Hello all, my name is Dylan Harris and I come from a small charter school known as BASIS Scottsdale. As a senior from said school, I have the opportunity to participate in a project of my choice intuitively called the Senior Research Project, or SRP for short. The SRP itself will last 10 weeks, of which, I will be performing my own research on a topic of my choice.
For my SRP (if the title was not a complete tip-off) is about trying to get E. Coli bacteria to produce thermostable DNA polymerase, taq polymerase, in order to lower the cost of taq polymerase in laboratories, which can be quite expensive. Taq polymerase is used in a process known as PCR, polymerase chain reaction, which in turn is used for DNA replication outside a cell. Many
laboratories use this technique to obtain mass quantities of the same DNA which can be used for many different experiments and tests. As for why I chose to research, I have always been fascinated by DNA and how we can modify organisms to perform different roles. Microbiology has so many facets that can still be researched, and with this project, I'll finally be able to pursue a field I am interested in.
The research itself will take place on the University of Arizona Medical Campus in Dr. Kurt Gustin's laboratory. I cannot wait to begin working in a lab doing research, and hopefully, I will create something others can use.
For a more detailed overview of my project, take a look at my proposal right here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nLAwTxcFwbG6Px63K9rr86VLhvv_5z2KPRSWqH1X2_Y/edit?usp=sharing
I hope you will continue to follow my exploits, and hopefully all will go as planned!
