Team:GreenfieldCentral IN

Team

Greenfield-Central is a high school in Greenfield, Indiana. G-CHS is home to a great pre-engineering and pre-biomedical program, which is what spawned our interest in iGEM. We participated in the first high school compeition last year, and won Best Poster, Best Presentation, Best New part, and Best Overall Project. We are extremely excited to apply last year's experience to our new projects this year.

Chris Thompson is a senior at Greenfield-Central high school. He got involved with iGEM last year through his AP Biology instructor, Mr. Rihm. He participated in last year’s iGEM competition, and was on the winning team. He is also the Vice President of his senior class, the team captain of the varsity tennis team, the treasurer of National Honor Society, and is on student council. He is interested in synthetic biology, video games, hanging out with his friends, reading, and sleeping. But mostly sleeping. He is planning on attending Purdue University for Biological Engineering. He then plans on going to MIT to get his PhD there. His dream is to be a professor of biology at MIT and have his own research lab.

Bryce Herbert is currently a senior at Greenfield Central high school. He got involved in the iGEM team through his Biotech instructor, Mr. Rihm, and members of the previous year’s team. He is involved in extracurricular activities such as National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, and Voice at his high school along with being on the iGEM team. His interests include reading books listening to music, playing video games, being outside, and hanging out with friends. He plans to attend the College of Engineering at Purdue University to major in Biomedical Engineering. His plans thereafter are to begin work at a biotechnology company or firm to contribute to the new technologies and mechanisms to be used in the constantly changing and evolving field of medicine and technology.

Brent Poling is a senior at Greenfield-Central high school. He got involved with iGEM last year through his AP Biology instructor, Mr. Rihm. He participated in last year’s iGEM competition, and was on the winning team. He is also on the varsity soccer team and plays travel soccer. He is interested in reading, going to rock concerts, listening to music, video games, and hanging out with his friends. Brent is planning on attending Wabash College to study Biochemistry, and then plans on attending med school to study orthopedics. His dream is to be an orthopedic surgeon.

Emily Ditto is a senior at Greenfield-Central high school. She got into iGEM through some of the classes that she’s taking, such as Biotechnical Engineering and Engineering Design and Development. She is on the varsity swim team, National Honor Society, Women in Engineering, marching band, and Band Leadership Team. She likes swimming, hanging out with her friends, watching movies, listening to music, and sleeping. Emily is planning on attending Purdue University to study Biomedical Engineering, and is thinking about going to med school after she graduates from Purdue.

Andrew Gutierrez is a freshman at Greenfield Central high school. He joined iGEM after his Biomed teacher invited him to join; this is his first year of iGEM. He is a running back for the JV football team, a member of pathfinders (a youth leadership group), and a member of the choir. He is interested in football, baseball, videogames, TV, music, and hanging out with friends. Andrew doesn’t know where he wants to attend college yet, or what he wants to major in, but he knows it will have to do with science.

Mason Keller is a junior at Greenfield-Central High School. He got involved in iGEM because of his AP Biology teacher Mr. Rihm and his involvement in the school’s biotechnical engineering class. Mason is a state champion in the Vex Robotics program. His interests are the classics and mathematics, which he plans to double major in at Wabash College.

Tyler Girton is a sophomore at Greenfield-Central high school. He plans on going to Butler University and major in pharmaceuticals. He began iGEM after it was recommended to him by his biology teacher, Mr. Rihm. Tyler also volunteers at a soup kitchen, and other hobbies and interests to him are politics, hanging out with friends, music, and bowling.

Rachel Larsen is a sophomore at Greenfield-Central. This is her first year on iGEM, but is very excited to continue in the program. Rachel is also involved in Academic Superbowl, VEX Robotics, Drama Club, Junior Statesman of America, and 4-H. She is very interested in photography, physics, neuroscience, and psychology. She is planning on either attending Capitol University in Columbus, Ohio or Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, Indiana to major in applicative neuroscience research.

Brainstorming

The first idea that we looked at was a cancer detector. We would try to create a strain of E. Coli that could detect certain byproducts of cancerous cells, which would lead to a much earlier cancer detector.

The second project that we looked into was a cure for amyloid fibril-related diseases. Amyloid fibrils are small protein fibrils that are associated with many diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. Our project would have prevented the mis-folding of the protein that creates amyloid fibrils.

