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Team:Bielefeld-Germany
From 2010.igem.org
Contents |
Recent News
(09.24 - 09.26.2010) Meet the iGEM team from Odense (SDU Denmark)
We visited the iGEM team from the SDU Denmark in Odense this weekend. We had a lot of fun (there will be some photos soon) and agreed upon broadening our cooperation for the remaining iGEM competition (e.g. test each others BioBricks).
(09.13.2010) Radio interview on WDR5 - part 1
A short radio coverage in the science broadcast of WDR5 "Leonardo" about our iGEM team is broadcasted today. Link's here: http://www.wdr5.de/sendungen/leonardo/s/d/13.09.2010-16.05.html and here's the podcast: http://gffstream-3.vo.llnwd.net/c1/m/1284390840/radio/leonardo/wdr5_leonardo_20100913.mp3
(08.30.2010) Interview with our team on biotechnologie.tv
Here is a short interview with our team in today's broadcast of biotechnologie.tv: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2SA-bTERR4
(08.04.2010) Leading article in Westfalen-Blatt
A two-sided leading article about our team and synthetic biology was published in today's edition of the newspaper Westfalen-Blatt.
(08.02.2010) Team up with the iGEM crew of Odense
Today we attended a video conference with the iGEM-Team of the SDU. We plan to cooperate with them by sharing knowledge and - more important - we plan to get to know the people personally and to have some fun together.
The Team
The iGEM-Team Bielefeld consists of 10 Master students from Bielefeld University studying Biology, Molecular Biotechnology or Genome-based Systems Biology. Supervisors of the team are Prof Karsten Niehaus and Dr Jörn Kalinowski. So far our Team was both successful in recruiting regional sponsors as well as national organisations like BIO.NRW. In order to cover costs for consumable supplies and travelling expenses for the final presentation at the MIT the team still relies on external sponsoring.
The Project – MARSS (Modulated Acetosyringon Receptor Sensor System)
The iGEM-Team Bielefeld is accepting the challenge to carry out a modulation of an E. coli receptor in order to be able to detect capsaicin which is responsible for the degree of spiciness of food. The idea is to make this spiciness visible with the help of a developed stoplight system using the bacteria mentioned. The bacterium is supposed to turn red at an intense spiciness in food, orange at a moderate degree and green at a lower leves. A rapid test system involving a gradient light signal will be able to make the spiciness of edibles visible.
The original receptor is the acetosyringone detection system of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Acetosyringone is a secondary metabolite of plants used as bacterial attractant. Binding the acetosyringon receptor induces intracellular signal transduction. Using directed mutagenesis we aim to modulate the receptor binding domain so further, similar substances will be detectable. The ultimate system will be expressed in E. coli cells containing a light signaling gene.
In addition to capsaicin there are also other detectable substances in debate, for instance the neurotransmitters dopamine and epinephrine as well as their near derivatives. Furthermore, environmental toxins as well as allergy-triggering substances could be detected by the light emitting system.
After all a broad range of traceable substances plus a high sensitivity of the latter would be the greatest possible aim of our working group. Such rapidly and sensitively reacting biological systems could for instance be applied in quality control in the production of edibles. A harmful and unwanted substance entering a production chain could be visualized by the light signaling system. Beneficially, there could be a rejection of effected products or a production interruption for preventing the product from entering the trade market.
Contact
- Homepage of iGEM Team Bielefeld
- http://www.igem-bielefeld.de/
- info@igem-bielefeld.de
- Frieder Hänisch
- Tel.: +49521 78 09 819
- fhaenisch@igem-bielefeld.de
- Nils-Christian Lübke
- Tel.: +49171 3819111
- nluebke@uni-bielefeld.de
- Supervisors
- Prof. Karsten Niehaus
- Dr. Jörn Kalinowski
