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Team:Valencia/future
From 2012.igem.org
First of all we have to emphasize that our biolamp is not really developed, it is only a prototype to prove that it is possible and that it has effectiveness and productivity.
We are building a lamp based on living organisms modified genetically to be able to live in the same broth medium and to produce light only at night. So that lamp is very promising as a clean, cheap and respectful with the environment way to have light and, moreover, it is supplied by Sun.
People will be able to have it in their houses as lighting system as well as in hospitals, industries and street lighting. If we go further, it will be very interesting to have it in military installations and, even in space installations. Some examples are inhabited lunar modules or the International Space Station, where this device would be able to absorb the CO2 produced by astronauts or any intern combustion system and, at the same time, to produce O2.
For the same principle it would be very useful in submarines and/or oceanographic submersibles as lighting system, without forgetting as portable lamp for technical deep diving or night diving; we would charge it at the surface with Sun light, and, then, to light submarines or divers in depths or in night by emitting a light with an identical wavelength to the one what bioluminescent marine organisms have. So, with that kind of lamp we won’t alarm or stress marine creatures, especially if we want to film, to photograph or to catch them for some investigation.
In the case we develop enough the system of movement control (chemotaxis or magnetotaxis for the concentration of bacteria in determined points) and of the emission of light (switch on, switch off, change shade and modify intensity…) by electrical control of the transmembrane channels of the luminescent species, that ecological device would be able to work for “bacterial screens” to TVs, cinematography… However, to arrive to this level of sophistication it is necessary to do more research in the area of bioenginering.
Old models of bioluminescent lamps needed artificial feeding by adding sugar and peptides which was not profitable because the cost of feeding it was more expensive than the electricity to maintain fluorescent tubes. We don’t really know if this project will be cheaper, but in the nature it is. Biological light produces less than 20% of heat emission, even minor than the most efficient low-energy light bulbs. Moreover, the power supply of this novel device is directly the Sun, without having electrical intermediary whose beta and electromagnetical radiation is starting to be investigated because of its potential risks to human health.
In conclusion, the economical, ecological and functional potential results are wide and interesting so they can revolutionize the lighting industry and propel the development of new technologies related to biotechnology and as source of resources for obtaining new forms of renewable energy.
