Team:TU-Delft/HumanPractise/General

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= Amalia Ephrat – MSc student in Educational studies =
= Amalia Ephrat – MSc student in Educational studies =
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We engineered two gas induced systems in ''E.coli'', such that our cells can either detect '''acetaldehyde or xylene''', both being toxic substances found in '''cigarette smoke'''.
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Amalia Ephrat is a MSc student in Educational studies at Leiden, she did a short stage/internship focused on collaborative learning activities between students with an international background within the learning context of the university.
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Upon binding of acetaldehyde to AlcR, AlcR acts as an inhibitor of gene transcription. Similarly, upon binding to xylene, XylR is acting as a trainscriptional activator. Thus, acetaldehyde or xylene act as the input for our synthetic signal transduction and processing device. With a number of inhibitors and activators, our circuit gives rise to a GFP output upon sensing acetaldehyde or xylene in a certain, upper- and lower-bounded range of concentration (band-pass filter).
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When students of diverse backgrounds participate in a project where collaborative learning is important, the individual differences can pose a series of challenges to the group processes. This is a well- known challenge for many Dutch universities, which makes it a relevant topic for educational research to investigate the means for intervention and the effects of those interventions on collaborative learning processes and outcomes.  
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Her plan is to improve collaborative learning amongst students of different backgrounds, by designing research and conduct measurement during the brainstorming phase of the project. Research shall consist of qualitative exploratory methods using observational methods and interviews and quantitative research using several questionnaires, including collaborative skills, empathy and intercultural conflict management.  
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The SmoColis, our genetically engineered cells, are cultivated in a '''microfluidic channel'''. Acetaldehyde or xylene enter the channel at one end by diffusion from a sample medium. Inside the channel, both substances are degraded either naturally (acetaldehyde) or synthetically (xylene) by the SmoColi cells, such that a concentration gradient is established. Thus, the cells are exposed to a spatially varying concentration of acetaldehyde or xylene.
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The main focus of her research is the collaborative process in the iGem group and the efficacy of the interventions of the supervisors to support the collaborative process in a culturally diverse group of students.
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Since our cells only produce fluorescence proteins when exposed to a certain concentration range of acetaldehyde or xylene, only a few cells at the right distance from the channel entrance produce a fluorescence signal for a given concentration of acetaldehyde or xylene in the sample medium. For increasing or decreasing concentrations of the toxic molecules in the sample, the GFP stripe "moves" through the channel. The distance of the stripe from the sample medium is directly correlated to the acetaldehyde or xylene concentration, and thus can be used as a quick and cheap '''quantification device''' for the two substances.
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Furthermore, both systems act as low-pass filters which produce AHL molecules once the acetaldehyde (xylene) concentration is below a certain threshold (the lower threshold for the previously described band-pass filter). Thus, cells that are on the right side of the GFP stripe will produce AHL (assuming the sample medium is at the left).
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As the stripe moves through the channel, AHL is always produced to its right and quickly diffuses along in the channel, such that all cells are exposed to a sufficiently high AHL concentration. However, as soon as the stripe moves to the end of the channel, no more cells produce AHL. The absence of AHL then triggers RFP production by the entire culture, serving as an '''alarm signal''' for very high acetaldehyde (xylene) concentrations.
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Thus, in a nutshell, with increasing acetaldehyde (xylene) concentration in our channel one can see a '''moving green stripe''' indicating the actual acetaldehyde (xylene) concentration. Once it reaches the end of the channel, the '''entire culture turns red'''.
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SmoColi is smoke sensor nevertheless you could imagine to put '''any sensor of choice''' into the System an quantify the corresponding small molecule. As a proof of concept we designed a arabinose induced system.
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= Single-Cell Model =
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= Frank Theys – Film Director =
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'''The single-cell model of our system consists of three connected but easily separable modules: the sensor, the band detector and the filter. The sensor detects toxic substances from cigarette smoke. The band detector produces green fluorescent protein upon a detection of a certain range (band) of toxic substance concentration. After the toxic substance concentration crosses a certain threshold, the filter turns the system red (red fluorescent protein is expressed). The single-cell model helped us understand in detail whether and how our synthetic circuit works, especially to explore the characteristics of the GFP band and get a feeling of how it is related to concentration of our input substance. '''
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Frank Theys is a film and theatre director and visual artist. His work has been shown worldwide and belongs to the collections of a.o. the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Centre National de la Cinématographie (Paris). He received several international awards and the honourable title of Cultural Ambassador of Flanders. Currently he works on a documentary film called 'Lab-Life' in which he follows the daily life around a few scientific research projects. One of these projects is the iGEM team of TUDelft that he considers as an ideal project to introduce the world of science to a broad audience. Frank Theys has an MD in Philosophy and is currently doing a PhD in the Arts at the KULeuven. He teaches media art at the St-Lucas Art Academy in Ghent and art philosophy at the ArtScience Interfaculty at the Royal Art Academy in Den Hague.
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Revision as of 15:50, 3 September 2012

Amalia Ephrat – MSc student in Educational studies

Amalia Ephrat is a MSc student in Educational studies at Leiden, she did a short stage/internship focused on collaborative learning activities between students with an international background within the learning context of the university.

When students of diverse backgrounds participate in a project where collaborative learning is important, the individual differences can pose a series of challenges to the group processes. This is a well- known challenge for many Dutch universities, which makes it a relevant topic for educational research to investigate the means for intervention and the effects of those interventions on collaborative learning processes and outcomes. Her plan is to improve collaborative learning amongst students of different backgrounds, by designing research and conduct measurement during the brainstorming phase of the project. Research shall consist of qualitative exploratory methods using observational methods and interviews and quantitative research using several questionnaires, including collaborative skills, empathy and intercultural conflict management. The main focus of her research is the collaborative process in the iGem group and the efficacy of the interventions of the supervisors to support the collaborative process in a culturally diverse group of students.




Frank Theys – Film Director

Frank Theys is a film and theatre director and visual artist. His work has been shown worldwide and belongs to the collections of a.o. the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Centre National de la Cinématographie (Paris). He received several international awards and the honourable title of Cultural Ambassador of Flanders. Currently he works on a documentary film called 'Lab-Life' in which he follows the daily life around a few scientific research projects. One of these projects is the iGEM team of TUDelft that he considers as an ideal project to introduce the world of science to a broad audience. Frank Theys has an MD in Philosophy and is currently doing a PhD in the Arts at the KULeuven. He teaches media art at the St-Lucas Art Academy in Ghent and art philosophy at the ArtScience Interfaculty at the Royal Art Academy in Den Hague.



Single-Cell Model

The single-cell model of our system consists of three connected but easily separable modules: the sensor, the band detector and the filter. The sensor detects toxic substances from cigarette smoke. The band detector produces green fluorescent protein upon a detection of a certain range (band) of toxic substance concentration. After the toxic substance concentration crosses a certain threshold, the filter turns the system red (red fluorescent protein is expressed). The single-cell model helped us understand in detail whether and how our synthetic circuit works, especially to explore the characteristics of the GFP band and get a feeling of how it is related to concentration of our input substance.



Single-Cell Model

The single-cell model of our system consists of three connected but easily separable modules: the sensor, the band detector and the filter. The sensor detects toxic substances from cigarette smoke. The band detector produces green fluorescent protein upon a detection of a certain range (band) of toxic substance concentration. After the toxic substance concentration crosses a certain threshold, the filter turns the system red (red fluorescent protein is expressed). The single-cell model helped us understand in detail whether and how our synthetic circuit works, especially to explore the characteristics of the GFP band and get a feeling of how it is related to concentration of our input substance.


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