Team:Exeter/diary
Following this diary will give you an insight into the progress of our project.
June
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Week One
Our first week was extremely busy as we all began to get to know each other as a team. We began work in the lab focusing on the Interlab study, in order to learn important lab techniques and also gain some all important iGEM credit. Beginning to understand transformation techniques, PCR and ligation was interesting to say the least, especially for the non-biologists among us.
As the week progressed the intensity of our research sessions increased. Any ideas were welcome no matter how far fetched or bizarre they seemed at the time. Naturally as we researched further the ideas were narrowed down, mostly as we discovered some were unviable for a number of reasons. We kept a focus on the time constraints of the project, the budget of the project and also facilities we have access to at the University. By the end of the week we had a handful of ideas that we split between our interdisciplinary team to research over the weekend.
Week Two
We started week 2 with a huge focus on the presentation we had to give on the Wednesday. Furthermore we worked out a timetable to re-do the Interlab study following some technical difficulties. We began engaging in some really good brain storming sessions and also started to get to know each other personally. A chair was broken in a hilarious manner – still funny now.
The presentation was a success and all ideas were received well with the academics. After feedback we decided to take forward three of the ideas to give a second presentation in week three. This became the focus of the rest of the week. Going into the weekend we went on a team social that was very fun. Once again over the weekend the focus was to further research the three ideas.
Week Three
Presentation preparation with Joe's weird face.
Week three has been the most intense week for us as a team so far. On Monday and Tuesday the presentation began to take shape. Deciding to split the group into three groups worked extremely well as each team focused on one idea and how best to present that idea. Furthermore we mixed the teams up. As some people were almost ‘attached’ to a certain idea due to the fact they had worked on it uniquely so far, we made sure everyone was working on the idea they had focussed the least on.
This was our final week of talks from certain groups and academics. Greenpeace came to talk to us and give us some important factors to consider for each idea. Wednesday arrived and we spent the morning running through the presentation before actually presenting it to a range of academics in the afternoon. Feedback was mostly positive and we were told all three ideas had great potential. We decided the deadline for choosing an idea was 5pm Thursday. Thursday was intense. Debate, debate and more debate led us to a vote with the winning idea prevailing nine against two. It was so encouraging that we were unanimous in choosing to go for a well-deserved pint in the Devon sunshine. As I write this the day is Friday and week three is coming to a close. Today is being spent working out the GAME PLAN for how to start making some serious headway with the chosen idea. People’s strengths, preferences and interests have led to creation of various sub-teams.
PS. We had more difficulty with the Interlab study.
Week Four
How is it week 4 already? This week saw the beginning of some hard-core modelling involving Brownian motion of both toehold switches and RNA using MATLAB. Many hours were spent toiling over getting the simulation just right, it seemed every time we thought we fixed it, something elsewhere would go wrong. Thankfully, by the end of the week we had a basic ‘working’ 3D model of Brownian motion, although it only worked using a few of each of the molecules (laptops don’t have much computing power surprisingly - time to look into accessing the university supercomputers!)
In the lab last week we spent our time working out what was causing MORE issues with the Interlab study. Our focus in the lab will hopefully soon turn towards our project but we refuse to be beaten by a lack of glowing E.coli.
July
Week Five
This week’s main focus was constructing the sequence of the toehold switch, which was challenging, but good progress was made concerning the ribosome binding site, loop region, trigger, linker and GFP sequences. Our wiki is now beginning to take shape nicely with new team member profiles being constructed in addition to some photos of the lab team in action. The collaboration aspect of our project was addressed as we contributed to an iGEM newsletter about the aims and focus of our project. At the end of the week our focus shifted slightly to creating a project name and logo, which saw the establishment of Ribonostics (riboswitch+diagnostics). On Wednesday, we headed to the pub for teambuilding round 2, which ended in a casual paper aeroplane competition dominated by the physicists.
Week Six
We have a first draft of our toehold switch! NUPACK has been the main agenda this week. Double and triple checking every part of our sequence means the sequence is nearly ready. Overall this week has been highly successful. At the beginning of the week, three of the outreach team headed into the Devon countryside to visit the head of a Veterinary practice. Hearing some first hand experiences of dealing with Bovine TB was extremely useful and we were also told of how our test would be implemented in the field. Taking this on board we made some considerations about the best direction to take the project from now on. Not to mention we made a very useful contact. As our project is extremely relevant in our local area we believe the ‘Beyond the Bench’ aspect of our project has huge potential. From the responses we have received so far it seems we are correct. Everyone is very engaged in what we are doing. We may be branching as far as New Zealand…Hopefully we have some exciting collaboration with fellow teams to come soon!
On Tuesday we headed out for a cheeky Nandos to celebrate Georgina’s birthday, followed by a few pints at a lovely old pub. Wednesday we decided to have an impromptu barbecue due to the nice weather. BBQ skills were questionable but everyone made it in on Thursday morning unharmed. Next week we have some important milestones we hope to reach.