Team:Imperial College London/Tour/Page Two

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|style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:2em;color:#ea8828;" colspan="2"|Welcome to the tour!
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|style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:2em;color:#ea8828;" colspan="2"|Modelling
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|[[Team:Imperial_College_London/The_Team | The team]] embarked on our iGEM project in early July, after finishing our exams and having about a week off for a bit of rest and relaxation. There have been highs, there have been lows (our [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Diary/Week_One | diary]] can give you all the details, or even our [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Media/Videos | video diary]] if you're feeling adventurous!), but it's all part of the amazing journey that is iGEM. Follow this brief tour of our project for an idea of what we got upto.
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|So now the design concept has been thought out, how could we begin to fill in the details? Will our system be sensitive enough to trigger? How can we make our output mechanism as fast as possible? By applying some complicated equations, we gained [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Modelling | modelling data]] that fed straight back into our design.  
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|We had great fun with our initial [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Brainstorming | brainstorming]] sessions, but we soon focused on an area we found interesting: biosensors. Synthetic biology has great potential for biosensors, but there are definitely a few key problems with current solutions.
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|Next came the lab work. A complex [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Strategy | assembly strategy]] was developed, and three separate lab teams formed. Over the course of the project we developed [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Parts | 20 different parts]]. For a more technical overview of what we did and how we did it, take a look at our [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Protocol | lab protocol]] and [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Lab_Diaries/XylE_team | lab diary]] pages.
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|'''Time - '''Current solutions can take anything from hours to weeks to generate a visible output. What if you could design a system that was capable of responding in minutes?
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|The moment of truth! For a comprehensive overview of what happened, check out our [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Results | results page]]. TO BE FILLED.
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'''Capability - '''Current solutions are limited to a variety of simple inputs. Basic chemicals, environmental changes, etc. What if you could detect something more complex, like a protein?
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'''Modularity - '''Current systems tend to have a fixed input/output. What if you could create a framework that allowed inputs and outputs to be mixed and matched together?
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|After much deliberation, we decided that something with a strong health impact would be a good candidate for detection. But how, why, and what? This is when we brought our [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Human_Practices/Panel_Discussion | human practices]] to bear on the problem. A series of expert meetings, workshops and a panel discussion later, we found our target. Parasites - hard to detect, but easy to treat. In particular we looked at the [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Schistosoma | schistosoma parasite]], a neglected tropical disease which affects over 200 million people worldwide. If we could create a cheap, easy and safe system, then it might really make a difference.
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|style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:2em;color:#ea8828;" colspan="2"|The engineering cycle
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|With a goal in mind, what was the most efficient way to develop our project? We decided to follow the engineering design cycle. We first produced a specification based on the problems we had identified with previous biosensors, combined with ethical and logistical factors identified through the [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Human_Practices/Report | human practices report]]. Next came the fun part.
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|Public engagement is an essential part of research; bridging the gap between academics and the wider public can achieve so much. When discussing this aspect of synthetic biology, we realised that school students would be an interesting demographic to present the subject to. We also liked the idea of inspiring young people to learn more about synthetic biology and iGEM, so we ran a series of [[Team:Imperial_College_London/School_Workshops | school workshops]].
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|colspan="2" valign="top"|With our specification at the ready, how did we want to design our system? What [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Chassis | chassis]] should we use? How can we split up our project? After intense [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Research | research]] we settled on using ''B. subtilis'', and dividing the project into [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Modules | three modules]]. This makes it more powerful to use, simpler to create, and allows us to focus each module on solving an identified problem.
 
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|colspan="2"|We decided to design a [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Modules/Detection | new mechanism for parasite detection]] - by using the proteases they release. A novel protein is bound to the cell surface, with a signalling peptide attached via a protease cleavage site. When the protease comes along, the signal peptide is released, allowing it to activate our signaling module.
 
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|colspan="2"|To transduce the signal we used a [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Modules/Signaling | quorum sensing system]] of a gram positive bacterium. The two component signal transduction system taken from S. pneumoniae transfers our peptide signal into the cell, activating the fast response module.
 
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|colspan="2"|Our [[Team:Imperial_College_London/Modules/Fast_Response | fast response mechanism]] is based around using an enzymatic amplification step acting upon a presynthesised substrate. This greatly reduces the time required for producing a recognisable output, enabling useful field testing kits.
 
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Revision as of 12:28, 24 October 2010

Modelling
So now the design concept has been thought out, how could we begin to fill in the details? Will our system be sensitive enough to trigger? How can we make our output mechanism as fast as possible? By applying some complicated equations, we gained modelling data that fed straight back into our design.
Assembly
Next came the lab work. A complex assembly strategy was developed, and three separate lab teams formed. Over the course of the project we developed 20 different parts. For a more technical overview of what we did and how we did it, take a look at our lab protocol and lab diary pages.
Testing
The moment of truth! For a comprehensive overview of what happened, check out our results page. TO BE FILLED.
Achievements
School Workshops
Public engagement is an essential part of research; bridging the gap between academics and the wider public can achieve so much. When discussing this aspect of synthetic biology, we realised that school students would be an interesting demographic to present the subject to. We also liked the idea of inspiring young people to learn more about synthetic biology and iGEM, so we ran a series of school workshops.
Software Tool
Retrieved from "http://2010.igem.org/Team:Imperial_College_London/Tour/Page_Two"