Team:Newcastle/Meetings/24 February 2010

Formal Meeting - 24 February 2010

• Start time: 3.10-5.35 pm
• Room 922
• Attendance
  • Present: Da (Computer), Harsh, Jannetta, Rachel (Chair), Younus (Minutes), Zoltan, Richard, Steven, Anil, Jen, Matt
  • Apologies: Alan, Phil

Updates

• iGEM 2010 Team Newcastle Registered
• Final Date for Jamboree 5-8th Nov?

Shortlist so far

Project ideas – team members assigned to look into this projects TOP FIVE

[1] Computing DNA - Rachel, Zoltan, Steven

[2] Microcracks in Concrete - Harsh, Da, Alan

[3] BactoNatto, Teeth, Coating spores/BS - Rachel, Younus, Jannetta

[4] Headlice - Richard, Janetta,Phil

[5] Linearising DNA - Richard, Phil, Zoltan

Possible other projects

[A] Diabetes - Da, Younus and Harsh

[B] French Flag - Steven and Zoltan

[C] Putting BS into us?/BS against disease or diseased water? - Richard

Sub-project

[D] MAZef kill switch

Decision of project

• Ideal situation: All decide on one project on Friday – Present idea on Wed
• Likely situation: Choose top 3 projects – Present on Wed 3rd - formal meeting
• If can’t decide on which project – put it to the vote (like last year!)

Presentations

• About 5 minutes, 3-4 slides.
• Work in assigned groups of three
• demonstrate project is viable/explain how it works + problems/issues

• Start looking at a lower level i.e. which genes involved
• Start looking at modelling languages, SPML, environments?
• Use Google Scholar
• Major Weakness of many previous iGEM teams – Modelling is tagged onto Lab work. We should perform modelling-informed lab work

Timeline

For the Summary table for AW & JH:

• Different Individuals holidays should by included
  • For personal and practical issues
  • To get a picture of when everyone is available
• List of all tasks with hard deadlines highlighted
• T-Shirts/Poster – not a single point
• Misc?
• Team Roster – Finalise who is coming to the Jamboree – twice?

Action Points

1. All members to apply for membership for iGEM 2010 Team Newcastle
2. AW & JW to e-mail Jannetta and Phil about Timeline summary
3. Visas/Passports – Check whether visas required/If passports in date.
   • Zoltan and Harsh –
   • British Passport -> don’t need visa but need to fill in online form
   • JH, AW and M… already have visas from last years
4. Complete Data mining
5. Purchase/try Natto!!!!!

Other businesses

• Harsh’s cheaper/quicker flight to Boston option - Booking has to go through University still. Would be helpful to identify flights

Ideas

[1] Computing DNA

• Kill switch
• Modifying bacteria so that as they evolve they move closer or further away from answering a problem
• Bacteria survive if close to answer [1?], die if further away from answer [0?]
• Hamiltonian Pathway

[2] Microcracks in Concrete

• Spray bacteria into concrete
• spray nutrients, when nutrients run out – forms a polymer/biofilm
• fills cracks by producing e.g. polymer, protein, CaCO3 etc.

• Difficulty – way of detecting cracks - X-rays
• Great wall of China – used rice – still there!
• Worlds strongest Glue – Camylobacter cresentus
• Spider silk – contracts as it dries – could be like reinforced concrete
• Spores germinate when cracks get bigger – start to grow again!
• Applications: Cracks in space shuttles, shoes
• Advantage over normal glue? BS can get to cracks, where normal glue cannot!
• Well-known problem – microcracks will develop into bigger cracks

• Chemical engineer would be required

[3] BactoNatto, Teeth, Coating spores/BS

• S. mutans binding to ... in teeth -> decay teeth
• displace this organism with BS
• 90 day protection?
• Spoon of this - mix into anything?
• MIT 2007 -> didnt manage to transform lactobacillus with specific plasmid
• Would have to use a computer stimulation of teeth

• Chocolate/vanilla/banana flavoured Natto!
• Miracal cure
• with Fluorides, Omega, Vitamins [D], Minerals etc.

[4] Headlice

• Male stomach discs?
• Female symbiotic relationship with bacteria
• How to introduce BS?
• Lice v hard to get rid of
• Bacillus Stringensis?

[5] Linearising DNA

• bacteria with linear chromosomes/plasmids - Agrobacteria?
• Streptomyces ... also has linear DNA
• problem of replication - as it is normally bidirectional
• Richard's two papers
• Flipase/RecA?

[B] French Flag

• spatial and temporal organisation-self organisation
• bacteria grow in a certain pattern without external stimuli - they decide on the basis of local stimuli
• Game of life and Rock, Paper Sissors game by Southampton 2009
• See also Osaka 2009