The Biology team is SSI's fourth project team, focusing on the intersection between the life sciences and space. The Biology team began work on its pilot project, building a portable, autonomous DNA Synthesizer to send to space, in the 2016-2017 academic year. The Biology team works in the Shriram Center for Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering, using the Uytengsu Teaching Lab space. It is currently developing enzymatic DNA synthesis methods and an electrowetting fluid handling platform for this project, which they aim to launch as a cubesat payload or operate on the International Space Station. The Biology team is also open to other project ideas, particularly relating to astronaut life support, biomaterials for space use, and terraforming for space colonization.
The Biology team's faculty advisor is Prof. Drew Endy, and current team co-leads are Alan Tomusiak and Cynthia Hao.
Joining SSI Bio
First, join SSI by paying dues, getting a workspace safety tour, and uploading proof of completion of AXESS safety trainings to the [internal.stanfordssi.org internal site]. Check out Wet Lab Access for instructions on how to get cleared for access to our wet lab space. The Biology team has general meetings on Tuesdays at 7:00pm in Durand 450, and typically runs experiments on Wednesday and Thursday evenings or weekends. Biology subteams also have weekly meetings; check the SSI Events Calendar for all meeting times and locations.
Our Projects
We're currently building a DNA Synthesizer to make DNA in space. Come join us! Our 2017-2018 team is subdivided into three groups--one working on DNA synthesis with chemical blocking groups, one that will use exonuclease, and one designing an Electrowetting on Dielectric fluid handling platform. See a list of ongoing subprojects and tasks here.
Resources
Once you're part of SSI's Slack team, we encourage you to join biology-related channels. #biology and #biology-reading are great places to start. #biology-terminator and #biology-backspace are where we work on Enzymatic Synthesis Methods, and #biology-device is for developing our Electrowetting on Dielectric system.
Check out the Biology team folder in the SSI Google Drive for useful documents, including the Biology inventory, readings spreadsheet, and solution calculator.
We use Overleaf to write up protocols and analysis for our experiments. Our generic protocol template is on Slack, as well as some examples of previous experiments we've run.
SSI Biology uses a Mendeley community to keep track of relevant papers and protocols.