Welcome to the Intern 2005 Website!

The focus of this year's internship was to purify soluble protein from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the MSI researchers in order to do biochemical tests and protein assays. To do this, each intern was assigned one protein from S. cerevisiae. The interns made use of the pET expression system by then transforming Escherichia coli cells by inserting into them a plasmid containing the gene from S. cerevisiae that coded for their particular protein.

Following this, protein production was induced using IPTG, a lactose analog. The interns then tried to increase the solubility of their proteins by experimenting with different parameters (ethanol, NaCl, temperature, IPTG concentration) and checking for the presence of protein using SDS PAGE (polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis) and the Western blot technique. Toward the end of the internship, the interns grew 1-L cultures of transformed E. coli and purified their proteins using nickel columns. The summer culminated in a Powerpoint presentation to the MSI researchers, as well as family and friends.

(from left to right): Adeline, Bria, Michelle, Ashly and Krystina

But, it wasn't all lab work! Throughout the internship, the interns had "Meet the Scientist" presentations, where MSI researchers described their high school and college careers and what influences brought them to their present work. In addition, the interns went on field trips to the Tech Museum of Innovation, NASA AMES Research Center, LBNL's Electron Microscope Center, and Tracy McKnight's and Emmitt Jolly's labs in USCF. The interns also had lectures on differential equations and modeling from resident mathematician Dr. Joyce Macabéa.

Finally, the interns would like to thank all of MSI (especially Dr. Evgueny Kroll, Dr. Myron Williams, and Tonya Love) for their support, guidance, and expertise in answering questions and 2004 intern Christopher Chan for his work designing this web site.

Please feel free to read our biographies and explore the photos we've taken this summer!