OSCAR

The Optimized System for Carboxylic Acid Remediation, or OSCAR, is the Destroy component to our iGEM 2012 Calgary project. Building on last year's biosensor, OSCAR converts toxic compounds, such as naphthenic acids and catechol, into hydrocarbons by removing unwanted carboxylic acid functional groups from their intricate chemical structures. By creating hydrocarbons we can not only detoxify tailing waters but provide an economically viable method for doing so. By using flux balance analysis we developed a system to optimize the output of carboxylic acid removal system which we validated in the wetlab. Furthermore we developed a bioreactor prototype to demonstrate the applicability of our system using novel hydrocarbon collection methodologies. Finally, we developed constructs and genetic circuits to upgrade these hydrocarbons to reduce sulfur and nitrogen content. Altogether, OSCAR provides a method to upgrade naphthenic acids and other toxic components from waste products into useable fuels.

What is OSCAR composed of?

Decarboxylation

The first part of any biosensor is to be able to detect that a compound is present. This traditionally relies on promoters that are responsive to a certain compound. We have created a transposon library that will determine genetic elements that will activate in the presence of toxins. We used naphthenic acids as the initial screening compound due to the difficulty in detecting them and their role as one of the most hazardous toxins in the tailings ponds.

Catechol Degradation

After being able to detect the compounds we need FRED to be able to tell us about them. With the challenges provided by the tailings ponds we decided to improve upon last year's single output electrochemical system to create a triple output system. This novel approach to electrochemical reporting has provided us with a fast and accurate measurement approach that can function in environments where fluorescence or luminescence would fail.

Flux Analysis

Due to the novel nature of our electrochemical system there were a lot of questions that were raised in the design phase of this system. One big concern was if the response would be fast enough. Rather than wasting reagents testing a multitude of timecourses a mathematical model was made to see how the system would behave. The results from the modelling helped guide the wetlab experiments which in turn gave new data for the model to run on.

Bioreactor

Having the biological systems working was only one part of the system though, as there still needs to be a physical device to use and software to interpret the raw data. With this in mind we also designed and built a prototype and accompanying software platform that works with FRED to detect toxins. This is building upon the rudimentary prototype of last year by adding in electrical filters, variable detection settings, diagnostic LEDs and miniaturizing it all at the same time.

Oil Upgrading

Having the biological systems working was only one part of the system though, as there still needs to be a physical device to use and software to interpret the raw data. With this in mind we also designed and built a prototype and accompanying software platform that works with FRED to detect toxins. This is building upon the rudimentary prototype of last year by adding in electrical filters, variable detection settings, diagnostic LEDs and miniaturizing it all at the same time.