Please help the judges by filling out this form. Tell them what medal
you think you deserve and why. Tell them which special prizes you should win. Help them find your best parts.
Show them how you thought about the safety of your project. Helping the judges will help you too.
Team:
Groningen
Track:
New Application
Project Name:
Hydrophobofilm --- a self assembling hydrophobic biofilm
Project Abstract:
Surface hydrophobicity is a useful property and has many applications. Hydrophobicity keeps a surface clean and dry preventing micro-organisms from attaching to a surface. Most chemical coatings used presently are costly or harmful to the environment. Our idea is to engineer Bacillus subtilis which when applied to a surface, automatically forms a hydrophobic biofilm coating. Succesful biofilm formation will serve as a trigger for the expression of hydrophobic proteins called Chaplins. The result of this process will be a rigid biofilm with embedded hydrophobic proteins, leaving a coated surface which is extremely hydrophobic. Producing a self-assembling hydrophobic biofilm is cheap, there is no high-tech treatment involved and there are no hazardous chemicals necessary to attain a hydrophobic coating. Applications of this hydrophobic biofilm range from anti-fouling coatings on ships to anti-corrosion coatings used to protect sensory equipment.