qBio Bootcamp 2015

The 2015 qBio Bootcamp is over, and it was a lot of fun! Take a look below for some of the things we did.

Pictures from the camp11059693_1198882143471513_4908475306421318018_n

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Suyeon and Dr. Jun

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Teo and transformation. A perfect match.

qbio dinner

Last day dinner.

wbio_lunch

Lunch with Dr. Xu

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The cell is a crazy thing.

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Loungin’

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Peace.

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Fun with fire.

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Geoffery is one with the data.

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Beautiful day for a walk.

Teaching Assistants

Polly Parks, Department of Biology, SDSU

Steven Brown, Department of Physics and Molecular Biology, UCSD

JT Sauls, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, UCSD

Participants

Suyeon Ju, ju.suyeon71@gmail.com, Scripps Ranch HS

Samantha Mendoza, smendoza2525@gmail.com, Mission Vista HS

Matthew Humkey, mhumkey33@gmail.com, Miramar College

Arsen Golemi, Miracosta College

Yamen Mubarka, yamen_mubarka@yahoo.com, UCSD

Bianca Luansing, bluansing@gmail.com, SD HS of International Studies

Alexa Nguyen, a_nguyen314@yahoo.com, Univ. of Arizona

Geoffrey Lu, geoffreylu@outlook.com, Rancho Bernardo HS

Byungjin Lee, wowbj08@naver.com, Chungnam National University

Nancy Meier, nancy.e.meier@gmail.com, UCSC

Guest Lecturers

Dr. Moselio Schaechter, Professor Emeritus of Biology, SDSU and UCSD

Dr. Stanley Maloy, Professor of Biology and Dean, College of Sciences, SDSU

Dr. Forest Rohwer, Professor of Biology, SDSU

Dr. Scott Rifkan, Professor of Biology, UCSD

Dr. Jing Xu, Professor of Biophysics, UC Merced

Dr. Michael Erikstad, Posdoctoral Scholar in Physics, UCSD

Dr. Mya Warren, Postdoctoral Scholar in Physics, UCSD

Overview and experiment

The bootcamp runs two weeks, from July 6th to July 17th. The first week (July 6th-10th) will be at Dr. Segall’s lab at SDSU. The second week (July 13th-17th) will be at Dr. Jun’s lab at UCSD. The camp runs all week M-F, from 9AM to 5PM, though we mostly likely will go late and perhaps meet on the intervening weekend, enthusiasm permitting.

General daily schedule:

9am: Introduction to and discussion of experiments

10am: Occasional guest speaker

12pm: Lunch

12:30pm+: Experimentation, data analysis, and write-up

4pm: Occasional guest speaker

Week 1

Week 1 will focus on genetics and construction of bacterial strains. We will design and build plasmids, transfer this genetic material/information into cells, and select for desired clones. Through these methods we will learn about the “axes and picks” of microbial genetics used to answer scientific questions. Technically, this involves:

Isolating microbial clones

Plasmid design and construction

Making DNA by PCR

Transforming cells by electroporation

Constructing strains by phage transduction

Genome modification using λ Red

Selection of bacterial mutants (Luria-Delbrück experiment)

Week 2

In week 2 we will grow and quantitatively study the bacterial strains we made in week 1. We will rely heavily on microscopy to understand their physiology–that is–their growth and biological processes. We will learn approaches to understanding quantitative data, what we can do with it, and how to effectively present our findings.

Growth curves via batch and continuous culture

Casting & assembling microfluidic devices

Capturing movies of single-cell growth

Fluorescent imaging with fusion proteins

Modeling mutation rates and the Luria-Delbrück experiment using python

Analyzing & interpreting image data sets

Summarizing & presenting information

Meals

Lunch, refreshments, and snacks will be provided. If we work late, we’ll get pizza. Try to enjoy a hearty breakfast before lab. 

Computers

Some desktop computers will be provided but students are encouraged to bring their own laptops if possible.

Lab books, notes, protocols, and literature

Reading material, protocols, and notebooks will be provided. During the bootcamp, no prior reading is required though some material may be distributed the weekend before the camp for those interested.