Team:Vanderbilt/Team/Attributions
While Vanderbilt University's iGEM team is driven by its undergraduates, our work is indebted to the generosity of our mentors and gracious sponsors. Vanderbilt iGEM prides itself in being a team run by undergraduates, for undergraduates. All project design and data analysis, lab work and experimentation, fundraising and outreach, and all the other work done by the team was all preformed by undergraduate student volunteers. However outside companies, faculty and staff, institutions, and individuals all have made contributions that have been essential in our team's growth and success. We would like to take the time to specially thank each one of them in the space below.
Faculty Support
Dr. Kathy Friedman for serving as our team's primary faculty adviser, and always being available to discuss project ideas and to help troubleshoot our protocols.
Dr. Chrissy Morasco for assisting with the administrative responsibilities of the team and giving us opportunities to brainstorm ideas and collaborate with other students during our research.
Dr. Ian Macara for providing both laboratory spaces that our lab used over the year, along with allowing us access to equipment
Dr. Ethan Lee for hosting our research space next to his lab and providing equipment
Support From Other Researchers
Sam Budoff for teaching our lab how to use the Nanopore next-generation DNA sequencer and providing us with the equipment necessary to run samples on the Nanopore
Eugene Vorobeychik for assisting with the algorithims used for optimizing the sequence-optimization software
Project Attributions
We are proud to be able to say that all of our lab work was conducted by undergraduate team members, and that virtually all of our ideas originated from students on our team. The specific contributions of each member is broken down below:
Software and Modeling
Designing mutation hotspot minimization and compiling parameters- JS
Writing sequence-optimization software- JS
Writing the GUI for the bioinformatic software- DM
Optimizing and improving the efficiency of the software- DM
Collecting data from the Registry of Parts and compiling statistics- DM
Designing mathematical modeling projects- WC, JS, O2
Writing code for mathematical models- WC
Generating graphs for mathematical models- WC
Sequence Optimization Experiments
Designing DNA damage quantification assays- JS, O2
Cloning sequence-optimized RFP genes- JS, SR, O2
Running alkaline gel electrophoresis assays- JS, O2
Running oxidative damage supercoiling assays- JS, SR
Generating graphs and compiling statistics- JS
Circuit Optimization Experiments
Designing parts of improving gene circuit stability- JS, O2
Writing software for minimizing sequence homology- JS
Cloning circuit part genes- JS, SR, SL, O2, DS
Designing yeast homologous recombination experiment- KF, JS, O2, SL
Cloning yeast homologous recombination genes- SL, JS
Assembling vectors for VERT system -JS
Organism Optimization Experiments
Designing cell culture assays- JS, O2
Measuring experimental cell cultures- JS, SL
Designing "Incorruptable cell" - JS
Cloning exogenous repair endonucleases- SR, JS, O2, SL, DS
Other Experiments
Nanopore experiments - SL, JS
Interlab study- JS
UGA Collaboration - JS
Preparing Competent Cells - O2, JS, DS, SL
Preparing plates, autoclaving, and other lab tasks - JS, SL, SR, O2, DS
Policy and Practices
Meeting with Dr. Collins- JS, O2, SL
Meeting with Dr. Bess- JS
Industry outreach- O2
High-school outreach- O2, SL
Undergraduate synthetic biology course- JS,O2
Mutation survey and statistics- JS
Wiki and Other Work
Designing wiki layout- O2, AH, JS, SL
Drawing wiki layout and logos - AH
Formatting wiki pages - AH, SR
Writing "Team" section- O2, JS, SL
Writing "Project" sections-JS, O2, SL
Writing "Practices" section-JS
Writing "Software" section-DM
Writing "Modeling" section-WC
Wiki content editing- SR, SL, DM, O2, JS, DS, AH, WC
Making project poster-JS
Making project presentation-JS, O2, SL, SR, DM, WC, DS
AH= Anna Hwang, DM= Danny McClanahan, JS=Jarrod Shilts, KF= Kathy Friedman, O2= Ophir Ospovat, SL= Stephen Lee, SR= Sikandar Raza, WC= Will Cox