Maria Jose Ortiz — HTGAA Spring 2026
Biological Engineering student exploring science, materiality, and visual narratives.
About me
Hi, I’m María José Ortiz, a biological engineering student interested in the intersection of
biology, materials, imaging, and experimental design.
I’m especially curious about living systems, bio-based materials, and how microscopic worlds become visual experiences.
Contact me
Themes I’m Exploring
- 🌱 Biofabrication & sustainable materials
- 🔬 Microscopy & biological imaging
- 🧬 Experimental biology
- 🎨 Science as a visual and narrative medium
Homework
- Nature’s machinery for copying DNA is called polymerase. What is the error rate of polymerase? How does this compare to the length of the human genome. How does biology deal with that discrepancy? The error rate is the 1:10^6, for the other hand the size of the human genome, which is approximately 3 × 10⁹ base pairs. If DNA polymerase functioned only at its intrinsic error rate, replication would introduce an extremely high number like would result in about 300 errors every time the genome is copied a lot mutation and problems, making genomic stability impossible.
- Name of the proyect: Fungi Biodyes The project I am interested in working on focuses on the textile industry, which is responsible for 20% of global industrial water pollution, with approximately 200,000 tons of dyes lost annually in effluents during dyeing processes. More than 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used in textile dyeing, many of which are toxic and non-biodegradable. (Dutta, 2024)
- Python Script for Opentrons Artwork — DUE BY YOUR LAB TIME Portrait opentrons-art.rcdonovan.com/?id=s49o23t6m4pr6v4 Option 2. Flower opentrons-art.rcdonovan.com/?id=g5u4j61fb0v70e7 from opentrons import types metadata = { ‘protocolName’: ‘HTGAA Opentrons Lab’, ‘author’: ‘MARIAORTIZ’, ‘source’: ‘HTGAA 2022’, ‘apiLevel’: ‘2.20’ } ############################################################################## Robot deck setup constants - don’t change these ##############################################################################