a)Completed Wiki, Poster, Presentation, and judging form
3)Attributions:
a)Have clear attributions page of roles to the project
4)Characterization/ Contribution
a)Took PETase gene from Baltimore 2016 team and realized the sequence was wrong, so we ordered our own and created a new PETase biobrick. This biobrick contains the PETase enzyme on a constitutive promoter and an amilCP reporter gene with a double terminator.
Silver Medal:
1)Validated part/ contribution
a)created a mutant PETase enzyme with amino acid changes to increase reaction rate. We added this enzyme to the same circuit as the wild type PETase to test the reaction rates of each. We were able to characterize that the amilCP reporter gene in the circuits worked properly so the DNA was correct.
b)We created a circuit containing the mutant PETase enzyme and an mHETase enzyme with the same reporter gene as our other circuits. We characterized that the DNA worked because of the reporter gene
2)Collaboration
a)Hosted Socal Meet up with UC San Diego, UC Davis, and Tec-Monterrey.
b)Gave Tec-Monterrey water samples we collected from the water treatment plant so they can test for their project.
c)Team Stockholm: had a skype meeting and discussed protocols, findings, and data involving wastewater treatment and how different places deal with plastics in the water.
3)Human Practices
a)We found that microplastics in the ocean were a problem so we decided to find a solution to plastics out in the environment by breaking them down with a synthetic organism using PETase.
Gold Medal:
1) Integrated Human Practices
a)After discussing with professionals, we decided to try to remove and degrade plastics from wastewater treatment plants because there is a place we could add our microbes. After discussing with a microbiologist in the wastewater facility, We found that there are some inconclusive data about plastics leaving the wastewater treatment plants, so we still believe at this point that integrating our microbe into the wastewater treatment would work well in some facility.
2)Improve Previous Part
3) Model Your Project
4) Demonstration of your work
a) Design of RAM Pump that could house our bacteria and circulate water through with microplastics so the microplastics can be degraded from any water source, including the wastewater facility
