Our main professional contacts for the project.
Our iGEM mentor who helped us conceptualize the project
Tejas Borkar, a Ph.D. student in Germany, guided us in the initial conceptualization of our project. He suggested adding components to our fusion protein and ways we would carry out a proof of concept in the lab. He helped us brainstorm ways to enhance the human practices component of our project and what to model. We learned more about iGEM through his experience, and we learned new scientific concepts we were previously unfamiliar with, such as GST pull-down assays and nuclear localization signals.
A biochemistry professor at San Diego State University
Dr. Huxford met with us on Zoom on July 22nd after we emailed him to request lab space. He helped us organize our project ideas and plan the lab procedures we would carry out. He suggested testing the viability of the bacteria after being exposed to varying amounts of UV radiation instead of using COMET assays as we had previously planned. This simplified the process while still allowing us to gather data if we got that far in the lab. He also helped us acquire lab space by reaching out to other SDSU faculty members. We gained valuable insight on how to convert literature review and theoretical ideas into feasible wet lab procedures.
A Ph.D. student working in the Love Lab
Sierra Murrell and the other Love Lab students guided us through all of the lab procedures. She helped us plan our wet lab schedule and supervised us throughout the procedures. She and the other lab students, especially Mia and Mariam, taught us how to use various pieces of lab equipment, such as the Nanodrop and the gel visualizer, as well as the techniques needed for other protocols. We learned how to carry out a transformation and gel electrophoresis. She helped us gather materials and calculate the ratios we needed for ligation and digestion. We learned the basic lab protocols necessary for future experiments.
A mathematics professor specializing in modeling at San Diego State University
Dr. George helped us figure out how to model components of our project mathematically. She taught us about the Michaelis-Menten equation and how to use it. She also gave us access to the papers where we could find the constants. We will use what we learned from our meetings with her in the future, especially because the Michaelis-Menten equation is so versatile for biology-related mathematical modeling.
An aerospace engineering professor at San Diego State University
Dr. Machuca met with us on Zoom on September 21st to talk about aerospace applications for the UV radiation issue. He told us about the current solutions and protection against UV radiation in space, although he specializes in designing spacecraft. We learned more context about the issue in a wider range of topics and not just biology. He helped us determine some future steps we can take in order to make our ideas more effective. The notes we took during this meeting are embedded below.