Team:Montgomery Cougars NJUSA/Notebook

From 2014hs.igem.org

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|  Team members grew up cells in culture tubes and worked in parallel with starting the mini prep. We know that this is out of protocol but we decided to take a two-pronged approach in order to increase efficiency as deadlines are rapidly approaching. Additionally, other team members worked on sorting through team photos and editing/contributing to the team wiki. In terms of the presentation, voice-overs were recorded today and we began editing the final presentation.
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Revision as of 17:56, 16 June 2014

Notebook

Our documentation of activities, labs, and lectures for each day.

November 22nd, 2013

Mission Statement We wanted to implement a new attendance sign-in setup, announce participation consent forms (principle consent form), and organize sub-teams.
Meeting Overview We started by electronically taking attendance and introducing the two sub-teams. All members were allowed to choose their sub-teams (may cut down R&D later). We talked about fundraising because of the December 31st deadline of registration and payment.

Additionally we came up with a couple of possible fundraising ideas which include:

- Hot chocolate sales after school on a winter day

- Snow-hat sales

- ShopRite Bagging

It was also the last “introductory” meeting. We announced the deadline for leadership applications which were due Wednesday, November 27 and we also reminded members to fill out consent forms.

Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We planned to come up with an idea for fundraising and collect all the participation consent forms.

During the meeting, we collected and finished the members' principle consent forms.

Other Notes After the last meeting, we encouraged members to pursue financial backing from local sponsors. If they found any potential ones, they had to send iGEM write-ups to them. Thus, we found sponsors quite quickly and focused on small companies in Montgomery.

In addition, we checked with the supervisor to see whether he had any ideas or grants.

December 13th, 2013

Mission Statement We aimed to effectively organize the team and keep progressing with the fundraising and sponsorship efforts, as well as assemble the 2013-2014 board members.
Meeting Overview We began the meeting by announcing the 2013/2014 board members, followed by a presentation of a video about synthetic biology to help members understand the importance of the team and as well as the basics of biological sciences since they have never been exposed to the knowledge. The team will consist of the board as well as two sub-teams. The board collected member emails and planned fundraising events for the registration fee.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We hoped to start teaching the basics of synthetic biology, organizing the ShopRite bagging fundraiser, creating online accounts for everyone, and cleaning up attendance lists. The majority of the meeting was devoted to polishing up last minute issues and building the foundation for the team.

December 20th, 2013

Mission Statement We aimed to design a biological circuit from DNA sequence.
Meeting Overview We received confirmation from ShopRite about our fundraiser. The college advisor, Gavin, from Purdue University came in to discuss synthetic biology and safety regulations. The R&D team learned how to use micropipettes while the Operations Sub-team discussed fundraiser ideas. .
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We aimed to organize and execute the ShopRite bagging fundraiser.

January 17th, 2014

Mission Statement We aimed to become more knowledgeable the basics of synthetic biology, including DNA sequencing, promoters, and plasmids. Additionally, we made it a goal to become organized for the future.
Meeting Overview The meeting began with a presentation on synthetic biology. We discussed cutting down the R&D team, introduced plasmids and gene cloning, and explained the Operations Sub-team structure. We also researched the wiki websites.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting There were two goals for the meeting: we went over the lab procedure for the pGLO lab and established a bank account for Montgomery iGEM.
Other Notes We created a curriculum for the next few weeks, began discussing T-shirt designs and organized a board meeting at the Princeton Public Library on Sunday, 1/19/14. During the board meeting, we finalized the lab practical test and had people do a mock examination to gauge its level of difficulty.


January 24th, 2014

Mission Statement We aimed to teach members about the pGLO Lab and the specifics of the procedure.
Meeting Overview We explained how the iGEM Google Drive folders worked and showed a bacterial transformation video. We ran a Q&A session. Each member had to demonstrate knowledge of the steps of the pGLO lab through the laboratory practical.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We will understand the process of bacterial transformation and introduce laboratory techniques
Other Notes We announced the t-shirt design competition to the members, saying that the deadline was February 14th. The t-shirt design winner would receive a free t-shirt.

January 31th, 2014

Mission Statement We wanted to go over the pGLO lab technique and properly inform team members of all safety procedures.
Meeting Overview We reviewed the aseptic technique and the pGLO lab and went over how to clean a Bunsen Burner (if metal use plastic loop).
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We accomplished the pGLO lab successfully without contaminating the chemicals and learned to make our own plasmids to put into bacteria.

