Bi-Monthly Journal
This is a bi-monthly updated blog tracking Chase's progress throughout the completion of his project.
Overall ProgressSince my last post, I have made one of the greatest strides in work for my fellows project. I have ramped up the in-lab work to be virtually 5 days a week (the maximum severn is open), and I have achieved a ton of milestones as outlined in the SOP. Outside of the work for the project itself, I have done tons of work regarding the fellows program requirements. This includes planning for the Fellows Fair coming up, as well as creating a final summative video that talks about the project. And, I heavily updated the website, making it easier to navigate, cleaner, and finally finished. All of the different types of progress I have made, both related to the project and to the fellows program, are described below. Growing Generations of E.ColiOriginally, I got my first growth from the transformation of the plasmid pUC18 into competent JM109 E.Coli cells. This allowed growth on normal LB agar plates. However, since that first growth, many generations have been repeatedly grown. Each growth cycle, a single strong colony is selected and replated to be regrown. This allows for one single strain/colony to be our net result, so now, almost a month later, the e.coli cultures are highly refined. These cultures will be turned into competent cells to be used in the procedures discussed below. Second Major Round of PurchasingOne of the bigger milestones for the project in general that I passed was going through a second round of funding to make purchases. This round of funding was used to purchase the necessary Plasmids, DNA, and chemicals to carry out the bacterial transformations necessary. Below is a copy of the purchase sheet. Formal Write-up, Name, Planning for fairSince the fellows fair is taking place this Friday, I had to do some logistics/planning. One of the main tasks was determining an official name and short description of the project. I settled on Bacteria2Blood, as that has been the unofficial title for the project for a few months. Here is the official short description: Inspired by the global blood shortages onset by COVID-19, this 3-phase project seeks to research the creation of synthetic blood in the lab. Consisting of a 4100+ word Scientific Literature Review submitted for publication, the development of a Standard of Practice detailing necessary in-lab steps, and actual scientific research via the creation of an in-school laboratory, this project exemplifies the capabilities of modern genetic engineering; cutting out the middleman in an effort to make life saving blood accessible to all. I think this write up does a good job of capturing the big picture of the project. In lab workArguably the largest portion of work I have completed since mid-april has been the in lab research. Spanning multiple hours each day, I am carrying out experiments ranging from growing colonies of E. coli to transforming DNA into bacteria. The majority of media I have are Timelapse's of my work, which cannot be uploaded onto a weebly, however I am looking into compiling them into one video and uploading it to YouTube so that I may post it on my blog. Highly Detailed sub-SOP (Bacterial Transformation)I wrote a very detailed step by step SOP specifically for the bacterial transformations I need to do. While it may seem relatively simple, writing these procedures took multiple hours of research to ensure the chemistry backing each of the steps would result in the desired effects. Website UpdateI also spent a ton of time updating my website. I have included a collection of examples below, however you should feel free to navigate around the website and see the new pages for yourself. Some highlights are a deliverables page and a contact us page. Final VideoFinally, I spent multiple hours creating an 8 minute long video summarizing the work I have done on my fellows project. It was edited and recorded to look as professional as possible, and can be seen at this link:
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