Team Members
Served as one co-captain of the Komaplastics iGEM team and the head of the Human Practices Team who led conversations with Mark Bolda and headed education and public engagement with schools around Santa Cruz to teach aspiring scientists about the world of synthetic biology. Tested various plasticizing chemicals including glycerol which proved to be a promising plasticizer. A member of the Wiki and Media team and helped direct ideas and content for the presentation video. Helped to assemble the CBM3a gene block with Golden Gate Assembly. Helped design the co-culture project that will be used in the future implementation of this project. Worked on page content for Human Practices, Education, Engineering, Implementation, Contribution, and front page on the website.
Served as one co-captain of the Komaplastics iGEM team and part of the Fundraising team which produced an email campaign that enabled the team to register for the competition and afford lab materials. Contacted and organized meet ups with iGEM Moscow and iGEM Paris Saclay. Directed promotional and presentation videos alongside Nav Kalkat. Organized strain receival of K.rhaeticus and quorum-sensing plasmids through correspondence with the Imperial College of London. Tested sorbitol, citric acid, and glycerol as plasticizers. Helped to design and assemble the CBM2a gene block. Worked on page content for Education, Collaboration, Implementation, Engineering, and the Front Page for the team website.
Served as the head of the Genetics Team. Led assembly of the CBM3a and CBM2a gene block and fronted Golden Gate Assembly using CBM3a and pET28a(+). Helped with Protein Production and Purification of CBM3a. Tested various chemical plasticizers, including glycerol, against both microcrystalline and bacterial cellulose. Measured and recorded appropriate growth conditions of K. rhaeticus. A member of the Human Practices Team, who helped interview contacts including Husein Ajwa, Steven Fennimore, Lisa deVetter, Carol Shennan, Oded Shoseyov, among others. Contacted Devon Pattillo about USDA regulation 7 CFR 205.601, and organized the team’s oral comments submitted to the USDA Board meeting on October 22, 2020. Helped with education and public engagement by attending high school guest lectures.
Provided the Komaplastics iGEM team with personalized masks by collaborating with an outside source; Surveyed the team for feedback and co-planned the mask’s aesthetics. In addition, actively participated as a member of Human Practices by contributing to discussions with polymer scientists and visually documenting educational team trips. Moreover, led and performed wet lab work for the biological aspect of the project; Designed and constructed plasmids containing the CBM2a gene block in Geneious, performed molecular cloning procedures, and created electrocompetent E.coli cells. Planned and lead plasticizer testing for Polyethylene glycol and other plasticizers such as glycerol and citric acid. As well as, promoted and planned the concept of implementing Bacterial Polyesters (PHAs) as a potential plasticizer within the co-culture design for future work.Participated within educational presentations geared towards incoming UCSC students (potential iGEM team members). Finally, promoted inclusion, diversity and equity by sharing personal background and sparking conversations revolving around diversity within biomolecular engineering.
Served as Co-Head of Plasticizers, facilitating the team's strategy for integration of molecular cellulose decrystallization agents through various bonding and integration methods. Conor worked across multiple subteams to create and transform the CBM1 gene block, explored other protein-modification based methods of producing decrystallized cellulose, worked on fundraising by serving as the contact person between the team and Pavle Jeremic (Aether Bio), guest lectured for two high school classes, and led in the creation of content for the Modeling and Entrepreneurship pages.
Served as a member of Fundraising, collaborating with Madeline Baer to create an informative email campaign. Faith organized the California iGEM Team Meetups, facilitated collaborations between the UC Davis and Stanford iGEM teams through social media, guest lectured at a local high school Environmental Science class about our project, and created graphics and collaborated on design aspects for the wiki. In lab, she performed lab experiments for plasticizer testing and assembly of the CBM1a gene block.
Served as Head of Wiki and Media, leading the team in designing, generating, and editing content for our wiki. Gabriel assembled two large bacterial costumes and filmed content for the iGEM Promotion and Presentation videos, filmed various scenes for our videos, shot member portraits, designed the layout and added content to our poster and technical reports, prepared and edited all protocols for display on the wiki, documented team activities throughout the year, and created Hestrin Schramm and Luria Broth stocks. As a member of Assays, he acquired multiple ASTM standards for testing our formulations.
