Please help the judges by filling out this form. Tell them what medal
you think you deserve and why. Tell them which special prizes you should win. Help them find your best parts.
Show them how you thought about the safety of your project. Helping the judges will help you too.
Team:
Groningen
Track:
Environment
Project Name:
Heavy metal scavengers with a vertical gas drive
Project Abstract:
Heavy metal pollution of water and sediment endangers human health and the environment. To battle this problem, a purification strategy was developed in which arsenic, zinc or copper are removed from metal-polluted water and sediment. In this approach Escherichia coli bacteria accumulate metal ions from solutions, after which they produce gas vesicles and start floating. This biological device encompasses two integrated systems: one for metal accumulation, the other for metal-induced buoyancy. The uptake and storage system consists of a metal transporter and metallothioneins (metal binding proteins). The buoyancy system is made up of a metal-induced promoter upstream of a gas vesicle gene cluster. This device can be changed to scavenge for any compound by altering the accumulation and the induction modules. The combination of both systems enables the efficient decontamination of polluted water and sediment in a biological manner.
We believe our team deserves the following medal:BronzeSilverGold
Because we met the following criteria (check all that apply and provide
details where needed)
Requirements for a Bronze Medal:
Register the team, have a great summer, and plan to have fun at the Jamboree.
Successfully complete and submit this iGEM 2009 Judging form.
Create and share a Description of the team's project using the iGEM wiki and the team's parts using the Registry of Standard Biological Parts.
Plan to present a Poster and Talk at the iGEM Jamboree.
Enter information detailing at least one new standard BioBrick Part or Device in the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Including:
Primary nucleaic acid sequence
Description of function
Authorship
Safety notes, if relevant.
Acknowedgment of sources and references
Submit DNA for at least one new BioBrick Part or Device to the Registry.
Additional Requirements for a Silver Medal:
Demonstrate that at least one new BioBrick Part or Device of your own design and construction works as expected; characterize the operation of your new part/device.
Enter this information and other documentation on both the iGEM 2009 wiki and the Registry.
Develop and document a new technical standard that supports the: (check all that apply)
design of BioBrick Parts or Devices, or
construction of BioBrick Parts or Devices, or
characterization of BioBrick Parts or Devices, or
analysis, modeling, and simulation of BioBrick Parts or Devices, or
sharing BioBrick Parts or Devices, either via physical DNA, or via the Internet
Please provide the BBF RFC number for your standard:
Outline and detail a new approach to an issue of Human Practice in synthetic biology as it relates to your project, such as safety, security, ethics, or ownership, sharing, and innovation.
All teams are eligible for prizes in their track, the grand prize, and for special prizes.
The special prizes include Best Wiki, Best Poster, Best Presentation, Best New BioBrick Part (Natural or Engineered).
To help the judges, please indicate if you feel you should be evaluated for any of the following special prizes:
Best Human Practice Advance
Best Experimental Measurement
Best Model
Please explain briefly why you should receive any of these three special prizes:
In the area of Human Practice we tried to create awareness on the subject of synthetic biology in general and our project in particular. This we did by means of a survey that we handed out to both specialist and non-specialists, we tried to approach the Delphi method for brainstorming. After extensive statistical tests were done an indication of the Dutch public opinion was created.
As best experimental measurement, we have shown the presence of gas vesicles in our bacteria using Transmission Electron Microscopy. Furthermore we characterized the relative promotor strength of our arsenic-sensitive promoter using our own, robust, method.
In terms of modelling, we have created an interactive model, which can be used and adapted on our wiki. This model makes use of a new way to deal with the quasi steady-state assumption, by explicitly stating the relative abundances of bound and unbound forms of substances.
Team_Parts
To help the judges evaluate your parts, please identify 3 of your parts that
you feel are best documented and are of the highest quality.
For iGEM 2009 the description of each project must clearly attribute work done by the team and distinguish it from work done by others, including the host labs, advisors, and instructors.
Please provide the link to that page:
Page name: None
Comments
If there is any other information about your project you would like to highlight for the judges,
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