First Crowdfunding Fail

My crowdfunding campaign turned out a failure. It had a good run though. There were a lot of things I hadn't taken into consideration before going into it.

My goal amount was $4000.00 and I only ended up with $616.00. The actual pledges amounted to $1200.00 but the total ended up with $616.00 because of declines due to backers making a pledge to the project but when it came to funding the project and processing the pledges, the backer had no way to pay for it. 

I'm thinking of getting the project on another crowdfunding site. Now that I've experienced what it is like to do a campaign, I will prepare well for the next one and not do a half-assed job.

Anyway, I am thankful for all 14 backers and all the other people in my social network who helped spread word about my project. 

Project Launch on a Crowdfunding Site for Science

I made an account and registered with a crowdfunding site. I wanted to do my campaign via Kickstarter but saw this new one that's specifically for science/technology projects. So today the project approval committee said they love my project and launched it on their site. I hope I get my goal amount. I can't wait to do further testing.

Let's get this ball rolling. http://www.fundageek.com/project/detail/489/Lab-Testing-of-BIFIDUDE-BifidobacteriaSupporting-SoyFree-NonDairy-Infant-Formula

Crowdfunding

I'm looking into crowdfunding research for my formula. Let's see how this goes.

Assay Results

Wow. It's been two months and my experiment results came out pretty nicely as predicted. It was hard hand-feeding the little rascals for the first two weeks. On the third week though, I installed a gravity liquid feeder so it became easier.

Yay, results show that mice fed with my formula show a significant difference in their weights versus the two groups of mice who were fed with a branded baby formula and water.

If only I could further investigate what happens to the formula when it reaches the stomach. My ingredients, predicting from their digestion (and most especially the indigestion of some), could serve as an indigestible nutrient matrix for the development of beneficial intestinal bacteria.

Preliminary Bioassay

I'm doing a preliminary bioassay and I'm starting today. It's just actually an informal assay hoping to see if my alternative infant formula would have a direct effect on the health of infant mice by measuring their weights. The idea is to feed three groups (with 5 mice in each group) of infant mice (aging 12-15 days)  for the next two months with free-for-all hamster feed (I have no access to Lab Block so I guess hamster feed will do), two different milk formulas and water. The first group would be fed with my formula, second group would be fed with a popular infant formula brand, and the third group with just water (my control group supposedly). The idea is to compare the weights of the three groups of mice after two months.

This is gonna be challenging. 

Wish me luck.

Alternative Infant Formula to Improve Infant and Child Health in Developing Countries

Currently restructuring and seriously redesigning my methodologies for my study on an alternative infant formula that aims to enhance nutrient uptake by mimicking mammalian oligosaccharides with a special yet cheaper formula using local ingredients, which will serve as nutrient matrix for selective growth of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis.

I hope to finish the plans this week and start buying the things I need so I can start with my experiments by next week.

I will update once in a while.

Welcome To Awesome Science!

Awesome Science is basically one girl who goes by the name Donna Longstocking. I am that girl.

I am fascinated by science and technology and mostly always disturbed and frustrated by scientific ideas that won't leave me alone. Ideas that I think could be solutions to some basic problems in society. I have drawn out a couple of these ideas and have written them down in some of my bazillion notebooks scattered around my room, complete with some theories on what methodologies to research on and to employ in my "thought lab experiments".

I have been trying to organize some of these ideas into writings as proposals for grant contests, which with most, I fail to reach the submission deadlines because of other things that keep me busy. Like work and depression.

I have been thinking of making a blog about this passion of mine but have been putting it on hold for a couple of months because I'm almost always busy with trivial matters that tend to get me lazy when it comes to my passions.

However, I stumbled upon this New York Times DIYbio article, which got me into an inspiration frenzy. Got me thinking to start doing experimental testing on my own rather than wait for months to submit an idea to an organization that doesn't really care with what I want to achieve with my research, with the hope of winning a grant (if fortunate enough) so I can start to work on it. DIYbio really opened my mind that I can do this right now and not wait for anyone else to start my research.

So, join me in my adventures in my home laboratory. The thought absolutely thrills me.