Team:Cambridge/Tools/microMeasure

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Latest revision as of 04:23, 27 October 2010

Future applications: Biosensors

An ever popular class of iGEM projects are those which create biosensors. This year more teams than ever have dedicated their time to the development of biosensors, for example Peking are detecting heavy metals, Imperial identifying parasites and Sheffield recognising chlolera.

Real life isn't black and white

3D mock-up of a mass produced bioluminescent biosensor featuring the same technology as our E.glometer: a cuvette for loading sample, simple buttons for making readings, LCD screen for output.

In every application of a biosensor it is useful to know the amount of the factor being measured. There are a numerous existing reporters. However to our knowledge there are none which are both affordable and quantitative. Some teams attempt to solve this problem by using a series of wells sensitive to increasing concentrations of the substance. But this requires a great deal of work to tune the sensors correctly and can add to their cost.

We have already shown that the amount of the light produced by a bacterial culture can be assayed affordably with our E.glometer. Such devices could be mass produced lowering production costs further and distributed with the bacterial biosensors.

Co-reporters

It is often useful to have one cell measuring reporting two different outputs. Light is an effective means of achieving this, since it has different wavelengths which can be easily separated by inexpensive filters. The various coloured outputs that we have created would be useful tools for achieving this.

Applications of co-reporters include:

Using one output as a control to check for biosensor viability, avoiding false negatives
Measuring two or more quantities concurrently, e.g. a number of different toxins

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 {{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/headerMinimalprototype}}
-{{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/headerbar|colour=#96d446|title=Future applications: Biosensors}}
+{{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/headerbar|colour=#96d446|linkcolour=#6bbe00|title=Future applications: Biosensors}}
-An ever popular class of iGEM projects are those on '''biosensors'''.  This year more teams than ever have dedicated their time to the development of biosensors, for example [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Peking/Project/Biosensor Peking] are detecting heavy metals, [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Imperial_College_London Imperial] parasites and [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Sheffield Sheffield] chlolera.
+An ever popular class of iGEM projects are those which create '''biosensors'''.  This year more teams than ever have dedicated their time to the development of biosensors, for example [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Peking/Project/Biosensor Peking] are detecting heavy metals, [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Imperial_College_London Imperial] identifying parasites and [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Sheffield Sheffield] recognising chlolera.
 [[Image:Cambridge-Sensorwikis.jpg]]
-==It isn't black and white==
+==Real life isn't black and white==
-In all these cases it is useful to know the '''amount''' of the factor being measured. There are a numerous existing reporters.  However to our knowledge there are none which are both affordable and <strong>quantitative</strong>.  Some teams attempt to solve this problem by using a series of wells sensitive to increasing concentrations of the substance.  But this requires a great deal of work to tune the sensors correctly.
+{{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/RightImage|image=Cambridge-eglo.jpg|caption=3D mock-up of a mass produced bioluminescent biosensor featuring the same technology as our [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Tools/Eglometer E.glometer]: a cuvette for loading sample, simple buttons for making readings, LCD screen for output.}}
+In every application of a biosensor it is useful to know the '''amount''' of the factor being measured. There are a numerous existing reporters.  However to our knowledge there are none which are both affordable and <strong>quantitative</strong>.  Some teams attempt to solve this problem by using a series of wells sensitive to increasing concentrations of the substance.  But this requires a great deal of work to tune the sensors correctly and can add to their cost.
 We have already shown that the amount of the light produced by a bacterial culture can be assayed affordably with our [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Tools/Eglometer E.glometer].  Such devices could be mass produced lowering production costs further and distributed with the bacterial biosensors.
+<html><div style="clear:both"></div></html>
+==Co-reporters==
+It is often useful to have one cell measuring reporting two different outputs.  Light is an effective means of achieving this, since it has different wavelengths which can be easily separated by inexpensive filters.  The various [https://2010.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Bioluminescence/Colour coloured outputs] that we have created would be useful tools for achieving this.
+[[Image:Cambridge-Coreporter.png|700px]]
+Applications of co-reporters include:
+* Using one output as a control to check for biosensor viability, avoiding false negatives
+* Measuring two or more quantities concurrently, e.g. a number of different toxins
 {{:Team:Cambridge/Templates/footer}}