NTU-Singapore

CRISPRy to the rescue!!

The CRISPR/Cas9 system can be a beacon of hope for genetic diseases but can also be the harbinger of doom if used unethically. We investigated on the prospects of this technology by surveying the opinion of Singapore's community. On the other hand, we have combine techniques of Computer Aided Design(CAD) sofwares and PyMOL to customise proteins for 3D printing.

Protein 3D printing

CRISPR Survey

We're lucky to be in the era of 3D printing. In our opinion, science education are not only fun but cognitively stimulating when there's a model for us to play with. Hence, we decided to design 3D models of Cas9 during our exhibition. This is the process of how we improvised to allow more customisation to our proteins. Full detialed instructions can be found here:

Protein Printing Manual

For 3D printing, all files have to be converted to .stl fromat. From the web, we have found that we can convert a .pdb file to .stl file with USCB's Chimera software.

Hence, we were very excited and we tried to print a small protein, insulin, in it's alphe helical structure as a start! However, we met few challenges.

To solve our problem, we found out that PyMOL is able to make our structures thicker and, hence, more rigid. After thickening our loop regions in PyMOL. We have to export our desired structure in .vrl format and then convert to .stl with Chimera. On the other hand, we can also repair vulnerable points in the structure in AutoDesk MeshMixer.

Now, we can have thicker and more stable helices.

We also came out with an idea to put joints into the protein to make our models more interactive and less static. We used, Autodesk Fusion to design joints for our protein. By using, Autodesk MeshMixer, we are able make modifications to our protein structure, like adding joints to our protein. More detialed instructions can be found here.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit. Aenean lacinia bibendum nulla sed consectetur.

Team:NTU-Singapore/HP/Gold

CRISPRy to the rescue!!

"Protein 3D Printing" For Dummies

CRISPR Exhibition