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| + | {{Stony Brook}} |
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| + | "We should've thought this through earlier in the summer" -everyone, 2k16 |
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| − | <ul class="nav navbar-nav">
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| − | <li class="active"><a href="#">Home</a></li>
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| − | <li><a href="/Team:ColumbiaU_NYC/Project">About</a></li>
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| − | <li><a href="/Team:ColumbiaU_NYC/Team">People</a></li>
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| − | <h1>Project Description</h1>
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| − | <p> If you were to ask your friend to list the most deadly
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| − | animals, he or she would probably include lions, tigers,
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| − | and bears (oh my!). However, they may be surprised to hear
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| − | that the mosquito deserves a high place on this
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| − | list. According to the World Health Organization,
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| − | mosquitos account for more than one million deaths
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| − | annually. These deaths are caused by mosquito-borne
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| − | illnesses including West Nile virus, elephantiasis, dengue
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| − | fever, yellow fever, malaria, and more recently Zika. With
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| − | the recent outbreak of the Zika virus, the World Health
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| − | Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and
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| − | Prevention have labeled Zika as an international health
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| − | concern. With no known treatments or vaccines currently
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| − | available, prevention is the only option to combat
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| − | Zika. </p>
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| − | <p> Citronella oil and DEET are the main commercially
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| − | available repellents against Zika-carrying mosquitos, yet
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| − | these products possess several shortcomings. Each
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| − | repellent stops being effective approximately three hours
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| − | after application. However, many users are unaware of this
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| − | time frame. Consequently, they are unprepared to reapply
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| − | and are left unprotected. Applying current mosquito
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| − | repellent can lead to a false sense of security, which can
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| − | cause a person to be more prone to mosquito bites. While
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| − | citronella oil has a lower efficacy than DEET, DEET has
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| − | been shown to be harmful to skin, causing painful
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| − | rashes. DEET is also harmful to the environment since its
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| − | chemical runoffs can disrupt neighboring
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| − | wildlife. Although DEET and citronella oil are viable
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| − | mosquito repellents, they are by no means ideal.</p>
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| − | <p> Our project hopes to provide a safe, long-lasting
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| − | mosquito repellent using microbiome. Recent research has
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| − | shown that the biomolecule di-rhamnolipids, naturally
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| − | produced by <em>Pseudomonas Aeruginosas</em>, effectively
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| − | repels mosquitos at low concentrations. This biomolecule
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| − | is safer than DEET and more effective than citronella
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| − | oil. However, di-rhamnolipids are expensive to produce
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| − | synthetically. Furthermore, although naturally found on
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| − | human skin, <em>Pseudomonas Aeruginosas</em> is known to
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| − | be pathogenic. <em>Pseudomonas Putida, </em>an
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| − | environmental strain found in soil, survives well on most
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| − | surfaces, and is non-pathogenic. Using <em>Putida</em>, we
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| − | are designing a safe bacteria strain to produce
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| − | rhamnolipids. As a more long-term option, we will also be
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| − | modifying <em>Staphylococcus Epidermidis</em>, a natural
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| − | skin microbe, to produce rhamnolipids. The probiotics
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| − | would be applied to the skin via a lotion rather than a
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| − | spray like most repellents to prevent the loss of the
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| − | product to the environment. These bacteria would
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| − | continuously produce the mosquito repellent on the skin
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| − | thereby increasing duration of efficacy as well as cost
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| − | effectiveness as less repellent would need to be
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| − | purchased. </p>
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| − | <p> The experimental plan is as follows: building a
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| − | recombinant plasmid with the genes necessary to produce
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| − | rhamnolipids, transforming this plasmid into Pseudomonas
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| − | Putida and Staphylococcus Epidermidis, and quantifying the
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| − | amount of rhamnolipids produced by these engineered
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| − | strains. Rhamnolipid will be quantified using TLC, CTAB
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| − | assay, Orcinol Assay, and various spectrometry techniques
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| − | such as MS, HPLC-MS, and SFC-MS. Additionally, we will do
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| − | experiments to analyze the effects such biosynthetic
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| − | repellent will have on mosquitoes. Ultimately, we plan to
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| − | analyze the effects rhamnolipids have on skin by
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| − | conducting experiments in mice. Lastly, we hope to conduct
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| − | experiments that include both mice and mosquitoes to
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| − | assess to what extent the repellent is effective. </p>
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| − | </div>
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| − | <p>116th Street and Broadway, New York, NY 10027</p>
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| − | Contact | Sponsors | Policy | Resources
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