Contents
A Weekly Log
by Pinja Hartikainen
Week 1
What will we do??? We loved the idea of enriched yogurt so we researched the different bacterial species present in yogurt and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of them. Even though we had decided on enriched yogurt, we weren’t sure what to enrich it with so we researched different vitamins and other nutrients important to humans. We chose vitamin A and we started choosing our target population for our product. We studied the vitamin A biosynthesis pathway and how we could exploit it. Our engineers discussed how to optimise biosynthesis pathways using cell sorting and how to make a cheap yogurt maker with solar components. Bravely, Katy started off our weekly cake rota with cherry cupcakes, which were equally tasty as they were cute.
Week 2
Our engineers planned an accessible yogurt maker with a solar oven (yay). They researched the optimum growth temperatures for two yogurt bacteria, S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus subsp. delbrueckii to see how we could regulate temperature as part of the solar kettle. A thermostat controller, such as Raspberry Pi (cute, right?), and how milk pasteurisation would affect our modified bacteria were also discussed. Our wet lab team studied how to quantify intermediates from the beta-carotene biosynthesis pathway and how to re-engineer relatable aspects of previous iGEM projects. So far no actual wet lab work was done… we were all getting tired of our laptops, apart from our computer scientist, Oliver. Pinja graced us with homemade chocolate-banana bread, although it was sadly slightly undercooked.
Week 3
Oliver worked on wiki designs and started assembling it. A logo and possible merchandise was discussed. S. thermophilus was the chosen winning yogurt bacteria, and ways of making it a chassis were debated. A beta-carotene biosynthesis plan for our yogurt bacteria was created. Our engineers changed the idea of a solar kettle into an incubator as a part of a solar oven and thought about using an Arduino in the yogurt maker. James gave us lovely demonstrations on all the lab techniques we needed to know for this summer. Catriona made the most amazing, mouth-watering brownies known to mankind (thanks Catriona).
Week 4
We finally started our wet lab work! It took a wee while to get used to all the different lab instruments, but we did get the hang of it eventually. We made our first batch of plates and made minipreps from some of the BioBricks provided on the distribution kits. More research was done of course. Liam, who claims he has never baked before, made a fantastic Victoria sponge.
Week 5
More and more minipreps were done. We attempted to ligate crtB and crtI together. We failed. The engineers continued constructing their solar oven. Oliver’s lemon drizzle was heavenly, fo shizzle.
Week 6
The engineers were having success with their solar oven building and incorporated a 3D printed valve into it. The wet lab team, however, was having minimal success with the ligations. We were all a bit down, but Dee’s nutella cake was a chocolatey dream come true.
Week 7
We finally managed to ligate our first two crt genes together! Everyone was happy. The engineers were tweaking their design with a valve 2.0. Lindsey made delicious chocolate chip cookies big enough to completely satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth.
Week 8
We made lycopene! On the other hand, we had yet to transform S. thermophilus, which made everyone, especially Katy, sad. Dee also seemed to be sad, as “everything is broken”. Poor Dee. Our engineers attempted to make yogurt with their newly 3D printed valve, but unfortunately it turned out rather gloopy. There seemed to be some debate about the success of this valve between Fergus and Simone, with “it works, yeah” as the only positive thing said about it. In the end, they decided to 3D print a third valve. Oliver kept doing a fine job with our wiki. On a side note - MAT’S CAPPUCCINO CAKE IS TO DIE FOR.
Week 9
WE MADE BETA-CAROTENE!!! We must have pleased Julien, our supervisor, who encouraged us with “not all hope is lost”. Thanks Julien. Our engineers tested their solar incubator and successfully managed to heat up the water to over 90 degrees Celsius! Fergus made a rich (and “dense”) chocolate cake that was absolutely delightful.
Week 10 (the end)
Our last week in the lab (omg). After endless minipreps and thousands (?) of plates made, we are done. We successfully synthesised beta-carotene in E. coli (sadly, ran out of time to accomplish this in S. thermophilus) and we have a fully working solar concentrator (the engineers changed the name so many times, no one is quite sure what to call it anymore). We also managed to transform amilCP into S. thermophilus (HOORAY!!!). What a fantastic end to the summer. Simone finished our iGEM bake-off with a little bit of Italian culture, a tasty torta della nonna.
