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From 2010.igem.org

Home The Team The Project Parts Submitted to the Registry Modeling Notebook Safety Collaboration

Project: Hypoxia-Sensitive Circuits

Low-level oxygen, or hypoxic, environments are common issues in both plant and mammalian systems. From water-logged soils to overpopulated regions of tumors hypoxic regions provide a niche for novel technologies to be put in place and exploit this condition. The Purdue team has been working in parallel on two applications regarding this idea.

With respect to plants, waterlogged soil is a very common hurdle that impedes the growth and challenges the plant’s vitality. Without proper levels of oxygen the plant will have to switch from aerobic respiration to anaerobic fermentation in order to sustain its metabolic processes. Unfortunately this switch leads to the accumulation of byproducts that are detrimental to the plants life. So we’ve developed a circuit that will indicate when low oxygen levels are present.

The adjoining project centers on the hypoxic regions that develop in growing tumors. These regions are linked to the need for angiogenesis which leads to an increase in tumor size. The team has developed a circuit that will also highlight the areas where hypoxic regions have arisen during tumor development. With the development and characterization of these novel circuits the Purdue team hopes to have laid down some foundation for potential remedies to these consequences of hypoxia.

Oxygen Sequestration Brainstorming & Thoughts