Team:WashU StLouis/Hardware
Background Information
UV Radiation
As we further developed our project, we ran into several issues - the foremost of which was the lack of any equipment in our lab that we could use to test the effectiveness of our modified cells against UV-B radiation. Much of the equipment in lab which utilizes UV radiation does so at the UV-A and UV-C spectrums and not specifically at the relatively narrow range from 285-315 nm. This left us in bit of a pickle: how could we test our cells without our light source specifically emitting UV-B radiation? Our solution was to design a new piece of hardware, which we dubbed the Environmental Simulation System.
The Environmental Simulation System (ESS) is a suite of useful unit operations which includes: (1) a lamp producing UV-B radiation; (2) a miniature orbital shaker; and (3) a temperature control system. First, we acquired a reptile lamp (found at a local pet store) which produces a very narrow wavelength of light found within the spectrum of UV-B radiation. We performed a series of experiments to demonstrate the effect of UV exposure under the lamp on DH5α cells.
We also constructed a working orbital shaker based on a previously drafted design (ADD A HYPERLINK TO THE PREVIOUS LINK) which would allow us to grow liquid cultures outside the 37 degree room while being exposed to UV radiation. Finally, we built a simple temperature control loop into our ESS to incubate our cells at optimal growth temperatures.
