Timeline Overview
Over the year our team has gone through many different steps and events in order to come to the point we are now!
Scroll down to explore our journey through time!
KY-INBRE
At KY-INBRE we presented our research on how PFOA binds to human proteins. We learned that a lot of the researchers actually didn't know what PFAS was and this led us to develop more initiatives to help educate our community about PFAS, like presenting the project at more conferences, and handing out fliers to researchers.
Spring Lab
Our team focused on cloning by transforming E. coli BL21 with three expression vectors to test GFP expression. We generated stable transformed colonies, verified plasmid identity, improved DNA yields, and created glycerol stocks for long-term storage and future testing.
TYMS Expression and Purification
This was the start of another approach to create an effective PFAS biosensor. TYMS was identified as a protein where its stability greatly decreases when binding to PFAS which was what was wanted. So in an attempt to make the protein, tagged with GFP, ourselves rather than buy it, we expressed and purified the protein ourselves.
Transcriptomics
Our team used a transcriptomics approach to find E. coli genes that respond to PFAS exposure after our original cloning approach was inconclusive. This allowed us to identify potential genes for a fluorescence-based detection system and guide future biosensor development.
DSF, NMR, MST
Here we did multiple different tests on TYMS tagged with GFP. Some looked at stability when the protein bound to PFAS and some looked at if the protein was folded correctly, or if the protein was the right size, etc. and these tests informed us whether or not the protein was working correctly or how it would work.
Blaze Pizza Carwash
To fundraise for IGEM our team set up a carwash at a local pizza shop called Blaze. We had people advertising with signs and another set of people washing the cars and all in all we raised over $600.
NGS Essentials Workshop
Our team participated in the KY-INBRE Bioinformatics Workshop, where we learned essential bioinformatics skills such as command-line tools, assembly, and BLAST, and also served as mentors to biologists and computer scientists. This experience deepened our own understanding of bioinformatics, and also helped make computational biology more approachable for our local community.
Kentucky Science Center Camp
We gave a 10 minute presentation to kids at the Kentucky Science Center on what we recycle and water pollution. We then had them rotate through three stations (for the remainder of the hour) on water filtration, how quickly germs travel, and on how our solution to PFAS works.
E. Gray Street Farmers Market
Here, we interacted with people who said that farmers are working on a plant is medicine movement, that they are starting to avoid runoff and fertilizers to avoid PFAS, and that yearly testing of their farms is necessary. From this event we were able to talk to more farmers later and gain support for our project.
Meeting with UNC Chapel Hill
Our team met with another IGEM team and discussed human practices initiatives and both teams provided feedback on educational initiatives. We integrated this feedback through attending Microbe Day and educating children about water pollution and more.
E. Gray Street Farmers Market (Return)
We were able to go to the farmers market once more. We set up another booth and talked to more farmers and gained more support for our project.
Meeting with CEO Elliot Notrica
Our team talked to Elliot Notrica, founder of Symbio Bioculinary, and learned that PFAS can impact food supply chains massively and that it can be spread through many ways. We took this learning and spread awareness about PFAS through distributing flyers throughout our community, avoiding plastics, and more.
Green Castle Baptist Church
Our team attended this event and taught children about human body systems and processes. We had interactive games for each of the main body systems and taught kids how PFAS would affect your body.
Meeting with KCIS-Xiugang-Taipei
In our collaboration with KCIS-Xiugang-Taipei we exchanged research materials and provided feedback on the practicality of each other's solutions. Since both teams are focused on PFAS, we also explored educational initiatives through different approaches.
Brown Cancer Center Research Retreat
At the Brown Cancer Center Research Retreat, we presented our work and spoke with researchers, many of which were completely unaware of PFAS. This highlighted the need for greater awareness and motivated us to speak at more conferences and explore more academic opportunities to inform the community.
Rotary Presentation
We presented our project to members of the Louisville Rotary, a service-based organization with over 1.5 million members, to seek funding and establish connections.
Kentucky Science Center Booth
We volunteered at the Kentucky Science Center during Microbe Day to share our project and the hazards of PFAS with young students. We led them through different educational activities to build their understanding.
