed. Assignments for the third deadline were updated. Work continued on the children’s book. Game mechanics of the popup questions were finalized.
Wet Lab: Members packed lab equipment to prepare moving into Thurston Hall. Gel was rerun with all the PCR products. Some products were good, but others had multiple bands or bands of the wrong length. Members ran touchdown PCR on all the parts.
Product Development: Finished final assembly of bioreactor. Prepared reactor for test runs. Had a “frankenmeeting” with Wet Lab to discuss considerations for the sensor and reactor.
Policy and Practices: An interview was conducted with Dr. Colleen Carey, a health insurance and drug policy specialist. Stakeholder outreach continued in terms of understanding cancer Specialist perspectives. PnP worked on analyzing applications of the maturity model for human practices, outlining the different ways Oncurex applies. Documentation was updated for interview write ups and educational assignments
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: Web development met to finalize the design of the competition wiki. Research on implementation began. Work continued on final deadline assignments.
Wet Lab: Members ran a gel on the PCR products, and KanMX had two bands, one of which was the target length. Members cut the AAS gene fragments and ligated them together.
Product Development: Worked on and updated documentation. Worked on modeling for the reactor, specifically measuring flow rates and researching growth kinetics for the yeast.
Policy and Practices: Interview completed with Dr. Oyedeji, an ursolic acid specialist. IRB protocol was sent back with comments, and PnP edited and resubmitted the protocol. Ursolic Acid handbooks were worked on, along with video recordings and other infographics. Outreach Events at Kendal and Longview were organized for September via email and zoom meetings. These meetings discussed the content of the presentations as well as intent. Documentation was updated for human practices and education.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: Work continued on final deadline assignments. Priorities for the fall semester leading up to Wiki Freeze were determined.
Wet Lab: Subteam has the summer off.
Product Development: Subteam had time off for the start of semester.
Policy and Practices: Subteam has the summer off.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: End of summer break. Work continued on the children's book.
Wet Lab: Members had summer off.
Product Development: Subteam had time off for the start of semester.
Policy and Practices: Interview completed with Dr. Bruce Lewenstein for cancer patient interviews and outreach. Farmers market tabling set up in Ithaca. Documentation continuously updated
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: End of summer break. Work continued on the game graphics and children’s book.
Wet Lab: Moved things from Weill Hall to new lab space in Tang Hall. Determined ways to optimize PCR reaction using DMSO and finding ideal annealing temperature. Redesigned primers for Gibson Assembly since ligation was unsuccessful. SnapGene simulations were run for PCR and gel electrophoresis.
Product Development: Collapsed summer space to comply with admin-allowed space. Had to relocate and reorganize lab space and supplies. Performed initial construction of bioreactor, including assembling motors, programming Arduino, and printing a custom lid for the main reservoir.
Policy and Practices: Began collaboration with Queens iGEM (QGEM) regarding regulatory policy around the world.
Business: Subteam members had the summer off.
Wiki: Wiki pages were assigned to each team member. Children’s book was finalized and all translated versions were made.
Wet Lab: Assigned duties to complete required trainings for Tang Hall access. Assigned experiment plan write-ups for each subgroup in WL. Arranged a time to unpack iGEM boxes in new lab space.
Product Development: Finished construction of bioreactor. Drafted final bioreactor design schematic. Had first meeting with Business team to discuss scale-up.
Policy and Practices: Finalized recordings for science videos. Continued outreach for interviews and started closing the loop interviews. Finished writing Ursolic Acid Handbook. Completed outreach event at Sciencenter. Completed interviews with Dr. Robert Weiss regarding setting up cancer patient interviews.
Business: Reconvened after summer break. Assigned responsibilities for the business plan to each team member.
Wiki: Pairs were made with current subteam members and advisors. Each pair was assigned to specific larger tasks on the wiki, such as styling and game implementation. Final promo video content was filmed. Promo video was edited and submitted.
Wet Lab: Set up a safety lab tour with Dr. Archer for Tang Hall lab access. Assigned responsibilities to each subgroup to complete PCR reactions, resuspend newly ordered primers, and proceed with gel confirmations before transforming into yeast cells for when we get access to the lab. Assigned the subteam to work on literature review for biosensor binding agents, UA extraction methods, and encapsulation techniques. Members performing literature review had to compile their findings on a document within one week.
Product Development: Finalized bioreactor schematic. Began work on sterility manual with PNP team. Continued scale-up meetings with the Business team.
Policy and Practices: Completed outreach event at farmers market and consolidated data. Interviewed Dr. Raymond Glahn, Dr. Sophie Openshaw, Dr Li Li and Bob Riter and Monica Vakimer. Started outreach to Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance and Cancer Resource Center. Prepared for outreach event at Long view Senior Center by making presentations. Started reviewing all documentation and making edits. Set up Elementary school outreach at Beverly J Martin Elementary school. Posted Science video #1
Business: Made infographics. Worked on Market Sizing. Worked on Market Analysis. Worked on IP
Wiki: Wiki members began meeting with other subteam leads to discuss the layouts for individual pages. Members met to clarify procedures for editing the competition wiki. This meeting also served as a work session to begin uploading content.
Wet Lab: Safety lab tour was postponed due to conflicts, scheduled for the 22nd at noon. Shared literature review findings with entire team. Began designing plasmid for signal peptide extraction
Product Development: Calculated Reynold’s number for our main reservoir. Repaired reactor form move and prepared for first wet run. Began designing biosensor housing and adapting WL’s literature search for a biorecognition element.
Policy and Practices: Met with Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance and Cancer Resource Center regarding collab. Met with QGEM regarding finalizing results of survey and handbook. Held outreach events at Longview and Beverly J Martin elementary school. Continued working on documentation. Finalized all write ups for interviews and closing the loop interviews. Started Cancer Patient Interviews
Business: Worked on Business Model Canvas. Worked on Risk Assessment. Worked on Supply Chain
Wiki: Work continued on content uploads for Wiki Freeze.
Wet Lab: Worked on documentation. Finalized plasmid design for signal peptide extraction. Calculated E-factor, PMI, and mass of total product from one liquid culture for Business subteam.
Product Development: Performed first wet run of the bioreactor. Calculated price per run with the Business subteam. Updated documentation for Wiki freeze. Calculated Biot number and associated dimensionless numbers for heat transfer into the main reservoir.
Policy and Practices: Work on updating content and finalizing documentation. Completed collab with QGEM regarding future steps. Continued working with Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance and Cancer Resource Center regarding collaboration. Continued Cancer patient interviews. Started mock interviews with Bob Riter and Monica Vakimer
Business: Worked on Future Plans and Exit Strategy. Worked on Competitor Analysis. Worked on Stakeholder Analysis. Made infographics
Wiki: Work continued on content uploads for Wiki Freeze.
Wet Lab: We gained access to lab space, resuspended primers, performed PCR, and performed gel confirmations.
Product Development: Finalized and printed biosensor housing. Finalized documentation for Wiki freeze. Finalized a mathematical model for biosensor response quantification.
Policy and Practices: Successful completion of data. Continued working with Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance and Cancer Resource Center regarding future steps during grace period. Resubmitted IRB given advice from Breast Cancer Alliance and Cancer Resource Center specifically for survey updates
Business: Computed PMI. Computed E factor. Computed cost at an industrial scale. Put all info on the Entrepreneurship page and Biz Plan
Wiki: Work continued on content uploads for Wiki Freeze. Filming and editing began for the presentation video.