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Team:CSIA SouthKorea/Extra
From 2013hs.igem.org
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Notebook
And if not now, Then when? (Pirkei Avot 1:14)
Our team continuously communicates via frequent Facebook messages, e-mails, and text messages to lively exchange thoughts and ideas; also, we visit CSBL@KU lab about once a week to meet our advisor and do labs.
Brainstorming and Planning
2013-02-13
Eugenie, Gyeongmin, Sirwoo and Joon Hyuck visited the lab to talk to our advisor about the topic of our iGEM project. The following are the ideas that we came up with. Each of them are elaborated on the "Brainstorming" page.
- vanilla-flavor-emitting Lactobacillus, which can be used to make vanilla-flavored yogurt
- inhibition of biofilm-formation of Streptococcus mutans
- CO detecting bacteria
- CO2 fixation bacteria
- bacteria that produces ATP with light, using proteorhodopsin
- plastic degrading bacteria
After the meeting, we did some further search on more information related to the possible topics mentioned above and received feedback from our instructor and advisor.
2013-02-28
Eugenie, Gyeongmin, Joon Hyuck and MyungGun visited the lab.
Before the meeting, through e-mail exchanges and Facebook chats, we had consolidated the direction of our project into constructing bacteria equipped with proteorhodopsin. Our advisor had sent us several theses about this topic; we tried to come up with good ideas on how to apply proteorhodopsin in making the bacteria to perform certain function. We came up with some ideas, such as enhancing butanol production in bacteria or enhancing lactic acid production in Lactobacillus. Later on, our instructor introduced us with 2010 Collegiate iGEM Team Cambridge Project, and suggested to try improving the parts constructed by Team Cambridge by adding gene that expresses proteorhodopsin or by adding other gene that enhances ATP production of E. coli. He also introduced us with [http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-BioPrinter/ DIY BioPrinter] and suggested to create similar BioPrinter that uses bioluminescence proteins expressed by engineered E. coli instead of ink.
During the meeting, we discussed about the mechanism of DIY BioPrinter that we are planning to construct. We came up with two different mechanisms:
1. Using the bioluminescence protein-expressing bacteria itself as ink
2. Using inducers, such as arabinose and IPTG, as ink and printing on agar plate on which bacterial colonies that expresses bioluminescence proteins when contacted with inducers
The iGEM kit has arrived at the lab a few days ago, so we ook a look at it. We learned how to inoculate bacteria into solid and liquid badge, using the sample E. coli (Part A and Part B) that were included in the kit.
2013-06-04
Eugenie, Sirwoo visited the lab.
https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon Carnegie Mellon University did a real-time quantitative measurement of RNA and protein levels using fluorogen-activated biosensors. Inducible promoters are widely used in synthetic biology and iGEM, but they often lack quantitative measurements of both RNA and protein synthesis rates. So what if we could estimate the amount of inducible promoters? Or, is it possible to establish the kinetics more thoroughly by using different bacterial strains and growth conditions?
Luciferin Oxyluciferin, which we had a lot of interest in, wasn’t that commercial, and wasn’t in much usage. This got us thinking – what if we could combine Luciferase with ATP, and oxidize it to form Oxyluciferin, which can be a source of biolight?
Clean up kit What if we could make our own biosphere that can clean up after itself, without any additional dosages of bacteria that are the ‘janitors’ of the environment? Sadly, this was overruled, as we were advised that it was a too much of a cliché of a topic.
Altering Bacteria By altering the operon for the production of biofilms in bacteria, many bacteria will be effectively killed – which is why we thought that it would be exciting if we engineered a bacteria that can do exactly just that, too other microorganisms. We could do this through quorum sensing, which is related to the regulation of the operon for biofilms.
Biosensors! Using synthesized bacteria as a biosensor, we will be able to determine whether the food is safe for consumption. Our synthesized bacteria will turn a different shade of color (preferably a highlighted, bright color, a color that is normally not associated with foods - for the purpose of detecting them clearly) depending on the amount of bacteria that is copmmonly associated with food poisoning, such as salmonella, E.Coli O157, Campylobacter, and Listeria. If possible, we are hoping that we can make this biosensor able for consumption and irrelevant to the health of the human body, since testing only a small portion of food may be erroneous - bacteria might be concentrated in only one area. As well as this, we also thought of sensing poison in fishes, or sensing any harmful material on the surface of eggs through our biosensor.
ATP electricity ATP is the main ‘TNT’ of the bodily functions, and mainly distributes energy in the form of chemicals. What if we could use this, and convert it to electrical energy? After all, eels and some aquatic organisms defend themselves by generating electricity – can’t this harvested electricity be applied to our household appliances?
Bio-IT What if we could regulate bioluminescent bacteria, that can give off light on its own, to behave accordingly to the orders by the CPU, to illuminate a bio-energized screen? Is it possible?
Biolamp What if we could use cyanobacteria, a photosynthetic organism, to produce light? Can enough concentrations of cyanobacteria be able to illuminate the room?
Preventing Conjugation of Bacteria Since genetic variability, constant morphing and continuous mating allow super bacteria to arise, why not just genetically sterilize them? Without the F factor, or the sex factor, bacteria will not be able to mate, and such genetic superiority will not happen.
