Homework
Weekly homework submissions:
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 of polymerases depends on their type, as Human DNA has mechanisms for proofreading that other organisms’ DNA lacks. The error rate for DNA polymerase is 1 in every 107 base pairs. As compared to the human genome size of 6 X 109 base pairs. The mechanisms include mismatch repair, base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, NHEJ, HR, damage checkpoint, and some tolerance mechanisms. This is how biology deals with discrepancies via multiple mechanism before-during-after DNA replication and the cell cycle.
Week 1 HW: Principles and Practices
First, describe a biological engineering application or tool you want to develop and why. This could be inspired by an idea for your HTGAA class project and/or something for which you are already doing in your research, or something you are just curious about. As I have been thinking about the different ways synthetic biology can help with menstruation and its complexities (painful, irregular bleeding) when it comes to people with PCOS and endometriosis. I want to develop an autonomous endometrial gene circuit that senses estrogen or progesterone peaks and locally regulates endometrial growth. The goal is non-hormonal, reversible control of menstrual bleeding, which could prevent heavy bleeding or abnormal endometrial proliferation while minimizing systemic hormone exposure.