Anusha



Hi, my name is Anusha Kumar. I am from Daytona Beach, Florida. I took a biology course in my freshman year of high school and I am now going into my junior year. My teacher left to go live in Puerto Rico halfway through the year, so I had to learn many things on my own. I believe this summer research __#|program__ will help me understand the concepts much more. I enjoyed the biology course a lot and the next year I took chemistry which I also enjoyed studying. So at the moment I am confused on which course I prefer, so I am taking both biology and chemistry this upcoming year.

When I start college, I am headed in the direction of becoming a doctor. There are a few different directions in the medical field where I'm thinking of heading towards. I was thinking of something in the pediatric field for a while because I love working with kids and it would make me feel great to help them out. Also I have had people close to me pass away from __#|cancer__. It is a very saddening subject which causes it to be a field where some people don't even think about. The medicine, procedures, etc. all fascinate me in this field. I know it takes a strong person to be able to go into this field, so I would love to strive to do this. More specifically, pediatric oncology would be a field that I would love to visit.

Right now I am volunteering my time to the Halifax Hospice center where I live. It is basically a center where people who are dying come to die peacefully, with help and great hospitality of the many volunteers. As I volunteer there, I see many different people dying and struggling which helps me get a chance to see what oncology would be like. I have the opportunity of talking to these people who tell me how great their life has been and how I should enjoy mine as they are the ones who are dying. It is a touching experience which will always have an impact on me.

I go to an IB school in Port Orange, Florida called Spruce Creek High School. It is a very tough school which makes it nice for me so I get the extra push that I need to prepare for college. As I have added above, I have taken 2 science __#|courses__ throughout the first two years of my high school years. I took Biology 1 in freshman year and Chemistry 1 in my sophomore year. Both __#|courses__ fascinated me to the point where I decided to take both for my junior year. Some things I do at my school are tennis and clubs. I am on the varsity team for __#|girls tennis__ at my school and we are ranked the 4th best tennis __#|program__ in the state. I have been playing since I was a young girl and I greatly enjoy it. I am in a total of 4 clubs. I am Vice President of the American Red Cross club at my school so I am looking forward to help strengthen our __#|program__ there. Something surprising about me is that I visit Europe almost every summer and watched the London Olympics 2012 last summer. I love to travel whenever I can. So that is basically everything about me!

=**Research:**=

In the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and James Watson headed the NIH Genome Program. In 1993 Aristides Patrinos succeeded Galas, and Francis Collins succeeded James Watson, and assumed the role of overall Project Head as Director of the U.S. __#|National Institutes of Health__ (NIH) National Human Genome __#|Research Institute__. The HGP (Human Genome Project) was a 13 year project, from 1990 to 2003. It was a project which wanted to identify all of the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in a human’s DNA, determine all of the possible sequences of the 3 billion base pairs which make up human DNA, and then store and improve their data analysis. After they transferred similar technologies to the private sector and they stated the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that could come from the project. Multiple projects derived from this HGP. Some examples of some projects are: International HapMap Project, Applied Biosystems, Perlegen, Illumina, J. Craig Venter Institute, Personal Genome Project, and Roche-454. The man-made genome project is a group that relates to synthetic biology and uses the HGP to portray their idea. The man-made genome is an area which uses synthetic biology and resources from the HGP to help produce their final products. The goal of the project was to sequence the entire human genome and release it for public use but for non-commercial use. Researchers for the man-made genome used yeast in order to stitch the 4 strands of DNA into the genome of bacterium, called //Mycoplasma genitalium//. Now that the scientists have the ability to sequence a genome, they can start to custom-design some organisms. Biofuels, such as ethanol, are produced from these biological robots that can produce from scratch chemicals humans can use. The HGP is basically a reverse of the techniques used for this. The HGP translated DNA into the nucleotides A,C,T and G, which represent the body’s building blocks. The goal of synthetic biologists is to arrange the 4 letters to create organisms that will do their bidding. Craig Venter is the man behind the push to create a man-made organism. Many others who view the whole man-made genome idea opposite to Venter believe that it could be potentially dangerous. This type of technology has often been referred to as “playing God”, since the whole idea proposes that the probability that dangerous organisms could be accidentally/purposefully set out into our world which is not ready to take in the consequences. Scientists are still unsure if there are negative effects from the man-made genome, and if there are, they don’t know what kind of impact they would have. There is no specific regulation in the synthetic life area.

