User:Zach Bjornson: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 56: | Line 56: | ||
*HPLC (of organic molecules) | *HPLC (of organic molecules) | ||
Other | |||
*Computer programming - extensive knowledge of Mathematica (ref. W. Craig Carter, professor for 3.016); knowledge of Basic and general programming theory. | |||
== Other Interests == | == Other Interests == | ||
Revision as of 21:03, 29 August 2008
MIT Biological Engineering Department class of 2010 with plans for higher education.
My primary interest is in biomedical research such as pharmaceutical development and organogenesis. I would like to generate entire organs in vitro, though that is a distant goal. I would also like to work on treatments for [nonfatal] diseases. (I say nonfatal because I am strongly concerned about the effects of overpopulation on the environment. I might not stick to this "philosophy" in the end, but for now it is a simple idea.)
I also have a strong interest in plants and fungi (especially mushrooms and arbuscular mycorrhizae).
You can contact me at bjornson{at}mit{.}edu or through OpenWetWare.
Current Research and Bioengineering Projects
- Optimization of Expression, Solubilization and Purification of the Membrane Protein HORF17-4 in E. coli Using Fractional Factorial Design (Zhang Lab). Paper in progress.
Past Research and Bioengineering Projects
- Summer 2008: Developed a protocol to measure radical/reactive oxygen species in Gram-negative bacteria at the royal Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok, Thailand. Also worked on isolating and identifying a compound (suspected to be homogentisic acid) from a Pseudomonas culture in which a certain oxidase was knocked out.
- 20.109 research proposal assignment. mock project only (wiki page)
- Optimization of Cell-Free Expression of Membrane Proteins with Self-Assembling Peptides (Zhang Lab)
- Cloning and Expression of UGT1A1 in E. coli (project blog)
- Airplane Drinking Water Testing for Microbial Contaminants
Honors
- Special Congressional Recognition for Environmental Work
- Environmental Protection Agency environmental service award
- United Nations Environment Programme youth advisor
- 2005 International Young Eco-Hero Award
- June 22, 2006 designated in Moraga, CA as a day of recognition
Lab Skills and Areas of Experience
Basic
- DNA work (cloning, plasmid engineering, extraction, verification, etc.)
- RNA work (time-course extraction, verification, reverse transcriptase PCR, etc.)
Preparative
- Design of experiment - planning experiments from beginning to end (method selection, protocol development, troubleshooting)
- Design of experiment - fractional factorial optimization
- Bacterial cell culture, including BSL2+ pathogens
- Yeast cell culture (for gDNA extraction)
- Mammalian cell culture (2D [plates/dishes] and 3D [scaffolds and HF bioreactors])
- Use of GFP fusions as indicators of protein quality and quantity
- Extensive membrane protein work (overexpression of membrane proteins; lysing cells and solubilizing membrane proteins while maintaining protein quality/functionality)
- General protein work (1D gels, etc.)
Analytical (with extensive knowledge of all techniques except where noted)
- fluorescence microscopy (multicolor)
- Very extensive flow cytometry (multilaser, multicolor) of mammalian, bacterial and yeast cells
- UV/Vis spectroscopy (96-well format, for protein and DNA quantification)
- Affinity chromatography (of proteins, for purification) (basic; used a His-Trap kit)
- FPLC (of proteins, for analysis)
- HPLC (of organic molecules)
Other
- Computer programming - extensive knowledge of Mathematica (ref. W. Craig Carter, professor for 3.016); knowledge of Basic and general programming theory.
Other Interests
I play harpsichord and organ. I'm building a replica of the 1736 Hemsch harpsichord (on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts) in the MIT Hobby Shop (article and project blog). I like building things, and if I were to switch majors it would probably be to Course 2 (Mechanical Engineering).
I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm a vegetarian, tree-hugger, environmentalist, animal-rights activist... spreading San Francisco values.
Non-bioengineering Projects
These are mostly links to the internal pages of http://utopia.mit.edu.
- (Check back later.)
