Lab visit to the Harvard University

Natalia Pacocha visited Professor David Weitz's group at Harvard University. An aim of the visit was to learn new methods for the detection of fluorescence intensity in picoliter droplets. An initial assumption was to create an optical system for the detection of fluorescence intensity in the droplets containing amplified DNA of bacteria. Unfortunately, this project was suspended and Natalia has finally worked on the directed evolution of enzymes. A library of bacteria mutants was encapsulated in the droplets together with a substrate and enzymatic activity was observed by detection of fluorescence intensity of the created product. Thanks to that internship she learned new techniques of detection of fluorescence intensity in picodroplets and she became acquainted and gained experience in confocal microscopy. Besides, Natalia had an opportunity to learn new methods in microfluidics and molecular biology.

Natalia Pacocha also delivered a presentation "High-throughput and precise methods for bacteria counting and susceptibility testing".

Visitor

Natalia Pacocha

Dates

Jan.8- Mar.3, 2020

Location

Cambridge, USA