Team:Newcastle
From 2010.igem.org
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BacillaFilla
Project Description
Microcracks in concrete undermine structural integrity and are inaccessible to conventional repair methods. Bacteria of the Bacillus genus, such as Bacillus subtilis 168, could be the ideal candidates for concrete repair since they are able to precipitate CaCO3 (Use of bacteria to repair cracks in concrete, Tittelboom et al, cement and concrete research (2009)).
Our project aims to fill cracks in concrete with a mixture of:
- CaCO3, which has the same thermal expansion coefficient as concrete;
- glue, which is required to gel together the CaCO3 crystals and
- filamentous Bacillus subtilis cells, which will act like the fibres found in fibre-reinforced concrete.
We will introduce swarming genes into Bacillus subtilis 168 to enable it to travel down the microcracks.
In order to trigger calcium carbonate precipitation and filament formation once the bacteria have reached a sufficient density inside a microcrack we will develop a subtilin-based cell-signalling system, building on the subtilin sensing system previously designed by Newcastle's iGEM 2008 team.
To protect the environment our project will also include a design for a kill switch.