February 3rd, 2014

Mission Statement We continued preparations for the pGLO Lab.
Meeting Overview Members reviewed how the the lab procedure would be conducted and also reviewed how the plasmid would be affected during the process.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting There were shipping complications with the materials that prevented us from carrying out the lab. Thus, we had to do the lab next meeting.

February 20th, 2014

Mission Statement We changed the dynamics of iGEM by facilitating team bonding activities. Furthermore, we administered the lab practical.
Meeting Overview We collected t-shirt money which provided the funding for our materials, and Robert gave a speech on dynamics which gave constructive criticism and promoted better cooperation within the team. There was a Q&A session about the lab practical and iGEM.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We prepared for pGLO lab once again by gathering materials and reviewing the lab.
Other Notes It should be noted that ShopRite bagging is taking place in March. We also needed to take the yearbook soon and noted that the meetings were mandatory.

March 7th, 2014

Mission Statement We finished the pGLO lab today. Additionally, we also organized the Operations team by designating tasks among logistics, tech, and science factions.
Meeting Overview We formatted the team organization, finalized acne project description, and administered the practice lab documentations. Board member profile pictures for the team Wiki page were also taken.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We started DNA ligation lessons and researched more on the acne project.
Other Notes We started website structure, headed by the Systems Manager.

March 14th, 2014

Mission Statement We played an icebreaker to unify the team, which included bonding over common interests, went over lab results, and did post-lab calculations.
Meeting Overview We went over t-shirt sizes, reviewed team members' names and favorite Pokemon, went over results from pGLO lab, counted number of colonies growing under UV light, and calculated the transformation efficiency.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We will learn about DNA ligation.
Other Notes Although some students failed because of mislabeling and contamination, they worked hard on the lab.

March 14th, 2014

Mission Statement We played an icebreaker to unify the team, went over lab results, and did post-lab calculations.
Meeting Overview We went over t-shirt sizes, reviewed team members' names and favorite Pokemon, went over results from pGLO lab, counted number of colonies growing under UV light, and calculated transformation efficiency.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We will learn about DNA ligation.
Other Notes Lab results turned out to be rather favorable despite the failed attempts by some of the students.

March 21th, 2014

Mission Statement We aimed to learn about DNA Ligation.
Meeting Overview We received a lesson on DNA Ligation from Mr.Resch, detailing the scientific aspects including sticky ends, blunt ends, and restriction enzymes among others.

April 4th, 2014

Mission Statement We continued research on project.
Meeting Overview We continued researching appropriate promoters, ribosome binding sites, and terminators on the iGem registry.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We will receive a lesson on mathematical modeling from Dr. Fishman.

April 11th, 2014

Mission Statement We had a presentation of mathematical modeling by Dr. Fishman, our school's AP calculus teacher
Meeting Overview Dr. Fishman came to the meeting for an overview of mathematical modeling by introducing differential equations, differentiation, and logarithmic functions.

Also, R&D researched further for an enzyme that would break down fatty acids.

Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We hope to further understand mathematical modeling.

May 30th, 2014

Mission Statement We wanted to refine the Team Wiki and order the materials for our project.
Meeting Overview Board Members and other juniors gathered to finalize the Wiki page as well as take care of materials. We all continued researching promoters and ribosomal binding sites for our project.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We continued progressing through the steps needed to finalize the project and synthesize our desired protein.

June 2nd, 2014

Mission Statement We administered t-shirts, and went over ideas and further planning.
Meeting Overview We distributed team t-shirts, went over upcoming deadlines, brainstormed poster ideas, and began planning the layout for the poster.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We will assign tasks for the poster to different members as well as begin working on the poster.

June 14th, 2014

Mission Statement We aimed to make as much progress on the Wiki as well as the poster.
Meeting Overview Board Members worked on adding information and editing the wiki. We also streaked bacteria onto agar plates to grow so that we will have more of the plasmids inside them. We were also able to continue to add content to the poster.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting Our first priority was to continue to finalize the Wiki and poster.

June 16th, 2014

Mission Statement We grew culture cells and did lab prep in addition to working on the team website.
Meeting Overview Team members grew up cells in culture tubes and worked in parallel with starting the mini prep. We know that this is out of protocol but we decided to take a two-pronged approach in order to increase efficiency as deadlines are rapidly approaching. Additionally, other team members worked on sorting through team photos and editing/contributing to the team wiki. In terms of the presentation, voice-overs were recorded today and we began editing the final presentation.
Goals/Tasks for Next Meeting We will continue with the mini prep and move on to restriction digestion if possible.

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