LAB-WIDE PROJECTS 2013–2017
These are ongoing future-diagnostic projects by our student researchers with several years of development behind them.
Waller Creek
The Waller Creek project collects and analyzes water samples to determine the primary source (dog, human, or other) of E. coli found in Waller Creek. With this information and the aid of the Waller Creek Conservancy, the goal is to find a way to reduce the bacterial contamination downstream without negatively affecting the creek’s ecosystems. Read more>>
FRIome
In 2014, DIY Diagnostics established the FRIome Project. Its intent is to discover the relationships between bacterial abundances in the human oral microbiome and the wellbeing of the human host. Student gathered human saliva samples from volunteers, created survey questions for the donators, developed a protocol for DNA extractions, and submitted the samples to Basespace, a sequencing and computing platform, for further analysis using 16S metagenomics. Read more>>
Parkinson’s Keystroke Analytics
Parkinson’s Disease is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative motor disorders in the US, with hand tremors representing one of the key symptoms of the disease. This fact, combined with the idea that the general population uses personal computers to type on every day, led us to the idea for a diagnostic tool using keyboards and the analysis of the user’s typing behavior. With the Parkinson’s Keystroke Project, we aim to ultimately develop a computer program that can diagnose and/or track the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease with more sensitivity and accuracy than that of current standard diagnostic procedures. Read more>>
Zika Diagnostic
We seek to develop a field ready molecular point-of-need diagnostic platform that can detect and accurately identify many mosquito-borne diseases. Two key features of our platform are being able to: 1) locally source parts; and 2) easily reconfigure the platform for different disease targets. In order to work with local economies on the development and implementation of diagnostics, we propose to create simple, inexpensive transducers that will be able to convert molecular signals already within a mosquito into a readout on an available pregnancy test kit or other lateral flow assay. Read More>>
UV Sensor
DIY is designing and constructing a “wearable” UV sensor. The goal of this sensor is to track your personal UV exposure amount as you go about your daily activities. The sensor measures the UV index and relays it to the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth. We envision a lot of uses for this technology including prevention of sunburn and also allowing a user to “calibrate” their vitamin D levels based in real-world sun exposure amount. Read more>>
STUDENT POSTERS
These are some of the posters that past students have made. Each poster summarizes their research in the lab over the course of the fall semester.
