Aryaan J. 2025 | BASIS Independent Manhattan
- Project Title: AP Research: Exploring the Potential for Horizontal Gene Transfer to Enhance Microalgal Efficiency in Wastewater Treatment
- BASIS Independent Advisor: Joselyne Campos
My research holds the promise of significant benefits in the field of environmental biotechnology. I aim to investigate a novel approach: the influence of increased permeability of microalgal cell walls on the efficiency of Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) from bacteria to microalgae. This unique study will shed new light on the potential of HGT in enhancing wastewater treatment. I will focus on how the augmentation of cell wall permeability in microalgae impacts HGT efficiency in conditions akin to wastewater treatment. Additionally, I will explore the environmental factors that strengthen HGT and how the transferred genes could enhance pollutant removal, nutrient uptake, or stress resilience in microalgae.
My Posts
Final Post!
May 23, 2025
After several weeks of work, I finally wrapped up my E. coli transformation experiment. The goal was to test how environmental stress, including high salt concentration, nutrient limitation, and low pH, would affect transformation efficiency using the pGREEN plasmid. This plasmid contains both a gene for ampicillin resistance and one for GFP, which causes the […]
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Weeks 1 to 4: Lab time!
April 25, 2025
Alright, we’re back! This week, I went all in—mixing my own LB broth, streaking plates on my dining table, sterilizing old jars in a pot like some weird science-soup hybrid, and trying to convince my bacteria to actually do something. I measured out some Luria Broth (Miller’s) powder — not with a lab balance, but […]
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Week 0
March 21, 2025
Hello Readers! For far, my senior project has been a busy whirlwind of research, emails, and tons of problem-solving. For my project, I am researching how enzymatic treatments can increase microglial cell wall permeability to enhance horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from bacteria. HGT is crucial in evolution and biotechnology, but microalgea’s tough cell walls make […]
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