Team:Missouri Miners/Project

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<h1>Project Center</h1>
<h1>Project Center</h1>
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<p style="font-size:16px">Abstract</p>
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<i>"It is well known that microorganisms can produce fuels, such as ethanol, methane and hydrogen, from organic matter. It is less well known that microorganisms can also convert organic matter into electricity in devices known as microbial fuel cells."</i> <br /> ~ Dr. Derek Lovley, 2006.
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     Jumping from the pages of a science fiction novel, the concept of using microorganisms as a source of electricity is considered by most to be a work of fantasy. In contrast, scientists are starting to explore how using living organisms can solve the impending fuel crisis.  Modern thought concludes using microbes to produce energy as inefficient and ineffective; however, microbes can be more reliable than other fuel sources.  <br /><br />Microbes were the first form of life on this planet, and have existed for billions of years. The abundance and heartiness of microbes creates the perfect environment for an unlimited sustainable source of energy.<br /><br /> Similar to other fledging scientific fields, a breakthrough in microbial fuel cell development does not occur without difficulties. Our goal has been to transport the electron shuttling pathway from an anaerobic bacterium to an easily manageable aerobic system within E. coli. After countless hours of trial and error, a breakthrough is materializing.
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     The growing need for alternative fuel sources has sparked interest and research across many scientific and engineering disciplines.  The fledgling field of microbial fuel cell development has previously relied on anaerobic metal reducing organisms such as Geobacter sulfurreduccens. This project sought to isolate genes from the electron shuttling pathway in Geobacter and transform them into the more manageable aerobic Escherichia coli.  The Missouri University of Science and Technology iGEM team isolated four outer membrane cytochrome (omc) genes from Geobacter, vital to the extracellular transportation of electrons. The four genes; omcB, omcE, omcS and omcT, were cloned into individual plasmids. The eventual goal is to combine all four genes into one plasmid to transform into E. coli to create an aerobic, electron transporting microbial system.
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</p><p style="font-size:16px">Background</p>
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    What exactly is a microbial fuel cell?  What are current research initiatives focused on in this area?  How is the S&T iGEM team's approach different?
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Revision as of 04:18, 7 July 2010


Project Center

Abstract

The growing need for alternative fuel sources has sparked interest and research across many scientific and engineering disciplines. The fledgling field of microbial fuel cell development has previously relied on anaerobic metal reducing organisms such as Geobacter sulfurreduccens. This project sought to isolate genes from the electron shuttling pathway in Geobacter and transform them into the more manageable aerobic Escherichia coli. The Missouri University of Science and Technology iGEM team isolated four outer membrane cytochrome (omc) genes from Geobacter, vital to the extracellular transportation of electrons. The four genes; omcB, omcE, omcS and omcT, were cloned into individual plasmids. The eventual goal is to combine all four genes into one plasmid to transform into E. coli to create an aerobic, electron transporting microbial system.

Background

What exactly is a microbial fuel cell? What are current research initiatives focused on in this area? How is the S&T iGEM team's approach different?


Lots of neat ideas are brewing at S&T.
Wondering what we're up to this week? Check out our notebook!
Living Fuel: The wonderful world of microbial fuel cells.

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