Team:MIT/Attributions

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Attributions

Project Start and Team Training

From January 2019, to May 2019, our iGEM team met weekly to learn about synthetic biology and discuss literature that could point us toward project ideas. We began by learning the basics of synthetic biology in the spring semester with lectures on how to read journal articles, and journal clubs where we discussed papers that covered important background information on chemotaxis and neutrophil behavior. These lectures and meetings were led by Deepak Mishra PhD. We also received integral input from Jan Lonzaric PhD, Shiva Razavi PhD, and Nika Shakiba PhD. We would like to thank Jesse Tordoff (Doctoral Candidate) for training us in Morpheus modeling and Zeiss microscopy.

Design and Experimentation

We began lab work for our project in June 2019. For our experiments, our team members designed the DNA, which was synthesized by Twist Bioscience and IDT, or built upon biobricks supplied by iGEM. In the lab, our team members learned and carried out all the necessary techniques for our experiments, such as cloning reactions, PCRs, minipreps, midipreps, transformations, cell culture, and transfections. Genewiz completed our sequencing reactions. We’d like to thank our advisors, Deepak Mishra PhD, Jan Lonzaric PhD, Shiva Razavi PhD, and Nika Shakiba PhD for their constant guidance and their help troubleshooting when reactions were not running correctly. We are grateful for Jiandong Wu PhD from the University of Manitoba who helped us with our assay design. We’d also like to thank the 2009 UCSF IGEM team for information and protocols regarding HL-60 cells. We would also like to thank Dr. Alba Diz-Muñoz (EMBL Heidelberg) who generated the HL-60 clones and Dr. Orion Weiner (UCSF) for kindly sharing this cell line with us. We’d further like to thank Dr. Hideaki Matsubayashi and Dr. Takanari Inoue (Johns Hopkins University) for sharing a range of protocols involving work with HL60s with us.

Human Practices Support

We would like to thank Ritu Raman PhD for presenting to us her research on BioBots and ethics of biological systems. Additionally, we would like to thank Ross Jones for his help with our computational models. We would also like to thank Jennifer Novotney for acting as a liaison between us and the MIT Museum, and contributing to the development of our exhibit. In addition, we appreciate Natalie Kuldell PhD, for giving us the opportunity to present to and educate her BioBuilders class at LabCentral. We would also like to thank Michael Mansour MD-PhD for his advice on our project application and insight on the immunologists’ perspective on our research.

Funding Help

We would like to thank Deepak Mishra PhD, the Weiss Laboratory at MIT Department of Biological Engineering, the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Office for funding us.

Presentation Coaching

We would like to thank BE Communication Lab: MIT's Biological Engineering Communication Lab. They were extremely helpful by giving us feedback on the communication aspects of our project including creating and delivering effective presentations, written documents, and graphics. We would also like to thank members of the Weiss lab who provided feedback on our presentation especially Ron Weiss, Deepak Mishra, Nika Shakiba, Jan Lonzaric, Maya Levy, and Shiva Razavi.

Project Advisor Support and Project Advice

    The Weiss Lab - MIT Center for Synthetic Biology:

    • Ron Weiss: Provided us with resources from the lab and feedback on the direction of the project.
    • Deepak Mishra: Mentored us throughout the process of developing our own project, trained us on the lab skills we needed, and advised us on our model. (January-October)
    • Nika Shakiba: Mentored us throughout the process of developing our own project, provided support in the lab by answering our questions on cloning, assay design, project development, and TC room safety. (January-October)
    • Shiva Razavi: Mentored us throughout the process of developing our own project, coached us on cell culture techniques, and helped us with mammalian cell culturing, cell imaging, and the development of the synNotch system. (January-October)
    • Jan Lonzaric: Mentored us throughout the process of developing our own project, coached us on lab skills, and helped with data gathering for various assays and devices as well as working with Jurkat cells. (January-October)
    • Maya Levy: Mentored us throughout the process of developing our own project, coached us in the lab skills, shared advice from her experience as a previous iGEM team member, and helped with cloning and working with HEK cells. (May-October)

    Other members in the Weiss Lab:

    • Alazne Dominguez: Trained us in HL60 electroporation for transfection with NeonGreen circuits. (August)
    • Jesse Tordoff: Trained us in Morpheus modeling software. (June)

Wiki Support

We would like to thank MIT 2018 iGEM member Joy Fan for providing advice about the wiki format. Current iGEM team members: Jessica Knapp, Ye Cheng Zheng, Melody Wu, and Maisha Prome have edited and coded the wiki. All of our team wrote the content for the pages of our wiki.