Team:FDR-HB Peru/Model
Mathematical Modelling
Overview
Mathematical modeling is a process that uses math to represent, analyze, make predictions, or otherwise provide insight into real-world phenomena. Our team started mathematical modeling this year in September. We have a small team of three members, Regina, Jorge, and Shubh. We also have an advisor for math modeling, Steve Markham, who is the son of our mentor, Dr. Nina Markham. Our team was provided with MATLAB from MathWorks, but we decided to use Python to build a model since only one member of the team had Matlab downloaded and it was hard to work collaboratively. Because math modeling is a whole new concept for us, we had to learn everything from the basics. We researched about modeling, did some tutorials of Python to master coding language and skills, and got some help from teachers of our school who know about coding and modeling. For our iGEM project, we are trying to model how the expressions of GFP/RFP change based on different RBS strength. We gathered data from pre-existing labs on the iGEM website so that we can build a mathematical model and test if it works for our project as well. We created a function where the input is the concentration of fluorescent and the output is the intensity of fluorescent. Then, we predicted our graph in which we named two thresholds: Cadmium (the amount of fluorescence intensity of RFP needed to extract the cadmium), and the Killer Red (the amount of fluorescence intensity of RFP needed to kill the bacteria). We also asked questions, which would give us a more accurate model, for e.g. “How to convert between RFP fluorescence protein intensity and absorbance?” Through this, we came up with an equation that represents the relationship between the concentration of fluorescent and the intensity of fluorescent. On the other hand, due to the lack of real data of our team’s own experiment, it is yet impossible to determine if our model works for our case. Yet, it is still valuable that we added this math modeling component to our project. We explored the physical modeling of a single component within a system and tried to utilize mathematical modeling for predicting function. Since we now have developed the basis of modeling, we believe that next year we can have a more advanced model that actually predicts the results of our experiment.
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