Not unknown anymore!

                                                                                    Today I found that my Unknown Bacteria #11 is Bacillus subtilis.  This is kind of a bummer as I was really hoping my bacteria was Bacillus cereus.  The latter bacteria causes food poisoning and is a nasty little organism.  Why I was hoping for this is beyond me.  Back to the matter at hand, Bacillus subtilis. Bacillus subtilis is a gram positive, endospore forming bacteria.  In contrast to Bacillus cereus, it has been used for healing disease such as dysentery.  Allegedly, soldiers in WWII ate camel feces as a cure for dysentery, because camel feces contains this bacteria, which is a known cure for dysentery.

I am also making progress on my gene gun project.  Most of the materials have been ordered, and tomorrow I will be going to ASU to learn how to prepare the microcarriers that will be used for the gene gun.  After that, 1.0 micron tungsten dust will be ordered, and I can start building our gun, which                                                                           can properly be called a "biolistic particle delivery                                                                                     system".

Gene Gun

Josh came to me yesterday afternoon and told me what my project for the semester will be, and I couldn't be more excited about it.  He wants me to develop and build a low cost gene gun.  A gene gun is used to introduce new genes into plant cells faster and easier than previous methods.  Essentially, a compressed gas is used to attach a genetic material to a living organism.  This is done by coating very small (1um) gold or tungsten particles in a desired gene and shooting them at a living organism.  The gold dust penetrates the cell wall allowing the desired gene to transfect the living organism's cells.   Typically these devices are very expensive, but Josh and I believe we can produce a low cost gun for use at Phoenix College.  For my first attempt at building a low cost gene gun, I will be modifying the nozzle of a store bought water gun.  North Carolina University has used an evolved idea of the water gun with great success.  Check it out!

Outside of this project I have been learning some basic lab techniques which have been very interesting.

Gene gun in action!

S-STEM Interview

This week I had my internship interview for the S-STEM program.  I was a little nervous about what questions would be asked, but in the end, I had nothing to really worry about.  Matt asked a few fun questions that helped me relax, and I will find out on Friday what my project will be.  My interests are geared more towards chemistry and applied mathematics, so hopefully they have something that will match my interests.  Today, I found out that next semester I will most likely be part of a project that will be sending a balloon 100,000 feet into the air and measuring the atmosphere's pressure.  A camera will be attached, which will allow us to take pictures of the curvature of the Earth's surface.  I'm pretty excited about all of these opportunities in my life right now.

Until I know more, enjoy a picture of fresh goat cheese that I just made! 

The chemistry behind cheese making is rather simple.  After milk is heated to a desired temperature, an acid is mixed in.  The acid (positive ions) separate the proteins (negative ions) from the milk.  Over time, the milk completely separates the proteins from the liquid.  The separate parts are called curds (what will become cheese), and whey (the by product of this process).