PRISMS Students To Participate in Synthetic Chromosome Project

Research students working with Dr. Hauser have begun work on a unique project that aims to produce the first synthetic eukaryotic chromosome. Eukaryotes are composed of fungi, plants, and animals. Several years ago, scientists created the first synthetic life form (in this case, a bacteria). They were able to make copy of the bacteria’s DNA and then insert the copy into a bacterium whose original DNA had been removed. The new, synthetic genome worked and scientists have now turned their attention to creating the first synthetic eukaryotic genome.Research students working with Dr. Hauser have begun work on a unique project that aims to produce the first synthetic eukaryotic chromosome. Eukaryotes are composed of fungi, plants, and animals. Several years ago, scientists created the first synthetic life form (in this case, a bacterium). They were able to make a copy of the bacterium’s DNA and then insert the copy into a bacterium whose original DNA had been removed. The new, synthetic genome worked and scientists have now turned their attention to creating the first synthetic eukaryotic genome.

Researchers at 10 international universities are currently manufacturing the synthetic genome of the chosen eukaryote (a yeast). In order to make the individual chromosomes in yeast (which has a total of 16 chromosomes), the individual pieces of synthetic DNA have to be pieced together into larger “chunks”. This is where PRISMS students come in. Together with students at Johns Hopkins, NYU, and four other colleges, PRISMS students will be working on piecing together the smaller pieces of synthetic DNA into the larger chunks. If they are successful, then the students will be able to say that they helped build the first synthetic eukaryotic genome! What is even more exciting is that PRISMS is the only high school that is participating in the program.

"It really is a remarkable opportunity for our students. The project is truly a unique and historical opportunity" says Dr. Hauser, who completed an NSF (National Science Foundation) funded workshop in the summer to prepare for the research. Students are learning numerous molecular biology techniques and are exploring the relatively new field of synthetic biology.

The students involved are Harry (Bairui) Liu, Avrilla (Xinyue) Qian, Amy (Ruoqian) Xiong, Lily (Hanwen) Zhang, and Joe (Ziqi) Zhou.