Notebook
Week 1 (March 19-25)
- Consulted with our advisor, Frank, to advise researchers and scientists
- Reached out to scientists at Mt Sinai Hospital, Jason Fuller and Russell Hanson
- Met with Jason Fuller and Russell Hanson, scientists at Genetics Department at Mt Sinai Hospital
- Scheduled weekly meetings for the rest of the year
Week 2 (March 26-Apr 1)
- Brainstormed for a potential topic (Sickle Cell Anemia, Cystic Fibrosis, Huntington’s Disease); decided on HD, proposed by Yeji Cho
- Determined project leaders of the project
- Divided into subsections (website, design, fundraising, social media, computational) and assigned roles, such as other team leads
Week 3 (Apr 2-8)
- Determined possible method to target the disease
- Outlined the abstract for the project
Week 4 (Apr 9-15)
- Took headshots of members and team pictures to put on website
- Administered Drug Tests for medical clearance
- HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Training
- Fire Drill Practice
Week 5 (Apr 16-22)
- Decided to use Wordpress as website template
- Happily received our lab coats and Mount Sinai IDs
Week 6 (Apr 23-29)
- Submitted payment for iGEM group registration
- Signed consent forms
Week 7 (Apr 30-May 6)
- Designed graphic of brain and neuron for website
Week 8 (May 7-13)
- Brainstormed for a team name and designed logo; decided on HD Resolution
Week 9 (May 14-20)
- Designed T-shirts, hats, and sweaters
- Brainstormed for companies/sponsors to partner with us
- Received iGEM parts kit
Week 10 (May 21-27)
- Organized home page of website
- Created sponsorship/partnership letters for possible companies
Week 11 (May 28-Jun 3)
- Julia, Erik and Stacy organized a table at Peace Angels Benefit Concert at Steinway and Sons Concert Hall in May 28, 2017
- Mailed out consent forms
- Scheduled wetlab training dates for the summer
Week 12 (Jun 4-10)
- Early Training: lab safety, project overview, practiced lab techniques such as pipetting, centrifugation, PCR, etc.
Week 13 (Jun 11-17)
- Organized team page of website
- Contacted over 50 private and public companies in pharmaceutical and biotech industries, non-profit organizations for sponsorship and support.
Week 14 (Jun 18-24)
- Created Twitter account
- Christi and Marianne completed safety form 1, 2, 3
Week 15 (Jun 25-Jul 1)
- Jason, Justin, Jeewhan, Marianne met up to analyze the data collection
Week 18 (Jul 16-22)
- Christi, Rachel, Esther, and Marianne organized a fundraising and information table at Dominico-American Society of Queens in Flushing Town Hall in Flushing, Queens NY in July 22 2017
- Created Facebook account
- Created GoFundMe page
Week 19 (Jul 23-29)
- Received over 100 likes on Facebook page thanks to our Social Media and Outreach team.
Week 20 (Jul 30-Aug 5)
- Ordered materials (E. coli, etc)
Week 21 (Aug 6-12)
- Wrote letters to respective schools to ask for partnerships
Week 22 (Aug 13-19)
- Created Instagram account
- Grew cell subcultures of E. Coli for future testing
- Familiarized ourselves with autoclaving and basic sterilizing processes
- Learned how to store E. coli for future experiments
- HDSA agreed to be sponsor
Week 23 (Aug 20-26)
- Learned about transfection and tested cells for competency
- Updated team Wiki’s page on the iGem website
- Reached out to our respective high schools for sponsorship
- Hereditary Disease Foundation/Huntington’s Disease Foundation agreed to be sponsor
- Spread awareness of our project to Alzheimer’s Foundation of America
Week 24 (Aug 27-Sept 2)
- Jessica, Erin, Catherine, and Yunsu helped organize a presentation table at Dominico-American Society of Queens Benefit Concert at National Opera America Center in New York NY on August 30 2017
- Reached out to Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation about partnering and sponsorship and discussed creating a joint campaign CPARF’s Steptember campaign to promote 10,000 steps a day goal
- Registered team members and created a team roster
Week 25 (Sep 3-9)
- Figured out wet lab schedules and iGEM meetings
- Started introducing each member on Instagram
- Uploaded sponsors and neuron design on website
Week 26 (Sep 10-16)
- Arranged tabs on website
- Sent out emails to organizations for outreach
- Reached out to organizations on Facebook and iGEM teams for collaboration
- Decided lab schedules
Week 27 (Sep 17-23)
- Reached out to respective high schools for presentation
- Tested competency of cells
- Did miniprep to isolate the Addgene HTT plasmids from E. coli
- Created reagents to use for separating plasmid DNA
Week 28 (Sep 24-30)
- Organized project design tab of website
- Completed Safety Lab forms
- Ran gel electrophoresis of Addgene Plasmid Digest
Week 29 (Oct 1-Oct 7)
- Scheduled collaboration and presentation at Columbia University and Stuyvesant High School, respectively
- Cut out Exon1 from Addgene and verified cuts
- Did restriction digest on isolated DNA plasmid
Week 30 (Oct 8-14)
- Created banner for Jamboree
- Started draft for poster
- Did gel extraction and PCR purification
- Purified gel bands from STUL-XBAL digest and amplified isolated DNA fragments
Week 31 (Oct 15-21)
- Jessica, Sohee, Rachel and Eric presented at Huntington’s Disease Society of America headquarters
- Esther, Rachel, Yeji and Eric met with Columbia University Synthetic Biology Initiative and the Columbia iGEM team and presented
- Verified the PCR amplification from October 14th
- Digested samples from October 14th with CAC8I
- Restricted plasmid fragments with CAC8I and ran gel electrophoresis for confirmation
- Invited Kingsborough Community College iGEM team for collaboration
Week 32 (Oct 22-28)
- Rachel and Catherine presented the project at Stuyvesant High School
- Julia, Stacy and Catherine attended the NYC HDSA Family Education Day at Columbia University Medical Center
- Completed judging forms
- Worked on transferring from Wordpress website to wiki
Week 33 (Oct 29-Nov 1)
- Finished transferring Wordpress website content to wiki
- Organized lab notebook and finalized results
