Hey Annie!! Your presentation skills are amazing and the poster looks great. I’m seeing PsychoDuck has a low infection rate which is great! My only question is what is a “Psychoduck” exactly?
Hi Emily! Thank you! Psychoduck is a play on words that my lab partner Dan came up with. Psycho is a play on “cyclo” because our phage has a cyclic head. We originally thought of cycloduck but decided that psycho sounded cooler and was kind of relevant because our phage is a killer of bacteria. The duck part is because Dan loves ducks and ducks are known for being adaptable to many environments, just like phages.
Thank you Emily! I’m not sure of the specific details, but CRISPR-Cas9 can be used to cut DNA at precise locations. In this case, it would be used to cut and remove the phage DNA at the beginning and end of the sequence that encodes the repressor, then the DNA on both sides of the removed sequence would reseal/ repair itself.
Hey Annie, this was a very cohesive and well put together presentation! My question for you is what differentiates siphoviridae from other bacteriophages?
Hi Kendall. Thank you! Phages can be siphoviridae, myoviridae, or podoviridae. Myoviridae have generally shorter tails than siphoviridae, but what really makes them unique is that they have contractile tails with a base plate at the end of the tail, where the tail widens and has fibers sticking out kinda like a hardware nut with spider legs. Podoviridae have extremely short tails that are even shorter than the diameter of the head. Siphoviridae have the longest tails and are non-contractile.
Hey Annie!! Your presentation skills are amazing and the poster looks great. I’m seeing PsychoDuck has a low infection rate which is great! My only question is what is a “Psychoduck” exactly?
Hi Emily! Thank you! Psychoduck is a play on words that my lab partner Dan came up with. Psycho is a play on “cyclo” because our phage has a cyclic head. We originally thought of cycloduck but decided that psycho sounded cooler and was kind of relevant because our phage is a killer of bacteria. The duck part is because Dan loves ducks and ducks are known for being adaptable to many environments, just like phages.
Great presentation! How exactly would you remove the repressor protein through genetic modification?
Thank you Emily! I’m not sure of the specific details, but CRISPR-Cas9 can be used to cut DNA at precise locations. In this case, it would be used to cut and remove the phage DNA at the beginning and end of the sequence that encodes the repressor, then the DNA on both sides of the removed sequence would reseal/ repair itself.
Hey Annie, this was a very cohesive and well put together presentation! My question for you is what differentiates siphoviridae from other bacteriophages?
Hi Kendall. Thank you! Phages can be siphoviridae, myoviridae, or podoviridae. Myoviridae have generally shorter tails than siphoviridae, but what really makes them unique is that they have contractile tails with a base plate at the end of the tail, where the tail widens and has fibers sticking out kinda like a hardware nut with spider legs. Podoviridae have extremely short tails that are even shorter than the diameter of the head. Siphoviridae have the longest tails and are non-contractile.