https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/index.htmlAbout me Hi! I’m Zia. I studied biotechnology, where I got interested in how biology can move beyond the lab and be turned into useful, scalable products. I’m especially interested in biomanufacturing, synthetic biology, and automation. I’m excited to learn how tools like microfluidics and cloud labs can make research more reproducible and accessible.Hugoenhttps://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.html1. What would I like to biomanufacture and why? I want to use bacteria to “grow” colour without dyes. Specifically, I want to use bacterial cellulose to create thin, flexible films that get their colour from their physical structure rather than added dyes. The idea is to grow cellulose and process it into cellulose noncrystals. These nanocrystals can self-assemble into a helical structure. The spacing within the structure determines which wavelengths of light are reflected, creating colour (Droguet et al., 2022).https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/week-02-hw-dna-design/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/week-02-hw-dna-design/index.htmlThis design advances my Week 1 proposal for structurally coloured cellulose films. I want a black, melanin-containing bacterial-cellulose backing to deepen the contrast of a separate colour-producing layer. For this assignment, I assembled a Tyr1 tyrosinase expression cassette in Kernel. The digital construct is a proposed component for a future prototype; I have not built or tested a pigmented film (Baig, 2026; Walker et al., 2025). Kernel workspace I used the HTGAA 2026 workspace and the baig-growingcolours repository. The saved construct is named J23104-B0034-tyr1-B0015 melanin cassette. Figure 1 shows it in Kernel (Asimov, 2026).https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/week-03-hw-cell-free-reaction-design/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/week-03-hw-cell-free-reaction-design/index.htmlZia Baig | HTBAA 2026 | October 6, 2026 A. Comparing reaction components Potassium glutamate helps maintain the ionic conditions needed for protein synthesis. Magnesium glutamate supports ribosomes and many enzymes, but nucleotides and phosphate bind magnesium and change how much remains available. Magnesium is therefore the more sensitive variable: small changes can sharply reduce expression, while potassium usually has a broader useful range (Olsen et al., 2026).https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/final-project/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zia-baig/final-project/index.html