Tested various plasticizers for their ability to create a cellulose thermoplastic from bacterial cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose, experimented with ionic liquids to decrystallize MCC and BC, worked with the human practices team in interviewing experts and appealing to the USDA, and contributed to our models.
Served as co-head of plasticizers, facilitating exploration into applications of chemical plasticizers, copolymers, and CBMs. Established and organized communications with Dr. Oded Shosheyov, Dr. Peter Weiss, and Dr. Douglas Hayes for guidance in plasticizer/CBM experiments. Led exploration of citric acid/glycerol as a cross-linking agent/plasticizer. Wrote plasticizer inclusion and gene block assembly protocols. Initiated communications with 2018 Toulouse iGEM team to discuss the design of their project, intended for cellulose surface modification which included CBM3a. Worked extensively on design of plasmids containing CBM2a, CBM3a, CBM1a gene blocks in Geneious. Worked on development of both CBM3a and CBM2a models in Pymol. Performed lab experiments for chemical plasticizer testing and assembly of CBM3a gene block. Assisted in soxhlet extraction procedure to integrate xanthan gum with cellulose using BMIMCl. Contributed to human practices in setting up zoom meetings with experts including Dr. Husein Ajwa, Dr. Lisa DeVetter, Dr. Joji Muramoto, and Dr. Carol Shennan. Helped with education and public engagement by presenting to local high schools.
Served as the head of Assays which lead me to work with Dr. Scott Oliver and his graduate student to get our BC (bacterial cellulose) samples X-ray Diffracted. Also helped in the creation of static cultures to make film-like BC, found protocols to clean BC, and turn those BC samples into films. Those films will also be used in testing to make a standard to compare our CBM/plasticized BC samples to. Also helped in the creation of the wiki namely the team bios and attribution page. Helped in the filming of the team promotion video presentation video with Sophia Sneddon and Gabriel Sanchez Jr., as well as edited the promotion video. Also a part of the CBM 2A group with Sophia Sneddon and Claudia Paz Flores. Also helped in the education group with a presentation to a highschool class alongside Sophia Sneddon.
Served as Head of Organization, managing our team calendar, documentation, and subteam overlap. Member of assays, plasticizers, human practices, fundraising, and website teams. Worked extensively in plasticizer testing and assay design, CBM plasmid design, and model design. Wrote up and tested protocols for cleaning BC for the creation of an experimental standard/control. Edited website page language, coordinated with exterior labs for mechanical assay planning, interviewed plastic film industry experts with the human practices team, and assisted with fundraising team activities.
Led chemical plasticizer and ionic liquid discovery and testing including glycerol, citric acid, xanthan gum, and BMIMCl. Led 3D modeling work on Pymol of CBM2a and CBM3a, as well as the chemical modeling with ionic liquids through soxhlet extraction. Helped with assembly of CBM3a gene block, as well as protein production and purification of CBM3a. Created electrocompetent cells and helped design the CBM1a gene block. Corresponded with chemistry professors Dr. Rebecca Braslau, Dr. Scott Oliver, and Dr. Peter Weiss for guidance as well as assistance on chemical experiments. Emailed and spoke to private companies, investors, and department heads at UCSC to raise money as part of the fundraising team. Helped with writing both the Modeling and Proof of Concept pages, as well as plasticizer section for Results page. Participated in high school class presentations as part of the education group.
Performed lab experiments for early plasticizer testing and contributed to the assembly of the CBM1a gene block. Contributed to various wet lab work for the biological aspect of the project, specifically for plasticizer testing of Polyethylene glycol and other plasticizers such as glycerol and urea. Active member of the Wiki and Media team, worked in HTML and CSS to create content and graphics for the website and helped direct ideas and content for the presentation video. Specifically designed the Description and Contribution page on our webpage. As a member of Assays, researched drying methods for BC, specifically working with Dr Glenn Milhausser and his Grad student to look into lyophilizing samples as a drying method. Collaborated with Dr. Scott Oliver and his graduate student to get BC samples X-ray Diffracted to compare crystallinity results and eventually create a standard of BC to compare our CBM/plasticized BC samples to.
