Team:Imperial College London/Modelling/Protein Display/Objectives

The motivation to develop this model came from our design process. The idea of having surface proteins that could be cleaved and then activate the receptor was very innovatory. However, with this new approach questions arose that could not be answered without using computer models. Hence, the following aims for this model were specified:

1. Determine the concentration of Schistosoma elastase or TEV protease that should be added to the bacteria in order to trigger a response. This should allow us to correlate the required concentration for the activation with the concentration of Schistosoma elastase in the water.
2. Attempt simulating how long it takes for the protease or elastase to cleave enough peptides.
3. Assess the risk of false positives (i.e. system is activated without the required stimulus).