A team of students from different departments of the Eindhoven University of Technology participates in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition 2012, a synthetic biology competition for undergraduate students. The aim of the project is to design and produce a multi-color display, in which genetically engineered yeast cells function as pixels. Calcium ions enter a yeast cell when electrically stimulated, which in turn can trigger a fluorescent response through a genetically engineered calcium sensor protein. This will require a thorough understanding of calcium homeostasis in yeast cells. To explore the calcium metabolism, enable the induction of fluorescence and control this fluorescence, laboratory work will be combined with computational modeling and the engineering of a control device. The team envisions a yeast cell that is able to emit light when probed by an electrical stimulus: the Light Emitting Cell (LEC). The aim of this project therefore is to engineer and build a prototype display from LECs.
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