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The third ever Washington University iGEM team is composed of six undergraduate sophomores, juniors and seniors majoring in Biology, Biochemistry, and Biomedical Engineering. With the help of two mentors, Dr. Joe Jez and Dr. Gautam Dantas, and several graduate students (Brian Landry, Bert Berla, and Larry Page), the team decided to synthesize the components of saffron in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis.
Saffron in a Kan
Saffron is renowned as one of the world's best spices, contributing both intense color and distinctive flavor to food. Unfortunately, it also has a reputation for being the world's most expensive spice. This is especially troubling given that recent research has suggested that extracts of saffron could serve a clinical role as both an anticarcinogenic and anti-depressive drug candidate. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2025883] [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2710.2009.01133.x/abstract][http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ptr.3484/abstract;jsessionid=72474E49AC0D97B4252349D86064C49B.d02t04][http://www.actahort.org/books/650/650_54.htm]. In particular safranal and crocin, which also contribute to the flavor and color of saffron, have shown promise as clinical therapeutics. Expression of these two products in an alternative species holds promise as a way to generate the supply needed for the clinical effects of saffron to be fully studied at a reasonable cost. Similarly, they could also be used to make the flavor and color of saffron more widely available to those that cannot afford the natural product.
Synechocystis, a model cyanobacteria, is a promising candidate for production of safranal and crocin. It is routinely used for cloning and already produces the precursor of both of these products, Zeaxanthin. Using the tools of synthetic biology, the WashU iGEM 2012 team hopes to successfully develop Synechocystis as a way to produce these valuable products. YLC collaboration WashU iGEM has decided to conduct an outreach project in collaboration with The Youth Learning Center(YLC) here in St. Louis. The aim of this project is to introduce 6th to 8th graders to synthetic biology. In doing so, we hope to educate the students about the power of this new technology and the the real challenges and concerns associated with it. How well we achieve this goal will be measured by giving a brief survey before and after our two days with the students. We will use the result of the project to make a series of short educational videos covering similar material that will be free to the public. The project will include having the students draw designs with fluorescent proteins.
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