Advisors
Teaching Assistant for the iGEM 2020 team who provided valuable insight into wet-lab work and techniques.
PI for the iGEM 2020 team who gave us direction and guidance throughout the project, helping to solidify ideas and methods that were presented to the team.
Researchers
Dr. Scott Oliver and Beatriz Ehlke: Provided insight on certain plasticizers to use as well as assays to perform. Allowed our team to use his glassware with the help of his graduate student, Beatriz Ehlke, in order to perform Soxhlet extraction for ionic liquid and plasticizer testing. Gave our team 2 ionic liquids : diisopropylimidazolium and diisobutylimidazolium to use for our chemical modeling tests and film production.
Dr. Scott Oliver and Jeremy Barnett: Provided insight on assays for crystallinity indexes. With the help of his graduate student Jeremy Barnett, the team had their BC samples and films attained from Dr. Hussein Ajwa X-ray Diffracted to receive graphs and conduct crystallinity calculations.
Dr. Rebecca Braslau: Provided advice on what plasticizers to use for our cellulose-based plastic. Let us use her glassware to perform the Soxhlet extraction in Dr.Oliver’s lab.
Dr. Peter Weiss: Provided insight on the mechanisms of ionic liquids in dissolving biomass, as well as storage for our plasticizer gels. Gave us access to his lab oven for plasticizer testing.
Dr. Doug Hayes: Advised and critiqued current plasticizer integration protocols and provided suggestions for equipment. Gave advice about copolymer selection and integration, specifically inclusion of PHAs.
Dr. Oded Shoseyov: Advised removal of the mRFP from our plasmid due to possible inhibition of the protein from allowing a CBM to attach. This would help us improve on an existing part
Dr. Husein Ajwa: Provided insight into the extensive fumigation protocols all films, even biodegradable, have to pass in order for them to be put out in the fields. Provided information on fumigation and Totally Impermeable Films. Gave a tour of his lab in Gilroy, CA. Showed step by step how fumigation testing is done and gave samples of different films to be able to compare our product to good and bad films out there. His help led us to look into co-polymers as a plasticizing agent, look into the baseline crystallinity we should be achieving, and focus our efforts on making a stretchy bed-mulch film.
Tom Ellis and Joaquin Caro (Imperial College of London): Discovered the strain and laid the groundwork for our work with K.rhaeticus, which allowed us to directly test bacterial cellulose, they organized the shipment of the strain and multiple plasmids from the Imperial College of London.
Dr. Steven Fennimore: Provided the Cost and Return studies from UC Davis that would help analyze the money growers could save using a biodegradable plastic mulch that is tilled into the ground. Provided further information about fumigation and Totally Impermeable Films.
Dr. Lisa DeVetter: Provided us with American Society of Testing and Materials (ATSM) standards and outlined regulations from the National Organic Program that would help us with testing and assaying our film.
Dr. Steven Fennimore: Provided the Cost and Return studies from UC Davis that would help analyze the money growers could save using a biodegradable plastic mulch that is tilled into the ground. Provided further information about fumigation and Totally Impermeable Films.
Dr. Lisa DeVetter: Provided us with American Society of Testing and Materials (ATSM) standards and outlined regulations from the National Organic Program that would help us with testing and assaying our film.
Dr. Joji Muramoto: Provided insight into organic farming practices and pushed us to pursue a biodegradable plastic mulch that can be used in organic farming.
Dr. Carol Shennan: Provided knowledge on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulation 7 CFR 205.206 which explicitly states that biodegradable films produced from recombinant DNA technologies are prohibited from use in organic farming. Pushed us to combat this policy with the National Organic Standards Board.
Mark Bolda: Explained that the main bed mulch recycling plant in northern california was now closed down, leading more and more growers to bring their bed mulches to the landfill. Moreover, pushed us to discover the breakdown of our plastic mulch to make sure no microplastics would be left in the soil and all products were natural biological compounds that wouldn’t harm the soil or the crops.
Dave Peck: Provided a grower’s point of view of current biodegradable mulches and why they are unpopular. Explained that having a plastic tilled into the ground at the end of the growing season would be ideal to reduce cost of removal labor.
