Hey,
My name is Annie Chen, and I'm working in Dr. Gunsch's Civil and Environmental Engineering lab this summer. My project is the study of plasmid transfer rates between different bacteria. Plasmids are DNA molecules that can move from one bacterium to another freely. I'm going to be building a bioreactor to manipulate the conditions under which Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) transfers its plasmids to E-coli. The plasmid in P. putida has the code for the degradation of toluene, which is an anthropogenic compound that smells like nail polish remover. Toluene (C7H8 *organic chemistry!* :-D) is released into the atmosphere by the volatilization of petroleum fuels and paint thinners and it also leaches into water during the disposal of fuels. The liquid can cause irreversible brain damage if a person breathes its fumes for extended periods of time. So if you ever see me forgetting where I am and what I’m doing, or fainting, you know what happened. ;-) Hopefully, the results of the experiment will be used in other bioreactors to help degrade toluene more efficiently. Exciting stuff, isn’t it?
This week, I’ve been mostly working in the lab, measuring the concentrations of toluene to see its rate of degradation. Figuring out how often I need to respike the solutions of toluene is very important because the P. putida needs to eat the toluene to obtain nutrients, or else the bacteria will starve! My mentor Ruoting taught me how to use the Gas Chromatograph machine, the autoclave, and the spectrophotometer, inoculate bacteria and make Basal media for the P. putida. Yup, that’s about it. I can’t wait for next week!
À demain, mes amis!
Annie
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1 comment:
Cool project, Annie! It's satisfying to work on something that has such great applications, don't you think?
Seriously though -- lab safety is important! Your HH experience should enrich your life -- not take away from it =) . Be careful with all that toluene.
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