Team:MIT results

From 2010.igem.org

Results

Bacteria - Toggle and Circuit
The MIT Bacterial team endeavored to implement a system of UV-inducible polymerizing phage in E. Coli. To establish the necessary fine control of phage growth, we focused on implementing and improving the Collins toggle, a bistable genetic switch in E.Coli. The UV power required to switch the Collins toggle to the "on" state was killing many of our cells. To counteract this cell death, we designed and constructed a modified toggle that required eight times less UV power to switch states. Another problem we encountered was the high level of leakiness of the Plux/CI hybrid promoter R0065. We designed and constructed an improved version of this hybrid promoter that is more tightly controlled by our input. See the results! →

Phage - Biomaterial Formation
The Phage team is well on its way to making cells that produce cross-linking polyphage. We have observed the polyphage phenotype with AFM. We have displayed various linker proteins on the phage coat. We have constructed a new chloramphenicol pBR322 derived biobrick backbone to allow co-transformation of our final circuit with both our toggle (SC101, Amp) and hyperphage (p15a, Kan). See the results! →

Mammalian - Cellular Touchpad
The Mammalian team has progress on three fronts: sensing applied pressure, flipping a cellular switch and differentiating into bone. We have cloned promoters, SRE/CRE2 and NR1/2, that respond to a mechanical stimulus. We have designed, built and tested a cellular switch that turns on after induction with PonS. We have induced bone differentiation in stem cells, using human recombinant BMP2 (bone morphogenetic protein). See the our bone tissue! → See our pressure-sensing promoters! → See our switch! →