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Team:UC Berkeley/Team/Aron Lau
From 2008.igem.org
MY NAME/NICKNAME
Aron Lau
MY STATS
Wet Team Undergrad Senior at UC Berkeley Major: Bioengineering 300 ligations and counting
WHAT LED ME TO SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
I have always been interested in engineering, especially modifying organsims. Synthetic biology occasionally gets a negative rep with people not working in science, but doing reading about the problems we can solve using genetic engineering got me impressed with synbio. (The actual reason is watching sci-fi movies with mutants with superpower) Though the chances of making the next X-men is unlikely, trying to make self lysing E.Coli that does something when you yell at it isn't so bad either.
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY: IN MY WORDS
For me, a simplified way of looking at the organisms around is to looking at them as being made of parts. We can swap parts between organisms to make better organisms (thus speeding up evolution) or more useful organisms that serve our needs. In reality, organisms are systems of parts that have complex interactions (so it is not as easy as swapping out the video card on a desktop), but our synthetic bio knowledge should allow us to make less disruptive changes.
MY POSSIBLE FUTURE WITH SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
If I had a choice, I would like to engineer more complex organisms, which will hopefully be a reality in my lifetime.
MY GOALS WITH IGEM
The biggest goal of my experience is the metallic brick at the Jamboree in November. Aside from that, I wanted to learn more about synbio (I think I achieved this goal and more).
MY FAVORITE DNA SEQUENCE
Poly-A
LEAST FAVORITE DNA SEQUENCE
Sequences that don't turn out to be what I want them to be (yes, those sequences with point mutations, deletions, insertions)
MY DUMBEST LAB MISTAKE/COMPUTATIONAL ERROR
I heatshocked KCM thinking they were cells that I wanted to heatshock.
MY FAVORITE CHILDHOOD CARTOON
TMNT, Woody Woodpecker, Animaniacs, Beast Wars, Transformers, Fanstastic Four, Batman
MY FAVORITE FOOD
Spicy Crab Basil Chile Chicken
