Team:Cornell

From 2012.igem.org

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| 2012 marks the fourth year of the Cornell iGEM team's participation in the competition. Last year we did [https://2011.igem.org/Team:Cornell very well], and this year we aim to do even better!
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== <center>'''Our wiki is currently under construction - come back soon for more project details!'''</center>==
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{|align="justify" 2012 marks the fourth year of the Cornell iGEM team's participation in the competition. Last year we did [https://2011.igem.org/Team:Cornell very well], and this year we aim to do even better!
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|Our project this year is a continuous electrical biosensor for water contaminants using the ability of ''Shewanella oneidensis'' to reduce metals in addition to oxygen. We are focusing on detection of arsenates, napthalene, and nitrates, but our design is modular, allowing it to be adapted to detection of other contaminants.
|Our project this year is a continuous electrical biosensor for water contaminants using the ability of ''Shewanella oneidensis'' to reduce metals in addition to oxygen. We are focusing on detection of arsenates, napthalene, and nitrates, but our design is modular, allowing it to be adapted to detection of other contaminants.
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|Our novel approach to oil sands monitoring exemplifies the use of synthetic biology to provide invaluable tools for sustainable development.
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|[[Image:Cornell_team.png|center|thumb|900px]]
|[[Image:Cornell_team.png|center|thumb|900px]]
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Canadian oil sands are a vast oil reserve that, given rising prices of petroleum, are an attractive alternative to traditional sources of crude oil. However, there are numerous public health and environmental concerns regarding the oil sands extraction process. One environmental concern is the contamination of Canadian watersheds by seepage from tailings ponds. To better monitor this issue, we will engineer a novel biosensing platform with the electroactive bacterial species Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, which has the unique capability to directly transfer electrons to solid-state electrodes. We plan to exploit this feature by genetically manipulating S. oneidensis MR-1 to upregulate its metal- reduction capacity in the presence of analyte to generate direct current output in a whole-cell biosensor. Our goal is to develop a fully autonomous electrochemical biosensor that complements the current oil sands monitoring system by providing real-time data over extended periods of time. Furthermore, our device will circumvent the costs and complications of producing and maintaining photodiode circuits used for data acquisition in bioluminescent reporter systems by instead producing a direct electrical output. While our platform is adaptable to sensing a wide range of analytes, we will initially focus on arsenic-containing compounds and naphthalene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) – known contaminants of oil sands tailings ponds. We believe that our biosensor will be a valuable tool for remote, continuous, and long-term monitoring of pollutants in rivers and key waterways.
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In order to build and test this device, we plan to:
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: Synthesize novel reporter strains for the production of electrical output in response to arsenic and the PAH naphthalene.
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: Characterize electrical output of reporter strains in response to the pollutant of interest.
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: Optimize this response for relevant concentrations of pollutant in water samples. ! Construct a functional prototype for an affordable, field deployable device.

Revision as of 19:24, 9 July 2012

Cornell logo.png


Our wiki is currently under construction - come back soon for more project details!

Our project this year is a continuous electrical biosensor for water contaminants using the ability of Shewanella oneidensis to reduce metals in addition to oxygen. We are focusing on detection of arsenates, napthalene, and nitrates, but our design is modular, allowing it to be adapted to detection of other contaminants.
Our novel approach to oil sands monitoring exemplifies the use of synthetic biology to provide invaluable tools for sustainable development.
Cornell team.png

Canadian oil sands are a vast oil reserve that, given rising prices of petroleum, are an attractive alternative to traditional sources of crude oil. However, there are numerous public health and environmental concerns regarding the oil sands extraction process. One environmental concern is the contamination of Canadian watersheds by seepage from tailings ponds. To better monitor this issue, we will engineer a novel biosensing platform with the electroactive bacterial species Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, which has the unique capability to directly transfer electrons to solid-state electrodes. We plan to exploit this feature by genetically manipulating S. oneidensis MR-1 to upregulate its metal- reduction capacity in the presence of analyte to generate direct current output in a whole-cell biosensor. Our goal is to develop a fully autonomous electrochemical biosensor that complements the current oil sands monitoring system by providing real-time data over extended periods of time. Furthermore, our device will circumvent the costs and complications of producing and maintaining photodiode circuits used for data acquisition in bioluminescent reporter systems by instead producing a direct electrical output. While our platform is adaptable to sensing a wide range of analytes, we will initially focus on arsenic-containing compounds and naphthalene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) – known contaminants of oil sands tailings ponds. We believe that our biosensor will be a valuable tool for remote, continuous, and long-term monitoring of pollutants in rivers and key waterways.

In order to build and test this device, we plan to:

Synthesize novel reporter strains for the production of electrical output in response to arsenic and the PAH naphthalene.
Characterize electrical output of reporter strains in response to the pollutant of interest.
Optimize this response for relevant concentrations of pollutant in water samples. ! Construct a functional prototype for an affordable, field deployable device.