Instruction Details: https://online.smc.edu/courses/29945/assignments/465379

It is the year 2045 and you are working on a space station outpost on Mars.  The members of the outpost are falling sick in the neighboring living pods with a virus. You are the only person who has taken Biology and survived the 2020 pandemic. You are placed in charge of controlling the outbreak.

Begin your paper with an Introduction. Describe the virus (use COVID 19 as your potential virus in this case). Be sure to describe it scientifically. Do your research to find information about the virus itself. What viral family does it belong to, what are other viruses that are in the same family. What are the known proteins on it’s surface etc. What is known and what is not known. 

(1) Out line the  steps you would take to control the spread of the virus. You must provide a minimum of 5 steps. These are the rules you would put in place for the inhabitants of both the contaminated pods and the non contaminated pods. Remember you must consider how to treat the sick, how to control the spread to other pods, how the pods will obtain and share food/essentials without contamination etc. , consider what you will direct your scientists to work on, changes in ventilation of the pods etc. Think deeply about this. You can have more than 5. You must explain your rational for each step you wish to be adopted and used by the inhabitants and your rationale must be based upon science.

(2) Run a BLAST using COVID 19 as your virus (as you did in your DNA Lab) and find the virus’s DNA for the spike protein. This will be used to make your vaccine.  Copy and paste the genome for the spike protein inside your paper to show you know how to do a BLAST. (see your Canvas Page  ” COVID19 Resources and Literature ” to help in your research and the knowledge from your DNA lab on how to perform a BLAST. Here is a pdf copy of the power pointPreview the document to help with the BLAST as well ). Certainly, you can choose a different protein if you like ( the Michigan link inside the pdf might be helpful to find a different interesting protein to target, you must show the protein is part of the virus’s DNA through the BLAST). Be sure to include what it is and its function and how you intend to use it (ie-as a target for a vaccine, as a target for a drug molecule to block etc.). You can get innovative and creative here if you wish. (Who knows, you may find a new way to target this virus!) Make sure you include your computer’s time in your screen shot to show it is your work and not an image copy.

(3) Design a method and rules for the inhabitants to safely interact with each other again. The rules that would apply to interactions once the virus has been controlled and there are carriers shedding the virus, yet the work in the pods must now resume while your science team makes the vaccine from your spike protein DNA (this will take a year to make). Clearly outline how this will occur without further outbreaks in the pods. College level work. Must be a plan that includes interactions, protections, essentials/food all things surrounding return to normal functions with carriers.

At least (minimum) one full page of work is expected. There is no page maximum inside your one pdf.  12 point font size. You can include 1-3 images if you choose to do so (be sure to reference where you obtained the image). Format for readability. College level detail is expected. Justifications and rationale for your choices is expected. Ultimately, you will have written a working document that will serve as a functioning plan to be sent out to all the inhabitants. Be complete in your work.

Be sure to add references when outside materials and work is used. You can add a reference page to hold your references.  Do not plagiarize work you did not create. Cite! Use any conventional reference style you are comfortable and familiar with (you can not make up your own reference style). See below for links on common reference styles if you are unsure.