Team:Exeter/Diary/wk0

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11th-15th June 2012

Throughout the week we've all been super busy researching for the final presentation of our two ideas. We had to get our designs up to scratch for the scrutiny of a range of Professors and Researchers who really know their stuff! Freddie and Alice presented the two final ideas:

• Phosphantastic - Phosphate supplies are going to be depleted within 30 years and because two thirds of the World population rely directly upon Phosphate-based fertiliser we feel it is a very important issue that needs to be tackled. We believe that through Synthetic modification we could create a two phase process where the cell, in response to a promoter, would uptake much more Phosphate than would naturally occur. The second phase looks at excreting the Phosphate so that it's ready for collection through a different control mechanism.

• Sweet Shop - A Polysaccharide catalogue which could eventually lead to the ability to create designer Polysaccharides suitable for its specified use. For example being able to produce a polymer of ‘X’ size ‘Y’ tensile strength and ‘Z’ electrical charge by knowing the enzymes required. This idea, albeit a colossal challenge, if successful may change the outlook on Synthetic Biology and would lead to an entirely new field of research.

Both ideas are equally strong and most of us changed our minds multiple times before the day was out. After a discussion weighing up the pros and cons of each design and its potential impact, we had an anonymous vote ....SWEET SHOP is our project for the summer!