Evan taking materials to the lab for blending
Ryan and Evan working with food slurry.
Food waste can be stored in a freezer or refrigerator until needed. Rotting or moldy food does not need to be removed before digestion.
Pre-consumer food waste from D2 dining hall.
Post-consumer waste from D2 dining hall.
Blended food waste.
Blended food waste. Post-consumer waste is to the left, while pre-consumer waste is to the right.
Bioreactor setup with tubes for gas escape and sample collection.
Nitrogen sparging to create an anaerobic environment. Oxygen is toxic to the digestive soil microbes.
Another view of nitrogen sparging. The bottles contain a mixture of food waste slurry, water, soil (containing microbes), and sometimes other additives to promote cell growth.
Bottles prepared to go into the incubator.
Bottles are immersed in a hot water bath at 37 degrees Celsius.
Another view of the water bath.
Pro tip: put the masking tape labels above the water line and include useful information.
Sampling of digestate for later analysis.
Sampling of digestate for later analysis.
Ready for the next round of samples. Samples are taken at intervals of 6 and 12 hours for several days.
Meeting notes with Dr. Senger.
Proposed plasmid map with gfp insert
Proposed plasmid map with phsABC insert
Degassing of HPLC buffer.
Reagents and DNA kept on ice before PCR.
Gel electrophoresis on isolated cells
Heterologous gfp gene on plasmid pWNB43N