Team:UC Berkeley/Team/Marlee Tichenor



MY NAME/NICKNAME

Marlee Tichenor

MY STATS

Human Practices member of the team Graduated in May 2008 from UC Berkeley, with degrees in Anthropology and French.

WHAT LED ME TO SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

I became interested in synthetic biology in the fall of 2007, when I took a course at UC Berkeley with anthropology professor, and SynBERC Human Practices project investigator, Paul Rabinow. The course was an experiment in bringing together humanities and science majors to discuss, in a contextual way, synthetic biology. Because of this course, I became involved in researching the formation and cultural context of cellulosic biofuels research on the Berkeley campus in the spring, which led me to my current position as the human practice member of the Berkeley iGEM team.

SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY: IN MY WORDS

Synthetic biology is the attempt to design, engineer, or manipulate biological systems to perform functions that are designated by the manipulator, such as the creation of drugs to remediate malaria or the creation of enzymes that more efficiently break down cellulose to sugar.

MY POSSIBLE FUTURE WITH SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

My interest with synthetic biology in the future lies in the tracking of the rhetoric surrounding different perceptions of the space for cellulosic biofuels in our governmental and economic future, nationally and globally. What are the different perspectives and what are their varying definitions of flourishing, or the good life, and their different definitions of “remediating a problem?”

MY GOALS WITH IGEM

My goals are to involve myself more thoroughly with the science of synthetic biology than I am normally exposed to as a human practices researcher and engage the Berkeley iGemmers and others involved in synthetic biology in questions surrounding the discipline.

MY DUMBEST LAB MISTAKE/COMPUTATIONAL ERROR

Confusing a pipette for an Eppendorf tube. Boy, figured that one out quick.

MY FAVORITE CHILDHOOD CARTOON

My Little Pony—fighting crime with magic, prancing, keeping well groomed.

MY FAVORITE FOOD

I have two addictions, and they’re in the form of food: Tom Kha Gai (Thai soup made with coconut milk and lime) and salty licorice (it’s Dutch—apparently I’m trying to justify it).

A BOARDWORTHY QUOTE

I’m stealing the elaborate analogy that Terry, Chris, and Megan used to explain the assembly process: “Imagine the system is like an enormously precarious version of stringing a Christmas tree:  every bulb a different color, and you only can connect certain groups of five to a certain group of other ones… and then these five have to be in a certain spot on the tree… then the tree catches on fire… and what about the cats??”