Final Project
The goal of this project was to devise a solution to the massive famines of Africa. For this project, my teammate Wesley Fink and I, were allowed to choose global problem, so long as we created a solution using biotechnology. When researching the issue, we discovered the problem could not be solved completely by biotechnology, but a human issue existed to, so soon, one project became two. First step was creating a more viable crop. The second was to educate farmers and other villagers on how to plant it. Our chosen plant was corn (and soybeans for nitrogen) that would be engineered to use less water, and withstand the heat better. Or solution to education was to create a purely visual instruction booklet for our engineered crops. Below is complete project.
Concepts
Chipping: A method of obtaining a DNA from seeds.
Pictogram: A picture that symbolizes a word, phrase, concept, or idea. In this case, how to farm.
DREB1/CBF: A gene that allows crops to withstand dryer climates
Heat Shock Method: A method of adding genes to cells by rapidly heating, and cooling them.
Gene Gun: A method of adding genes by firing them into cells at incredibly high speeds.
Viral Transduction: A method of adding genes via a virus.
Nitrogen Fixation: A process in which plants add nitrogen to soil.
Pictogram: A picture that symbolizes a word, phrase, concept, or idea. In this case, how to farm.
DREB1/CBF: A gene that allows crops to withstand dryer climates
Heat Shock Method: A method of adding genes to cells by rapidly heating, and cooling them.
Gene Gun: A method of adding genes by firing them into cells at incredibly high speeds.
Viral Transduction: A method of adding genes via a virus.
Nitrogen Fixation: A process in which plants add nitrogen to soil.
Reflection
This project was insanely free. We had plenty of options to make any decisions, and make the project as interesting as possible. I feel that we did a very good job at details, even simplifying some of it when revising. We also had a very good cooperation, usually never overlapped in work. The issue comes in where we did overlap, usually with different ideas on the best solution to smaller details. This included our plan for airdropping supplies, and our logo. Another issue is time management. We were usually a little bit early and tended to waste time. All in all, a good project.