Team:Nevada/Team

From 2009.igem.org



Back: Dr. Shintani, J, Alex, Tyler. Middle: Janice, Leigh, Joey, Chris. Front: Nick and Dr. Howard

Contents

Who we are

Advisors

  • Advisor 1: Dr. Christie Howard
  • Advisor 2: Dr. Patricia Ellison
  • Advisor 3: Dr. Dave Shintani
  • Grad Student 1: Chad Sanada


Undergrads

  • Student 1: Nick Tschernia
  • Student 2: Tony Moschetti
  • Student 3: Joey Khwaja
  • Student 4: Chris Martinez
  • Student 5: Janice Cho
  • Student 6: Leigh Armijo
  • Student 7: Sheena Jones
  • Student 8: Tyler Peterson
  • Student 9: J Malikowski
  • Student 10: Alex Dussaq

What we did

Nick Tschernia

  • Entered the Nevada Team into the iGEM Competition a week before the submission date.
  • Organized weekly meetings for project brainstorming and time line.
  • Recruited the iGEM Team through a highly selective process (whoever was left at the end of the brainstorming sessions).
  • Helped petition for research and travel funds.
  • Organized the source plate distribution and transformation of the basic parts.
  • Sequence analysis of the Biobrick parts formed.
  • Primer design for adding Biobrick restriction sites for formation of Biobrick parts.
  • Assisted in an advisory role to all aspects of the project.


Janice Cho

  • Formulated the original idea of using cinnamaldehyde as a mosquito larvicide.
  • Performed initial research on the use of cinnamaldehyde.
  • Helped perform a three-way ligation with part BBa_R0011 (lacI promoter), part BBa_B0034 (ribosome-binding site), and part pSB3C5 (chloramphenicol resistant backbone) to create part BBa_K262000.
  • Helped conduct a three-way ligation to create final construct with the parts: BBa_K262000 and BBa_K262002.


Leigh Armijo

  • Helped perform a three-way ligation with part BBa_R0011 (lacI promoter), part BBa_B0034 (ribosome-binding site), and part pSB3C5 (chloramphenicol resistant backbone) to create part BBa_K262000.
  • Helped conduct a three-way ligation to create a construct with BBa_K262000, 4-coumarate:CoA ligase, and BBa_B0014.


Sheena Jones

  • In charge of maintaining and propagating Wolffia and Lemna Minor plant species.
  • Generated callus culture in preparation for gene transformation.


Tony Moschetti

  • Topo-cloned cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (gene 3)for preparation of a Biobrick part.
  • Made Biobrick part containing cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (gene 3) and double terminator (BBa_K262002)
  • Transformed 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (gene 2) and cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (gene 3 - BBa_K262001) into Biobrick backbones.


J Malikowski

  • Induced expression in non-Biobrick expression vector containing 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (gene 2). Detection of product formation at 311nm. Further studies will be conducted in the near future.
  • Helped to troubleshoot minipreps and other protocols. Resident expert on minipreps.
  • Trained Tyler to be an excellent Molecular Biologist.
  • Advisory role at lab meetings (How does the Harper lab do it?)


Tyler Peterson

  • Major player in media preparation, agarose gels, stock solutions
  • Helped with minipreps and E. coli transformation.


Chris Martinez

  • Made db3.1 and NEB10 competent cells.
  • Overall goal was to up-regulate the cinnamaldehyde pathway in plants Wolffia and various Lemna Minor species
  • Transformation of cinnamoyl-CoA Reductase (Gene 3) into TOPO D Vector
  • Used LR CLonase Protocal to move cinnamoyl-CoA Reductase (Gene 3) into pK7WG2D.1 Binary Vector which will be used to grow up Agrobacterium, which will be used to infect the plants Wolffia and Lemna Minor species


Joey Khwaja

  • Made db3.1 and NEB10 competent cells.
  • Transformation of cinnamoyl-CoA Reductase (Gene 3) into TOPO D Vector
  • Assisted others on various projects including Gene2/Terminator part creation and attempts of the final construct 3-way ligation.
  • Researched and began design of a Biobrick plant transformation binary vector.
  • Designed the iGEM Nevada Team shirts.


Chad Sanada

  • Assisted Nick with designing Biobrick compatible primers and helped to direct and organize the amplification and cloning of cinnamoyl-CoA Reductase (Gene 3) in order to make our first biobrick part.
  • Added insight into experimental methods and approaches when possible.
  • Helped prevent Nick from going insane.
  • Assisted with reviewing and editing the team wiki site.

Meet the Team

Undergraduates

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Nick Tschernia

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Tony Moschetti

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Janice Cho

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Leigh Armijo

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Joey Khwaja

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Sheena Jones

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Chris Martinez

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Tyler Peterson

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J Malikowski

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Alex Dussaq

Advisors

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Dr. Christie Howard

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Dr. Dave Shintani

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Dr. Trish Ellison

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Chad Sanada (Grad Student)