Team:TU-Delft/Team/Esmee

Esmee Joosten

Week 26

This week we decided to work out the laboratory ideas in more detail. We divided our project into 4 "subprojects": production, transport, activation and characterization of Mgfp-5. Tania, Janneke, Carsten and I each worked on one of these subprojects. I wrote a laboratory manual for characterization of Mgfp-5. Hope to get started in the lab next week!

Week 23

After the general meeting I had a wiki meeting with Conrad and a PR meeting with Janneke. Together with Carsten I did some more research on companies that perform gene synthesis. I also put online everybody's notebook.

Week 22

On Monday we had a general meeting with the team and supervisors. After that I had a meeting with Conrad for the wiki. In the evening we presented iGEM to the DreamTeam board of the TU Delft. After that we went to the city center to have diner and drink some beers. On Tuesday Janneke and I generated ideas for PR and human practice which we worked more out on Friday. On Wednesday and Thursday I did research for gene synthesis companies.

Week 21

On Monday we presented our ideas to professors of the Department of Biotechnology and we discussed the possibilities with them. After the general meeting we we ate pancakes in the Botanic Garden for lunch. In the afternoon I had a wiki meeting with Conrad. On Tuesday we had a meeting with Han de Winde, the chairman of the Department of Biotechnology. The same week I requested bio-bricks of Berkeley Wetlab 2009, Tokyo Tech 2009 and SDU-Denmark 2010.

Week 20

This week I had a meeting with Conrad for the wiki, Janneke and I looked for bio-bricks of previous iGEM teams which we can use for our own project.

Week 19

Tania and I did research on the properties of Mussel foot protein 5. On Friday we discussed the best way of going on with the whole team. We deciced to divide our project in three subprojects: cell-cell adhesion, cell-surface adhesion, and enhancement of the ahesive properties of Mfp-5. In the afternoon we had a meeting with the other three Dutch iGEM teams (Amsterdam, Wageningen, Groningen) in Amsterdam. We teams presented our project after which we discussed each project in more detail in smaller groups. In the evening wee drank beers and ate pizza with the whole group. It was fun to meet the other teams and to get an idea of what they are doing!

Week 18

This week we presented our ideas of iGEM to the other team members. I looked into bio-bricks of previous iGEM teams and sent emails to people who worked with Mussel foot proteins to increase our knowledge.

Week 17

On Easter Monday we had the idea to combine the two left topics to one, but on Tuesday we finally decided to go one with just one: adhesiveness of Mussel foot protein. On Wednesday and Thursday we studied the literature on Mfp. For relaxation we made a boat trip trough the canals of Delft. We presented our final topic to the Biotechnology department on Friday. Afterwards, we went to the Beestenmarkt to drink some beers. We also drank some beers in the Botanic garden because of Mark Loosdrecht's medal.

Week 16

On Monday we had our third brainstorm session with advisors and supervisors. On Tuesday our 100 ideas were narrowed down to a top 20. We did literature study on these 20 topics and on Wednesday we made a top 10. On Thursday 4 topics were left. On Friday we gave a presentations about each topic to businessmen, adivisors and supervisors. Two ideas survived the elimination race and were further studied during the weekend!

Week 15

On Tuesday Drew Endy gave a presentation at Department of Bionanoscience!!! On Wednesday we had a meeting with Lesley Robertson, Biological Safety Officer of the Faculty of Applied Sciences. On Friday we had our second brainstorm session with advisors and supervisors.

Week 14

On Friday we had our first brainstorm session with advisors and supervisors.

Week 13

On Thursday we had a practical lab course by Nadine Bongaerts and Eva Brinkman (team members of last year's TU Delft iGEM team). The Amsterdam iGEM teams was there too and afterwards we had lunch together and discussed the progress our the projects with each other.

Week 11

On Friday we had our first team meeting in the iGEM room!