Another idea we had was to create a strain of yeast that would produce an enzyme that could be injected into the bloodstream to break down galactose. <p>And lastly, an idea that was thought of by the Biomedical side of Project Lead theWay was a fish tuberculosis detector. A strain of E. coli would detect fish tuberculosis in an aquatic environment to help prevent epidemics.

Project

Our first project deals with Galactosemia. Galactosemia is a disease in which an afflicted person cannot break down galactose, a simple sugar found in many food items such as milk. Classic galactosemic individuals cannot effectively produce the enzyme GALT, which is needed to catalyze the breakdown of galactose. Galactose build-up can lead to many debilitating conditions, such as ataxia, liver failure, and learning disabilities. Our goal for this project is to create a blood-galactose monitor to help galactosemic patients monitor their condition. This is needed because current blood sugar monitors only detect both sugars together, which does not help galactosemic people. We are planning on creating a strain of yeast that can detect galatose and glucose separately in the bloodstream. We are planning on using the promoters Gal1/10 to detect galactose, and HXT1 to detect glucose. Then we are going to use the mCherry fluorescent protein and cyan fluorescent protein to indicate the concentration of both sugars. Once we assemble our plasmid and transform it into E. coli to amp up DNA concentration, we will then transform it into yeast. We are also going to characterize the promoters by testing the fluorescence when introduced with different sugar concentrations. This will help standardize the test and make it easier to use. This project will hopefully be a simple test for galactosemics to monitor the status of their condition.

Our second project focuses on the disease in fish called Mycobacterium Marinum. Mycobacterium is a strain of tuberculosis. Mycobacterium Marinum kills large masses of fish, mainly in aquariums, and is currently undetectable. This disease also affects humans; if a human has an open sore and comes in contact with the contaminated water, the human will then be a carrier of mycobacterium Marinum and could possibly infect other aquariums. Our project is to find the structure of Mycobacterium Marinum and have E. coli target mycolic acid, mycobacterium's defense mechanism to current vaccines and antibiotics. When our engineered E. coli detects the mycolic acid on the cell wall of the mycobacterium, the green fluorescent protein gene we will insert into the plasmid will indicate that disease is present in the aquarium. If this step is successful, then we will take the project one step further. We will attempt to engineer E. coli to target an enzyme on the cell wall of Mycobacterium and have it release the mycolic acid so the mycobacterium will become defenseless to current treatments. In the broad view, if we are able to detect Mycobacterium through the use of fluorescent proteins, then the actual test for tuberculosis today could be simplified and made cheaper compared to the current process. A blood sample would be taken from the patient, and exposed to our E. coli. A spectrophotometer would then calculate the fluorescent levels of the sample, and determine if the patient has tuberculosis.

Notebook

September 28th, 2011 - Had the first call-out meeting for iGEM.

October 5th, 2011 - Formed plans for attending the 2011 American Collegiate Regional Jamboree.

October 9th and 10th - Attended and worked the college jamboree, gathered brainstorming ideas for project.

fibrils.

November 16th - Assigned research groups to study the two projects.

November 23th - Came together to discuss the research papers, and assigned research summaries.

November 30th

December 14th

January 4th -

January 11th -

January 18th -

February 1st -

February 8th -

February 15th -

February 22nd -

February 29th -

March 7th -

March 14th -

March 21th -

Results/Conclusions

Safety

Safety Rules:

1. Safety gear must be worn at all times in the lab. Safety equipment includes: goggles, a lab coat, and safety gloves before participating in the lab.

2. There is a red line separating the computer area from the lab area. If you cross this line, you must wash your hands and change your gloves.

3. No food or drink in the lab.

4. Dispose of any contaminated lab equipment in the proper biohazard container.

5. Make sure your lab area is clean before starting a lab.

5. Sterilize all equipment before starting a lab.

6. No horseplay in the lab.

7. Make sure a teacher or adult is supervising while in the lab.

8. Clean all lab equipment and surfaces when finished in the lab.

9. Record everything that takes place in the lab in your lab journal.

Any other restrictions or rules can be found in Bio Safety Level 1 Guidelines.

Attributions

Human Practices

So far, we have presented to the Greenfield Area Chamber of Commerce, and educated them on the positive impacts of iGEM and synthetic biology on students, the economy, and the world.

We have also presented to the Greenfield Kiwannis Club and gave a similar presentation about the effects of synthetic biology, and informed them on the positives of synthetic biology.

We are also planning to give a presentation to the Greenfield-Central School Board, involving local middle school students, creating a science badge for Girl Scouts, and presenting to the Greenfield Rotary Club.

Fun!

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