Team:Cambridge/Blog/Week 12

Week 12 : 12th of September to 18th of September

Monday

It's the final week! The iGEM 'wiki-freeze' is also closely approaching - when we can no longer make ammendments to it (to aid its being judged). There's therefore a lot of hurried tapping-away at his keyboard from our wiki maestro Haydn.

The team are now down to four people; there are reports of tumbleweeds in the further corners of the lab.

Tuesday

Reflectin is a protein taken from a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eukaryote eukaryote], so it's no surprise that it doesn't work as it does in squid when we [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_expression express] it in E. coli (a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prokaryote prokaryote]). Out of curiosity the team are expressing it in (eukaryotic) onion cells, with the aid of a 'gene gun' - we'll literally fire little bits of DNA into the cells. Cool? Yup.

Wednesday

Despite the team's efforts to keep our wiki updated throughout the summer, with the week of the wiki freeze here there's some scrambling to document everything in time. With every other team in the same position around this time each year, the iGEM servers usually refuse to work with all the traffic; cue much grinding of teeth.

Thursday

The Department has been reorganising their library all summer, and to the sadness of every scientist to chance upon it, a large skip has been filled up outside with magnificent old tomes, going wet and curling up in the rain. The library itself is a pleasingly byzantine bookish maze with what seems like too many stories for the height it takes up and unexpected dead-ends.

Friday

The final blog post - thanks for reading. It's only two weeks before the European Jamboree; if the team get through to Boston and the wiki becomes unfrozen we'll post the adventures we'll have had in Amsterdam. If you're interested in our thoughts on the Summer as a whole and achievments take a look at our conclusion page.