Rationale:

To practice for our poster presentation on Tuesday.

Procedures:

1. We practiced presenting our poster

Conclusions/Next Steps:

We became more confident in our ability to present our poster. Henry and I will present tomorrow.

Rationale:

To continue working on our previous question and developing alternatives.

Procedures:

1. We continued to research the background behind our plaque morphology question and ascertain its feasibility.
2. . After determining its infeasibility we began looking at other questions, settling on a question about Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Transporters and how that gene appeared in NapoleonB.
3. We created a basic plan for ascertaining how to proceed with the NMT question.

Conclusions/Next Steps:

After consulting with Lathan we determined our plaque morphology question was infeasible to pursue for our IRP, we then settled on a question about the appearance of NMT in NapoleonB. The next step will be to continue working on this question and researching it as it is our IRP question, we will also practice the presentation of our poster for NapoleonB.

Rationale:

To create four possible questions for the independent research project and do minor research into the feasibility of each one.

Procedure:

1. We looked at Canvas and using our knowledge created four questions relating to NapoleonB.
2. We did research into the feasibility of each and ranked them from 1-4.
3. Lathan was consulted about the questions.

Conclusions/Next Steps:

We concluded that a question about the reason for the dual plaque morphologies would be the most interesting to pursue. We will continue to look into this question and its feasibility, while also investigating other possible questions.

Rationale:

To conduct a final check of the poster.

Procedure:

1. I conducted a final check of the poster and fixed one error.
2. I completed the QTM.
3. We began looking at the independent research project.

Conclusion/Next Steps:

The poster should be free of layout and orientation errors and ready to be printed in that regard. The next step will be to continue working on our independent research project and presenting our poster at Scholars Week.

Rationale:

To fix any layout issues that exist on the poster.

Procedures:

1. I opened the google slide and proceeded to fix any alignment, layout, and sizing errors on the poster.
2. I saved the poster and checked for any other errors.

Conclusions/Next-Steps:

The posters orientation and layout errors are fixed, the next step will be to conduct a final check of the poster in order for it to be eventually printed and presented at Scholars Week. We will also begin our independent research projects.

1.

As a result of the USSR controlling the health system, doctors and patients were forced to seek alternative forms of treatment rather than antibiotics due to Russia spending its money on weapons for the Cold War rather than medicine and the health system. Since Russia was unable to afford the production and supply of antibiotics like the west they encouraged natural remedies/alternative medicine, including such things as phages. Additionally, the government branded antibiotics as foreign and linked to the Western enemy through the use of propaganda, increasing the suspicion of them amongst the population. Ultimately, the state health system in Russia resulted in a far greater focus on treating infectious diseases with natural remedies/medicine compared to Western linked and relatively expensive antibiotics.

2.

Even though both centers developed in the USSR under oppressive and scientifically strangling ideologies like Lysenkoism the Hirszfeld Institute was able to endure and flourish, while the Eliava Institute saw its glory days come and go. I ultimately believe the differences in outcome between the Phage Therapy Center (Hirszfeld Institute) and the Eliava Institute results from the location of both. Since the Phage Therapy Center (PTC) is in Poland, they are a part of the EU and thus much more closely tied to the west. The Eliava Institute, however, is in Georgia, considered by many in the west to be backwater former Soviet state, additionally, they are lacking in the economic development that countries like Poland are experiencing. This results in them having less access to funding due to more wariness on the part of investors, especially those from the west. However, the PTC has experienced far more support from the west due to it actually being in the west and under the western style of control and regulation scientifically. In the end, the PTC has been able to receive adequate external support in comparison to the Eliava Institute where its location in Georgia has even driven away external support despite its history and successes.

3.

Merril injected lambda phage into mice and after seven hours took blood samples and isolated the phage that survived. They proceeded to grown and propagate that phage and repeat this serial passage method for a total of eight times. By the end of the serial passages, they had phages that were isolated were able to last up to 18 hours in the blood. These phages where then able to be injected into mice infected with E. Coli and survive the liver and spleen, allowing them to kill the bacteria. The figures of the paper show that the mice treated with Argo1 and Argo2 had dramatic symptom reduction over the course of several hours as compared to the wild type lambda phage.

4.

Phage therapy has great potential in modern Western medicine, especially in the face of increasing reliance on and subsequent bacterial resistance to antibiotics. But in order for it to be widely accepted FDA approved studies need to be conducted and the results published in order to begin swaying the opinions of Western medicine regarding phage therapy. Specifically, they need to be double-blind studies in order for there to be no chance for bias. Companies like GangaGen, for instance, have made an active effort to bring phage therapy into the mainstream of modern medicine, in an effort to do so they began collecting a library of phages to work with. They soon attracted investors who have and continue to provide the necessary resources to develop the company and bring phage therapy to prominence in Western medicine. According to their website, they are currently in the midst of conducting clinical trials and preclinical trials for a variety of phage-based drugs in an effort to have them approved by the FDA.

Rationale:

To select a poster to work on as a class.

Procedures:

1. Presented various posters and took notes
2. Voted on the favorite poster

Conclusions:

We concluded that Lily’s group’s poster was the one we wanted to work on as a class.

Next Steps:

The next step will be to work on this poster as a class in order to present it at URSA Scholars Week. I’m also still waiting on Lathan’s advice for gene 18.

Rationale:

To combine our group’s poster with another group in order for it to be voted on by the class, and to fix the annotations for genes 18 and 20.

Procedure:

1. Opened an already auto annotated version of NapoleonB.
2. Looked at gene 18 and rechecked the associated data.
3. Further research into gene 18 will be conducted by Lathan due to starterator inconsistencies.
4. Fixed gene 20’s RBS score data entry error.
5. Combined the posters of our group and Gabe’s group.

Results/Conclusions:

It can be concluded that gene 18 needs further investigation by Lathan due to conflicting data from starterator and all the other sources and the principle of the LORF. The posters were combined using Gabe’s group’s poster as a base.

Next Steps:

The next step will be to select a class poster and proceed to work on it as a class, I will also fix the annotation of gene 18 once I receive Lathan’a advice.

Rationale:

To create a group rough draft of the poster displaying all the information we have learned this year.

Procedure:

1. Created a shared power point and proceeded to create a poster template.
2. We then filled in the poster with information, graphics, and other items as seen fit.
3. We had a pretty rough draft of the poster by the end of lab.

Conclusions:

We made a rough draft poster.

Next Steps:

The next step will be to continue working on the poster and eventually create a class poster, combining the best elements from each group in order for it to be presented at URSA week.

Rationale:

To come up with ideas about what we will include and how we will construct our poster for URSA Week.

Procedure:

1. We viewed various posters from the previous SEA-PHAGE classes to come with ideas as a group regarding what we will do for our poster for NapoleonB.
2. We determined that a concise presentation of information is very important, as is the use of appropriate color, symmetry, and appropriate font size.
3. We proceeded to be assigned groups and sketch a rough design of how we wanted to lay out our poster.

Conclusions:

We need to have a large enough font to be able to be read easily and include graphics/appropriate colors.

Next Steps:

The next step will be to continue designing and creating our poster as a group with the goal being to create one as a class for URSA week.