Team:USNA-Annapolis/Attributions
NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY:
Dr. Sarah Glaven is the team's primary mentor. She helped both in the lab and with the mathematical modeling, as well as wrote the grant which allowed the team funding from DTRA and ONR.
Dr. Brian Eddie is another team mentor. He helped extensively in the lab, as well as supported the mathematical modeling by bridging the gap between the mathematicians and the field of biology.
Dr. Tschirhart is a team mentor who has significantly helped the team, as this is the first year the USNA team has competed. Dr. Tschirhart has mentored the Univ. of Maryland iGEM team in the past, and her experience in iGEM has certainly benefitted the USNA team.
Dr. Preston Fullmer is a team mentor who helped the team greatly with getting started in the lab. Dr. Fullmer helped teach the team how to do Plasmid preps, PCR, ligation, and transformation, all essential techniques for the project.
Dr. Nicholas Kotloski is a team mentor who helped extensively in the lab and supported the mathematical modeling by teaching the mathematicians the biology behind what they were doing.
Dr. Leonard Tender is an electrochemist who works at NRL. Dr. Tender runs a lab at the Center for Bimolecular Science and Engineering, where the Midshipman worked, as well as provided support to the modeling team through his deep understanding of both electrochemistry and biology, as well as common modeling techniques.
UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY:
Dr. Aurelia Minut is a mathematics professor at the US Naval Academy who has been working with the mathematicians on model development, as well as associated logistics at the Naval Academy. Dr. Minut has also assisted in coaching the team on the presentation.
CDR Lawrence Kennedy is a military professor of chemistry at USNA who facilitated Midshipmen working at NRL over the summer, both logistically and by securing funding for the Midshipmen to participate in an internship at NRL.
The Media Support Center at the Naval Academy has assisted the Midshipmen in making a poster for the iGEM Jamboree.
DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY:
Dr. Brian Pate propelled the initial formation of the team by standing up the DTRA Syn Bio Academies Challenge and by advocating and coordinating within USNA and NRL to identify the proper personnel within both institutions and gain their support. Dr. Pat has been assisting the USNA iGEM team through funding from the inception of the team, as well as has provided the team with valuable opportunities such as meetings at the Pentagon. Dr. Pate has also supported the team through feedback on presentations and other material.
OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH:
Dr. Linda Chrisey has supported the USNA iGEM team by through providing summer research funds for Dr. Glaven's contribution.
ADDITIONAL:
The model and associated computer program the midshipmen created would not have worked without understanding of the Hodgkin-Huxley model of neuron action potential. Matlab code Matlab code originally programmed by Ryan Siciliano of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was the basis for the model developed by the USNA iGEM team.
The team began working on the project in May, 2016, a process which was facilitated deeply by internships at NRL.
