Team:Freiburg Bioware
From 2010.igem.org
Gene delivery using viral vectors holds great promise for the treatment of acquired and inherited diseases. The human Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) is a small, non-pathogenic, single-stranded DNA virus gaining increasing attention being both versatile and effective. Taking current knowledge into account, we generated a recombinant, modularized, BioBrick-compatible AAV ‘Virus Construction Kit’. We provide parts for modified capsid proteins, targeting modules, tumor-specific promoters, and prodrug-activating enzymes as well as readily assembled vectors for gene delivery and production of non-replicative virus particles. The viral tropism is altered by N-terminal fusion or by loop replacement of the capsid proteins. Functionality of viruses constructed from our kit was demonstrated by fluorescent protein expression in infected cells and by prodrug-induced killing of tumor cells upon viral delivery of a thymidine kinase. Incorporating multiple layers of safety, we provide a general tool to the growing field of personalized medicine and demonstrate its use in tumor therapy.
Project Results
Customized therapeutic AAV Vectors![more]
Differential Tumor Targeting![more]
Prodrug-activated tumor cell killing![more]
Statistics - In a Minute
What happened in the lab during iGEM?
Longest Wikipage:
with 222,795 bytesNumber of Biobricks:
116Number of Ordered Oligos:
193Mini-Preps total:
1085Midi-Preps total:
106Highest Midi-Prep Concentration:
5045,6 ng/µLNumber of Glycerolstocks:
763Number of Team members:
15Days in the lab:
170Longest Labday:
18hCoffee Consumed During iGEM:
2238 Cups
BioBricks
Modularization and modification of the viral capsids for retargeting approaches and directed gene delivery of suicide genes resulted in many different BioBricks.
Click here to explore them.
Biosafety
The aspect of biological safety was considered well and a risk assessment and security profile for the Adeno-associated Virus were created. Read more about Biosafety issues..
Notebook
Only cloning and cell culture?
No! Besides
BioBrick assembly, flow cytometry analysis, quantification based methos via ELISA or Western Blot and cytotoxicity assays have been performed (go to Methods)
Team
Fun and Science at the same time?
Yes! The iGEM team Freiburg did not only share the lab bench, but as well some nice days canoeing and initiated the photo contest Cuckoo Clock Competition