Team Assembly & Project Launch

Project officially launched with core team recruitment completed within one week, forming a "2+3+2" tiered structure:

• 2 dry lab members (responsible for bioinformatics analysis and AI structure prediction)
• 3 wet lab members (responsible for plasmid construction for protein characterization and detection)

First discussion meeting held on December 13 to clarify the technical approach of "AI-assisted protein design + experimental validation closed-loop."

Topic Focus & Resource Preparation

During a collective discussion on February 26, team members shared diverse research directions. After faculty guidance, the team finalized the project topic three days later: allulose production, focusing on directed enzyme evolution and modification.

Completed iterations of recruitment posters on March 10, attracting over 60 applicants university-wide. Ultimately selected 10 students to join the team, expanding to 17 members with defined roles and group leaders.

Laboratory application at Xingqing Campus approved on March 15.

AI Model Development & Data Production

During April 15-17, the wet lab team evaluated RFdiffusion, Protein MPNN, and Alpha Protein2 before selecting David Baker Lab's Protein MPNN as the backbone sequence generation engine and rapidly completing local deployment.

April 27-29: Wet lab team completed laboratory space planning over the weekend. Following the "three zones, two channels" standard (reagent zone, operation zone, instrument zone; separate personnel and material flow), the lab passed the school's safety inspection on the first attempt.

Project Iteration & Optimization

May 22: Group discussion reassessed sequence design, synthesis, and characterization phases, identifying sequence improvement opportunities.

June 4: Task reassignments following personnel changes; team leader formally confirmed.

June 8: Introduced IMODS to predict DTE binding poses with target proteins, providing high-confidence templates for subsequent mutation site screening.

June 20: Submitted two predicted DTE mutant sequences for company synthesis. Designed corresponding primers based on sequence design to prepare for experimental work.

Plasmid Construction & Experimental Validation

June 27: Group discussion finalized plasmid construction strategy, designing DTE enzyme expression systems and RNA-pepper-based allulose biosensors.

July: The wet lab group completed the construction of three plasmids, establishing the expected system through PCR, sequencing, and other steps.

Team Exchange & Competition Preparation

August 6-8: Team traveled to Shenzhen for CCiC, received judge feedback, and refined subsequent experimental plans.

August 10: Project exchange with teams from Yan'an University and Northwestern Polytechnical University to share experiences.

System Characterization & Data Closure

Late August - Mid-September: The wet lab group completed characterization of all constructed plasmids and performed quantitative system characterization with closed-loop validation.

Experimental Data Integration & Analysis

Integrated and analyzed experimental data, summarized project outcomes, and prepared project reports and paper writing.