Team:Austin Texas/human practices

From 2014.igem.org

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==Caffeinated Coli==
==Caffeinated Coli==
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[[file:Ellacollectscoffee.JPG|thumb|right| Ella collecting coffee sample from Austin Java]]
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[[file:Ellacollectscoffee.JPG|thumb|right|200px| Ella collecting coffee sample from Austin Java]] [[file:UT_Austin_Coffee_shops_map.png|200px|thumb|right| [http://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zlUDhks6KHxI.ketDvlvg6zis Click here for an interactive map of coffee shops we visited!]]]
In the spring of 2014, [http://www.kareningram.com Karen Ingram], invited the UT Austin iGEM team to create a presentation for the [http://sxsw.com/exhibitions/sxsw-create/participants-2014 South By Southwest (SXSW) 2014 Create event]. The SXSW festival is an annually held set of music, film and interactive events in Austin. The Create event was an interactive event that showcases up and coming maker/hacker/DIY culture. There were many relatively new team members, so the we saw this as an opportunity to not only teach the new members essential research techniques, but also to reach out to the community and raise awareness for the emerging field of synthetic biology. We decided to revive an old iGEM project, the [[file:Jordantalkscoffee.JPG|thumb|left| Jordan discussing our project with Matt Bolick, co-owner of Flat Track Coffee]][https://2012.igem.org/Team:Austin_Texas/Caffeinated_coli "Caffeinated coli,"] and thought it would be interesting to measure the caffeine content of various different local house coffees.
In the spring of 2014, [http://www.kareningram.com Karen Ingram], invited the UT Austin iGEM team to create a presentation for the [http://sxsw.com/exhibitions/sxsw-create/participants-2014 South By Southwest (SXSW) 2014 Create event]. The SXSW festival is an annually held set of music, film and interactive events in Austin. The Create event was an interactive event that showcases up and coming maker/hacker/DIY culture. There were many relatively new team members, so the we saw this as an opportunity to not only teach the new members essential research techniques, but also to reach out to the community and raise awareness for the emerging field of synthetic biology. We decided to revive an old iGEM project, the [[file:Jordantalkscoffee.JPG|thumb|left| Jordan discussing our project with Matt Bolick, co-owner of Flat Track Coffee]][https://2012.igem.org/Team:Austin_Texas/Caffeinated_coli "Caffeinated coli,"] and thought it would be interesting to measure the caffeine content of various different local house coffees.
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Previously, the UT Austin iGEM team had used the caffeinated coli to measure the caffeine content in drinks beverages such as soda or energy drinks.  The results showed that these engineered ''E. coli'' were very accurate at detecting the levels of caffeine in these formula-based drinks.  We wondered how well they would do with something different, something that the vast majority of people in the city of Austin drink on a regular basis, coffee.
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Previously, the UT Austin iGEM team had used the caffeinated coli to measure the caffeine content in beverages such as soda and energy drinks.  The results showed that these engineered ''E. coli'' were very accurate at detecting the levels of caffeine in these formula-based drinks.  We wondered how well they would do with something different, something that the vast majority of people in the city of Austin drink on a regular basis, coffee.
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The [http://www.ibuyaustin.com Austin Independent Business Alliances'] slogan of [http://www.keepaustinweird.com "Keep Austin Weird,"] is a widely shared sentiment of Austinites, and emphasizes the need to promote local businesses. Thus, we thought it would be a great community outreach project to work with local Austin coffee shops, and do our part to "Keep Austin Weird!"  Jordan, a senior member of the group, took charge and assembled a map of about 40 local coffee shops in Austin. The team took a Saturday and split up to visit dozens of coffee shops, collecting samples of their house coffee. We were met with much enthusiasm by the coffee shop owners and employees, whose interest had been piqued when we described our experiment, often resulting in discussions of science, synthetic biology, and coffee.
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The [http://www.ibuyaustin.com Austin Independent Business Alliances'] slogan of [http://www.keepaustinweird.com "Keep Austin Weird,"] is a widely shared sentiment of Austinites, and emphasizes the need to promote local businesses. Thus, we thought it would be a great community outreach project to work with local Austin coffee shops, and do our part to "Keep Austin Weird!"  Jordan, a senior member of the group, took charge and assembled a map of about 40 local coffee shops in Austin. The team took a Saturday and split up to visit dozens of coffee shops, collecting samples of their house coffee. We were met with much enthusiasm by the coffee shop owners and employees, who's interest had been peaked when we described our experiment, often resulting in and discussions of science, synthetic biology, and coffee.
 
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[[file:UT_Austin_Coffee_shops_map.png|200px|thumb|right| [http://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zlUDhks6KHxI.ketDvlvg6zis Click here for an interactive map of coffee shops we visited!]]]
 
Back at the lab, the team members got to work. Senior members divided their attention to mentor the new members in the techniques necessary to start cultures, work with the lab equipment, and other general laboratory safety.
Back at the lab, the team members got to work. Senior members divided their attention to mentor the new members in the techniques necessary to start cultures, work with the lab equipment, and other general laboratory safety.
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[[file:teamcoffee.png|450px|center|The beginning of something great! Special thanks to Razan Alnahhas, Mike Hammerling, and Ashley Kessel for assistance]]
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[[file:teamcoffee.png|450px|thumb|center|The beginning of something great! Special thanks to Razan Alnahhas (second row, right) for mentoring and to Mike Hammerling (not pictured) and Ashley Kessel (second row, left) for assistance in sample collection.]]
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Revision as of 13:06, 16 October 2014