By Kritin Karkare
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COSMOS students utilisation electrical circuits to model genetic mechanisms inward biological systems.
Week 2 of COSMOS is wrapped up, too this calendar week I am joined past times ii students from clusters seven too 8: Synthetic Biology, too Tissue Engineering too Regenerative Medicine, respectively. Read on for their thoughts on the program, too my experience thus far equally a cluster assistant!
The next are interviews alongside Joyita Bhattacharjee from Cluster 8: Tissue Engineering too Regenerative Medicine, too Lea Twicken too Julia Picker from Cluster 7: Synthetic Biology.
Why did you lot conduct your cluster?
Joyita: I chose the cluster because I was really interested inward biology. I'm really interested inward regenerative medicine because that's a huge land correct forthwith too a lot of people are inward postulate of it because of sports injuries, etc.
Lea: I went to a verbalize past times J. Craig Venter, a synthetic biologist famous for sequencing the human genome too creating synthetic bacterial DNA. He came to a schoolhouse inward our district. My scientific discipline instructor too suggested I banking concern jibe out summertime scientific discipline materials thus I looked into it.
Julia: My aunt sent me a link to COSMOS. I saw synthetic biological scientific discipline too thought it would survive perfect because my friend too I were working on this gild inward schoolhouse for genetic technology scientific discipline too medicine—I actually wanted to acquire virtually this materials since it sounded similar something fun to do.
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| Cluster seven students see the J. Craig Venter Institute to listen virtually synthetic biological scientific discipline research. |
What receive got you lot worked on thus far, too what is your finally project?
Joyita: So far we've learned culturing, making dilution— basic laboratory procedures. My project is seeing if inserting an extracellular matrix (ECM) prevents cells from dying due to hydrogen peroxide damage.
How did you lot acquire interested inward biology?
Lea: When I was inward middle schoolhouse I thought I hated biology. I had a actually bad biological scientific discipline instructor inward seventh degree that made it all virtually memorization. I thought I actually liked physics since my dad did physics. We had a required scientific discipline fair projection every year, too every unmarried year, I ended upward doing a biological scientific discipline topic-- I thought it was interesting. By 8th degree I did this projection where I grew bacteria inward my kitchen. Growing it inward the kitchen was a terrible idea, but I was similar that seems actually cool.
Julia: For me it's a funny story. In middle schoolhouse nosotros did Punnett squares. We did a lab where you lot receive got to brand a babe alongside your partner. You receive got a purse of genes too and thus you lot combine them together too and thus depict it. This genetics unit of measurement made me similar biology. I could acquire a feel for why I am the means I am alongside biology, or perhaps it was my vain middle schoolhouse foolishness.
Any favorite memories thus far?
Joyita: Recently nosotros went on a land trip to BioMatrix too they showed us a bio printer. I thought that was pretty cool because nosotros saw the bio printer impress out a scaffold simply using cartilage.
What produce you lot similar virtually your cluster?
Joyita: Everything is really hands on too the materials nosotros acquire is really high level, thus I experience similar it's a really skillful bonding seat down because everyone has to operate together to acquire the homework done or explicate the concepts to each other. It's definitely a skillful learning experience.
Cluster Assistant Thoughts
This is my 2d twelvemonth helping alongside Cluster 7, too produce you lot know what the hardest affair for me even thus is? Science communication! For those of you lot inward outreach, you lot know that translating dense college enquiry into sizeable chunks for high school, middle school, too simple schoolhouse students is hard. I’ve tried explaining my ain major— bioinformatics— to simple schoolhouse students, too I grapple figuring out how to verbalize virtually coding too biological scientific discipline without producing confused looks on their faces inside 30 seconds.
The same business of thinking applies to COSMOS. In our Synthetic Biology cluster, many students receive got entirely taken i twelvemonth of high schoolhouse biology, yet through the plan nosotros postulate to give away them to electrical circuit design, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid techniques, too more. My purpose equally a TA is to interpret the research-heavy facts into topics the students tin explore too acquire to a greater extent than about.
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| Cluster seven students laid upward an agarose gel electrophoresis to create upward one's heed fragment sizes of DNA. |
An integral business office of the COSMOS curriculum is scientific discipline communication. It is a science relatively unseen inward high schoolhouse (and undergraduate!) curriculums too for the students to exercise it now, volition survive a boon to their futurity equally potential scientists too engineers. During weeks 1 too 2, they wrote essays on dissimilar ethical considerations for synthetic biological scientific discipline applications, such equally bioterrorism, designer babies, GMOs too more. In addition, teams start preparing their projects to introduce the finally ii days of COSMOS. It is exciting that inward simply iv weeks, they acquire thus much exposure too a glimpse of the operate that researchers produce on a daily basis.
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