Jacqueline Dang Rose Hills
Optimizing Bacterial Binding to Nanosheets
I am working with my SURF mentor on optimizing binding of mannose conjugated nanosheets to E. Coli bacteria by controlling expression of pili. Loop are created on the nanosheet surface in an air-water interface by a rocking mechanism. These loops protrude from the nanosheet bilayer, mimicking glycoproteins and glycolipids that protrude from cell membrane surfaces.Type 1 pili, which are the structures that project from bacterial cell surfaces that govern binding, are primarily controlled by the fim operon. The fim operon has a multitude of constituent elements that code for fimbrae proteins (e.g. fimH, fimB, fimE, fimA). Our approach involves the removal of fim elements that naturally control the On/Off switch for pili expression. We would like to be able to have control over expression of Type 1 pili by exposure to varying amounts of the chemical inducer Isopropyl -D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). The levels of binding and degrees of success will be observed via microscopy.
Message To Sponsor
To the sponsors of the SURF program: Thank you for all the contributions you have made to make this experience possible. Getting the opportunity to create and present my first poster was honestly amazing. It was great to see a ""finished product"" come out of research that I've been working on. Working with the SURF team as well as my mentors taught me dually about being a researcher and being an effective communicator when it came to sharing what I had found. The conference itself was a humbling experience that I was able to gain a lot from. I enjoyed learning about the wide range of projects that undergraduate and graduate students here at Berkeley are working on. Even more so, I was inspired by all the passion that these people had for their own work, and it gave me greater motivation to continue in the STEM field. Again, thank you so much because all this would not have been possible without your support. Best regards, Jacqueline Dang