Our final graduate student presentations of the semester feature Kelsey Ford and Floyd Kenney.
Floyd's presentation is entitled "Biosensor Production By Conjugation Of HSA-Specific Peptide To Functionalized Nanotube Fiber." He is mentored by Dr. Fagan.
Dr. Caguiat is Kelsey's mentor. Her talk is entitled "Knockout of the lacZ gene
in Enterobacter sp. YSU".
Please come out and support these folks. Bring a lunch and share it with Dr. Cooper!
Kelsey and Floyd did awesome jobs in our last week of graduate student presentations!
ReplyDeleteKelsey spoke about her work in Dr. Caguiat’s Lab with Enterobacter sp. YSU. Stephen also works with this particular strain, which is resistant to salts of mercury, copper, selenium, and many other metals due to exposure to contaminants from the Y-12 plant. Kelsey ran us through the regulation of the lac operon before detailing her plans to knock out the lacZ gene. She plans to use CRISPR, as the restriction endonuclease binding sites present are not specific enough to isolate and remove only the lacZ gene from the pMOD-5 plasmid. She would then transform the plasmid into Enterobacter sp. YSU and rely on homologous recombination to knock out the gene. The CRISPR/cas9 technology has dramatic implications throughout many biological specialties.
How does CRISPR/cas9 work? What is it most often used for?
Floyd gave us a short look at some of the work he has been doing in Dr. Fagan’s lab over the past couple of years. He spoke about single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and his attempts to functionalize them as a biosensor transducing element when conjugated to a peptide that responds to the presence of human serum albumin (HSA). Floyd talked about phage display and his use of this technique to identify the BR-1 peptide that specifically binds to HSA with high affinity. He used caustic solutions of strong acid to oxidize some of the carbons on the outer surface of the SWCNT into carboxyl groups, allowing them to be biotinylated. He had inconclusive results in his attempts to functionalize the tubes in their fibrous form, but was able to successfully functionalize the tubes in their powder form. He was also able to support the viability of the biotinylation reaction in reacting with and covalently binding to the peripheral carboxyl groups on the SWCNTs. Floyd has been doing great work here, and I hope to utilize this technology in a clinical setting one day.
What might be some of the applications of Floyd’s proposed HSA-specific nanotube biosensor?
Both Kelsey and Floyd gave interesting talks last week, wrapping up the graduate presentations for the semester. As Erich said, Kelsey and Stephen both work with the Enterobacter sp. YSU strain in Dr. Caguiat’s lab. As far as the CRISPR/cas9 system of genetic editing is concerned, it is my understanding that in short, this technique can be utilized to target specific stretches of genetic code and edit or remove a specific gene or gene feature of interest. CRISPR is an acronym referring to clustered interspaced short palindromic repeats that are of great importance in bacterial defense mechanisms. So, in gene editing, CRISPR RNA sequences are capable of locating the DNA sequence of interest so that Cas9, the enzymatic component of the CRISPR system, can excise the fragment. This is useful in modifying living cells and is hoped to be a tool that can be used directly in the medical field in the future. As far as the applications of the biosensors that Floyd is studying, I think they would be of great use for the military or police forces to detect blood from a wound that they may get in their line of work.
ReplyDeleteGreat job to the presenters this week! Doing some more research into CRISPR revealed in the future it might be possible to correct mutations at precise locations in the human genome in order to treat genetic causes of disease. I think this application could really impact the medical field in the future. It's a topic I did not know a lot about. Floyd's proposed nanotube biosensor could be useful in any type of field where a biological element would need to be identified.
ReplyDeleteBoth Kelsey and Floyd gave interesting presentations. My question for Floyd's research is this biosensor would be more sensitive or specific or both as compared to the sensors available in market for detecting HSA?
ReplyDeleteAwesome job by our presenters this week as always!
ReplyDeleteCRISPR/Cas9 is super effective for cutting out and accurately replacing (thus editing) target genes in DNA. There was recent talk about being able to reconstruct extinct species's entire genomes by inserting known DNA sequence into related species DNA and potentially bringing these extinct species back into the world by use of CRISPR. Obviously we're a long way off from being able to do this, but its something to think about as we advance in the scientific community.
As for Floyd's presentation, it was way over my head, but I think the general idea of it is absolutely fantastic and could prove to be incredibly useful in situations such as John and Nick already stated.
Both Kelsey and Floyd gave great presentations last week! As far as how CRISPR/cas9 works, from what I read, it is a cheap and easy to use technique that allows us to target specific genes to modify or edit genomes. It has many potential applications, like adjusting human genes to eliminate diseases and agricultural uses to modify plant. For applications of Floyd’s research, I agree with John that this work can have military applications to detect blood from wounds. I remember Dr. Fagan talking about this when she presented in seminar last year and I thought she mentioned that she works with the U.S. Navy, which I think is really exciting!
ReplyDeleteGood job to Kelsey and Floyd! To answer the questions for Kelsey's research, the CRISPR sequences help locate the target gene and Cas9, the associated protein will accurately cut it out or excise it. Overall, as everyone has touched on, it helps with editing DNA. This has been used to be the source of nuclease expression in various genome expression experiments. As for Floyd's question, I can see this technique being used for forensic science for the purposes of identifying any biological materials useful for identifying a crime scene.
ReplyDeleteI can say with certainty that Kelsey and Floyd finished strong for the last graduate presentations. Great job guys! I know that CRISPR-Cas9 is a combination of two molecules: Cas9 which is an enzyme that cuts DNA and guide RNA which is the sequence that tells Cas9 where to cut. Researchers can use this to introduce mutations as well as repair mutations in a person's genome. The tricky part is getting that sequence to all cells of the body.
ReplyDeleteI already know the intended purpose of Floyd's HSA-specific nanotube biosensor so I'm going to take the easy route on that one. They are trying to get it to work as a sensor to let medic teams know when a combat soldier is wounded in the field. The box would detect HSA (blood) in the soldier's uniform and relay a signal and GPS location to where the soldier was downed. Very cool!
CRISPR/cas9 is a super cool new gene editing mechanism that utilizes an RNA sequence that is specific to the target gene DNA sequence and a cas9 enzyme to cut and remove the sequence so that it can be repaired or replaced with a vector sequence. Kelsey and Dr. Caguiat should definitely bring the technology to YSU so that it can be taught to the next generation of scientists. Floyd’s work with Dr. Fagan is very promising for defense department applications. HSA sensors could detect bleeding wounds on incapacitated soldiers so that medical teams can respond faster and without the need for verbal communication. I was discussing potential medical applications with Marissa, and I thought maybe SWCNTs with HSA sensing capabilities could be used to monitor post-surgery recovery or check for internal bleeding.
ReplyDeleteWhat great graduate presentations to end the semester with! Kelsey and Floyd both gave interesting presentations on their research. CRISPR-Cas9 is a unique, simple, and innovative technology that is capable of editing parts of the genome by removing, adding, or altering sections of the DNA sequence. This genome editing tool can have the potential of treating a range of medical conditions that have a genetic component. As Kayla mentioned, the purpose to Floyd’s HSA-specific nanotube biosensor for combat soldiers is amazing. This biosensor can be used for a wide range of medical applications as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat job last week Kelsey! As far as how CRISPR works, I kind of think about it like siRNA, but for DNA. There is a protein with an RNA template in both systems, but one cleaves DNA and the other mRNA. I think CRISPER can replace the segment though? I think in bacteria it's used to fend off viruses, but I read a paper about how some type of gold particle made it marginally more effective than normal in treating cancer genes. I'll see if I can find that paper!
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