Temporally tuning gene expression of transcription factors over time could help facilitate studying and engineering cell fate transitions. Recombinase-based methods offer stable and heritable changes to gene expression via DNA editing, but currently are limited to the on/off binary. Prior research has indicated that closer distance between zinc finger (ZF) binding region and the TATA box of ZF-inducible promoters increases gene expression levels. The goal of this project is to use the Cre-loxP recombinase system to dynamically edit this distance in the ZF37/43 hybrid promoter, hence allowing change between two non-zero expression levels. If successful, these dynamic promoters can be further utilized to develop a way to change between negative and positive feedback loop steady states.

I am participating in SuperUROP because I hope to gain further research experience by fully engaging myself in research for the entire year. By investing more time in research, I want to grow more comfortable being fully independent with my project and be able to ultimately analyze the data I collect and construct a scientific narrative around the results of my experiments. Through this long-term research project, I want to learn the various aspects of research beyond wet-lab work and hopefully make meaningful progress in my project.