Attributions

This project was the independent idea of the team members and not integrated into a specific lab's research projects. Expertise, equipment and financial support was gathered from a wide range of sources.

Kathy Bates conducted many of the laboratory preparation and experiments including the phage construction and characterization. Kathy also did the programming in Solidworks and the 3D modeling and printing and coordinated some of the outreach presentations.

Ben Beltzer developed an agent-based host-phage dynamics model in netlogo. He helped the team with some of the lab procedures and is currently developing an educational, viral infection-based game.

Andrew Nadig helped develop and implement the model of KillerRed synthesis and superoxide production and helped with photobleaching experiments and other wet work. He participated in the development and delivery of outreach presentations at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy, and Taylor Allderdice High School in addition to writing corny poetic parodies for the wiki.

Eric Pederson worked in developing the lambda (λ) phage, performed the cloning experiments to produce the plasmids that were used for characterization and performed the phototoxicity experiments. Eric also performed the cloning required for the BioBrick submissions. He organized and analyzed the data and helped characterize KillerRed as a photosensitizer and mRFP1 as a negative control. He participated in the outreach presentations at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy and Taylor Allderdice High school.

Evan Starkweather assisted with solution preparation and other lab work when needed. He also designed the graphics for the wiki and the team t-shirts.

Dr. Marcel Bruchez was the faculty advisor for the team and secured lab and meeting space and provided technical advice on fluorescence, ROS and instrumentation as well as strategic advice.

Dr. Natasa Miskov-Zivanov led the formation of the CMU iGEM 2013 team and the fundraising for the team. She provided guidance and advice for the modeling part of the project.

Dr. Cheryl Telmer: The laboratory experiments were discussed daily with Dr. Telmer, who provided training and guidance on all laboratory techniques as needed.

Dr. Cheemeng Tan served as an advisor for the design of the project. With an expertise in synthetic biology and iGEM experience, Dr. Tan played an important role before he moved to the University of California, Davis.

Dr. Jonathan Jarvik’s lab conducts experiments involving lambda phage. Dr. Jarvik is a professor for the PhageHunters course at CMU and he offered his expertise and also supplies.

Dr. Tim Jarvela was a graduate student in Adam Linsteadt’s lab (just defended!!) who used KillerRed to inactivate Golgi proteins and he offered advice and did some imaging for the team.

Saumya Saurabh is a graduate student in the Bruchez lab who helped to set up the photobleaching apparatus.

Dr. Justin Hogg was a graduate student (just defended!!) in Computational and Systems Biology at University of Pittsburgh who provided advice to the modeling team on population and agent-based modeling and BioNetGen.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following people for their advice and support of the CMU iGEM 2013 Team.

Dr. Nathan Urban, Head of Biological Sciences, provided support, funding, space and equipment.

Dr. Diana Marculescu helped with forming the team, with initial fundraising, and with finding resources on campus (3D printing).

Dr. Robert Murphy, Director of the Lane Center for Computational Biology, provided funding.

Dr. Danith Ly helped with finding a lab and advice during the design phase.

Dr. Alex Evilevitch came on August 5th to share his expertise of phage DNA packaging with the team.

Dr. Luisa Hiller met with the team on August 7th to discuss biofilms and antibiotic resistance.

Andrew Kehr, a graduate student in the lab that we used for the summer and he provided advice when needed.

Dr. Annette Jacobson, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at College of Engineering, provided support and helped with fundraising and team registration logistics.

Dr. James H. Garrett, Dean of the College of Engineering, provided funding for the team.

Dr. Andrew Gellman, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, provided funding for the team.

Dr. Yu-li Wang, Head of Biomedical Engineering Department, provided funding for the team.

Biology Business Office: David Casillas managed the funding for the project and Carol Lee oversaw payroll.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Business Office. Judy Bandola helped with team registration, and Marian Kovalchik helped with initial fund transfers.

Sponsors