Team:Uppsala University

Team Uppsala University 2012 is dedicated to combating the rising antibiotic resistance in bacteria by means of synthetic biology. Old and well-known antibiotics are quickly becoming ineffective as resistance genes are spreading. Scientist around the world struggle with varying success to develop new antibacterial substances. But do we really have to abandon classic antibiotics? Team Uppsala University begs to differ, we believe new methods will allow us to combat the resistance itself, and make the bacteria once again sensitive to old drugs.

Working with real-world resistance genes isolated from ESBL outbreaks at Swedish hospitals, we are developing anti-resistance systems active at three different levels: DNA level, transcriptional level and translational level. Our systems will be delivered to the target bacteria using an engineered phage and/or a conjugative plasmid.

At DNA level, we will develop a method for permanent removal of plasmids from bacteria. Using TAL Effector Nucleases, we will be able to target and cut individual resistance genes.

At transcriptional level, we will use synthetic super-repressors to repress transcription of resistance genes and native defense mechanisms in bacteria.

At translational level, we will construct a modular large-scale screening system for sRNA:s and use it to find strongly silencing RNA sequences against three common resistance genes.

With this team on the project, there is no question about it: Resistance is futile!

July 22, 2012
Added another button below the iGEM-logo in the top right corner for those interested in following us on Twitter.

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July 21, 2012
The dust has finally settled from the party last night, and somehow the lab seems remarkably empty today... Anyway, new additions to the page include the top left iGEM-logo linking back to the Main page and a submenu of links on the Team page. Now where are those Aspirins...

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July 20, 2012
No on-site changes today (apart from this update). However, the team is about to meet up for a barbecue in the local park – it will be awesome!

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July 19, 2012
New top banner and further improvements on the Team page. A Notebook section is also planned, which will cover our weekly endeavors.

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July 18, 2012
The finalized top banner mentioned a few days ago turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking. An improved version is currently in the making! As for how the lab work is coming along: a discussion will be held tomorrow regarding the Notebook section of the wiki, which hopefully will describe our progress in detail. More info soon!

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July 17, 2012
Started working on our Team page. Meanwhile the number of Facebook likes keep increasing - thanks a lot guys, we are eternally grateful!

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July 16, 2012
Widened the top banner and will hopefully start adding more pages later today. On another note, a huge thanks to all of those liking us on Facebook. Overnight the total number went from 75 to 84, which is amazing!

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July 15, 2012
Project description has been added along with a comic strip describing the general idea behind our project. We also changed the top banner, which now likely is the final version.

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July 14, 2012
Our wiki is slowly taking form. It is being worked upon daily and once the final layout is finished we will start adding more pages. So keep checking back!
PS. All teams – don't forget tomorrow is the deadline for uploading your abstracts.