PRE-LAB NOTEBOOK.

WEEK ONE 6-10 May

The members of the team introduced themselves to each other and the project instructor were also introduced to the team We brainstormed about many projects and we came to a conclusion on the project of using bacteria to degrade plastics The team also laid fundraising strategies and listed some of the organizations in Uganda to conduct when fundraising Members were given responsibilities in groups where we formed the fundraising team, publicity and research team.

WEEK TWO 13-15 May

Members of team were told to organize presentations about synthetic biology that we were going to present to the public at the Annual Cultural BOMA and scientific conference. Five members of the team presented i.e. MUKISA PIUS, BALUKU ERIKAN, KYABARONGO ALEX, MATOVU WYCLIFFE and WAGABA DAVID about iGEM, plastics, biosensor engineering, types of plastics and bio filters respectively.

WEEK THREE 19-24

We had presentations from four members i.e. MUKABALIISA PATIENCE, SSEMAMBO RONALD, KYOYOGALA SARAH and MUKISA PIUS and they presented about ideonella sakaiensis to degrade plastic, bio-mining, carbiondixide reaction and different kinds of plastics respectively We also organized to meet the top administration about our project fundraising and make them aware about our progress

WEEK FOUR 30 May.

We had presentations from TAMALE HENRY, AYOTO CHRISTINE, SINGOMA CHRISPUS, OKETCHO MICHAEL and SSEMANDA PAUL and they presented Cyanotoxin detection and degradation, biofuel in bacteria, pasticure, bioremediation and combating vitamin c deficiency respectively We had communication from our project instructor who informed us about the ways we could develop strategies in fundraising and appreciated the team for the work done.

WEEK FIVE 4th June

We had presentations from the last two members NALUMENYA DAVID and OPIYO LAWRENCE who presented about degradation pathway of PET and bio product and turning waste into resource respectively. We had updates from the different departments we had formed and the publicity had formed the twitter and Facebook account which were running successfully. Our project instructor Otim Geoffrey informed us that he was communicating with marketing director Twist Bioscience and they were to pay for our registration

WEEK SIX 4th -8th June.

The team members planned to buy t shirts branded with their logo and even write letters to the funders to solicit for funds to run the project

WEEK SEVEN 18th -22nd June.

The team received the igem kit and planned on how they could start their lab work The team won the opentrons robot and it was brought to Makerere University

WEEK EIGHT 25th -29th June.

We participated in the interlab work and submitted to the iGEM headquarters though we dint finish the interlab due to challenges in the lab equipment. The safety form was filled by the members of the team to meet the deadline on 29th June. JULY, The month of recess, where we went for brief holiday.

THE BIG LAB WORK JOURNEY.

WEEK EIGHT 16th -20th August.

We began our lab work after receiving reagents from IDT and PROMEGA as our sponsors. We had a meeting on 17th July where we laid down the strategies, lab requirements and materials for the lab work.

21st August.

We began by writing down protocols with the help of our lab instructors.

Plasmid resuspension, 22nd August.

Our first lab procedure was plasmid resuspension where managed to store our resuspended DNA.

Transformation, 24th August.

Here we did many trials getting different results with faint bands but finally we managed to make it work

Plasmid DNA isolation, 3rd September 2018

We did plasmid isolation from the transformed DNA using alkaline lysis method and this was followed by Agarose gel electrophoresis.

10th September.

We did the restriction digest for our genes after DNA concentration.

Protein expression, 27th September 2018

After a restriction digest, We did protein expression and it took us time with many trials until we obtained different results.

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