Genehackers is a recognized undergraduate student association with the University of Chicago. Founded in 2013, our organization aims to raise awareness about synthetic biology through community and research. We have competed in the iGem competition since the founding of our group. Our team has created innovative projects that bring synthetic biology to the center of the laboratory experience.

This year, UChicago Genehackers has set out to design the first yeast centromeric plasmid for Pichia pastors.

Our team has already made significant strides towards creating the proposed centromeric plasmid vector. We have grown psB1C3mut in LB+CAM (chloramphenicol), psD000 in LB+CAM and drop-out arginine plates and psD001 in LB+CAM. Additionally, we have amplified five potential centromeric regions in total from the chromosomal DNA of Pichia pastors.

Although GeneHackers has made significant progress in our experiment, we still have some parts of our experiment that have not been achieved yet. We need to Gibson assembly various chromosomal sequences into psD001and perform assays of this plasmid in Pichia pastoris. Furthermore, if we are successful in creating the centromeric plasmid, we hope to incorporate the plasmid within the bioengineering and the industrial fields. Here, we want to test the efficiency and practicality of our plasmid within human environments. After these rounds of experimentation, we want to come back to the laboratory and improve our research with this plasmid. Hopefully, we will be able to work toward a final centromeric plasmid that will improve the course of scientific research.