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From 2013.igem.org

Week 4

Monday

As a team, we discussed different options for plasmids and decided to keep researching plasmids that past iGEM teams have used that were successful. We talked about needing 2 separate plasmids with two different antibiotic resistance genes because we need to distinguish between the two in the E.coli. Also, we decided on using the DE3 strain of E.coli, and we already have it here at MSOE, so it will be easy to obtain. Our wiki was also updated, and we hope to keep it updated daily.

Tuesday

In small groups, we researched more about plasmids and found one very promising low copy plasmid. pSB3K3 has a kanamycin antibiotic resistance marker, so whichever second plasmid we choose will need to have a different marker. It is available in our kit too, which was a great find. We also began talking about ideas for our human practices portion of our project and the safety questions.

Wednesday

We researched how to actually make and put together the BioBricks, and we made a plan of how we are thinking of doing that once we order our gene fragments. We are very close to being able to order our DNA because we are almost finished optimizing all of our genes. We talked with our advisor today about safety, and she is going to officially train us to write protocols and in lab safety the same way our professors were trained. We will have to watch videos and take quizzes, but it should be very informative and should help us answer the safety questions more thoroughly.

Thursday

In small groups, we brainstormed possible human practices projects and began working on a rough draft for an MSOE iGEM brochure. We also looked into using Eucalyptol as a fuel.

Friday

In groups, we researched more about ordering the g-block fragments and finished optimizing the sequences for our genes. We changed the sequences that coded for any one of the four restriction sites present on the prefix or the suffix, and we made sure the amino acid sequence stayed the same.