=Design Project:=

As a majority of us know, bacteria are found in plenty of places and can be quite harmful. They can lead to a massive illness if it gets to a point where it’s that bad. In poorer countries in the world, they don’t have a proper system to get rid of all of the unwanted bacteria in drinking water. Here we have plenty of filters and systems that naturally cleanse the water for us. In various places in the world, people are getting very ill from having such contaminated water. If there were bacteria that could be used to kill bacteria in the dirty water, this would help prevent many problems. This would be an efficient way to be sure that everyone is drinking clean water, and not becoming as ill.
 * I. ** ** Purpose **

As we look around and see the various resources we have, we see that there are multiple ways of cleansing and purifying our water resources. Many people might boil their water or even just have a purifier on their faucet in order to cleanse the water. Resources like these are what we have to clean our water. But usually our drinking water is already purified from the city so we can all drink pure water. In many other countries around the world people don’t have resources like these. It is difficult for many people to drink clean water and in some cases they never really do drink purified water. These technologies would all be helpful if everyone had access to them though. In rural places in Asia and Africa, there are specific areas that have problems with the drinking water. Sooner or later they start to become immune to it. But it would be much more useful if they had the bacteria in order to kill the other bacteria as well. As the other resources are greatly effective, so is using the bacteria.
 * II. ** ** Competing Technologies **

In order to create a system where bacteria can kill off other bacteria, I need it to kill itself off after killing the other bacteria. A form of bacteria which kills almost any bacteria is called //Myxococcus xanthus//. This type of bacteria is not something that would want to be tested in your own body. In order to test this, it would need to be tested outside of the human body in a lab. There are also a few types of bacteria that can be found in water. One of which is called Legionella, which causes a type of pneumonia. The //Myxococcus canthus// would naturally be able to kill off any type of bacteria found in the water. MICROORGANISMS
 * III. ** ** The Design **
 * Contaminant ||  MCLG [|1] (mg/L) [|2]  || MCL or TT [|1] (mg/L) [|2] || Potential Health Effects from Long-Term Exposure Above the MCL (unless specified as short-term) || Sources of Contaminant in Drinking Water ||
 * [|//Cryptosporidium//] || Zero || TT || Gastrointestinal illness (such as diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps) || Human and animal fecal waste ||
 * [|//Giardia lamblia//] || Zero || TT || Gastrointestinal illness (such as diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps) || Human and animal fecal waste ||
 * [|Heterotrophic plate count (HPC)] || n/a || TT || HPC has no health effects; it is an analytic method used to measure the variety of bacteria that are common in water. The lower the concentration of bacteria in drinking water, the better maintained the water system is. || HPC measures a range of bacteria that are naturally present in the environment ||
 * [|//Legionella//] || Zero || TT || Legionnaire's Disease, a type of pneumonia || Found naturally in water; multiplies in heating systems ||
 * [|Total Coliforms (including fecal coliform and //E. Coli//)] || Zero || 5.04% || Not a health threat in itself; it is used to indicate whether other potentially harmful bacteria may be present [|5] || Coliforms are naturally present in the environment; as well as feces; fecal coliforms and //E. coli// only come from human and animal fecal waste. ||
 * [|Turbidity] || n/a || TT || Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness of water. It is used to indicate water quality and filtration effectiveness (such as whether disease-causing organisms are present). Higher turbidity levels are often associated with higher levels of disease-causing microorganisms such as viruses, parasites and some bacteria. These organisms can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. || Soil runoff ||
 * [|Viruses (enteric)] || Zero || TT || Gastrointestinal illness (such as diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps) || Human and animal fecal waste ||||  ||


 * Killer T Cell ||

So once all of the other harmful bacteria are killed off, the //Myxcoccus xanthus// will have to die off as well. In order for that to occur, it needs to be engineered into an APC (Antigen Presenting Cells). The //Myxcoccus xanthus// will then become the APC and have the MHC(Major Histocompatibility Complex) added into it to help show that it has finished its job and needs to be destroyed.In the APC, restriction enzymes would be used on the plasmid in order to add the MHC gene. The MHC gene and the plasmid would then combine to make the plasmid whole again which has the promoter and terminator connected on to it. After the bacteria has become the APC, it has the small parts of the bacteria from the water connected to the outside, attracting other parts to destroy it because it is done with its work.
 * //Myxococcus xanthus// ||

The results expected from this experiment is that the //Myxcoccus xanthus// will kill off any bacteria from the water and then end up killing itself off as well so it doesn’t harm anything in the human body. These results will help people drink water without having to worry about the bacteria and such being in it to harm them. It would benefit people who are in the wild a lot or even just a normal person living in a rural area so that they don’t have much clean water. So this will end up having a positive effect on the environment and people after accomplished.
 * IV. ** ** Expected Results **

This project should receive funding because instead of giving out so many filters or spending so much money on one main filter, people can just have the one bacterium that kills it all. This could help with pricing rather than paying so much for the others. Also, this could be taken to such a larger scale and used in more advanced situations. As you keep saving more and more, it helps so that you don’t have such a large amount to pay at the end.
 * V. ** ** Advantages **

The //Myxcoccus xanthus// could stay alive instead of self-destructing which would cause great problems. The scientists should take extreme caution that they don’t accidentally put their fingers in their mouth and such. They should all be wearing gloves, an apron, goggles, and closed toed shoes as well. The design could be negatively taken if someone didn’t find the way to make sure that the //Myxcoccus xanthus// died. If it didn’t die before going into the human body, there would be major issues. This lab does not have a negative effect on the environment or public, instead it helps it.
 * VI. ** ** Potential Problems **

In order to test the effectiveness of the system, I would test this multiple times on animals before used on humans. This would help to ensure that there are no, or close to none, negative effects of the whole project. Testing the system would help to ensure that every part works according to the plans. The testing part of the project would also help see the glitches which could then be immediately fixed.
 * VII. Testing **