Team:Amsterdam

From 2012.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
 
(254 intermediate revisions not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
-
<html>
+
{{Team:Amsterdam/js-image-slider.css}}
-
<link href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Amsterdam/ernst/stylesheet.css" type="text/css" />
+
{{Team:Amsterdam/stylesheet}}
-
</html>
+
-
{{//Team:Amsterdam/stylesheet}}
+
{{Team:Amsterdam/scripts}}
{{Team:Amsterdam/scripts}}
{{Team:Amsterdam/Header}}
{{Team:Amsterdam/Header}}
{{Team:Amsterdam/Sidebar1}}
{{Team:Amsterdam/Sidebar1}}
-
<div id="main-content">
+
<html>
-
<p><b>Introduction</b><br>
+
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://2012.igem.org/Template:Team:Amsterdam/js-image-slider.js?action=raw" >                                </script>
-
Prokaryotes have been selected through evolutionary processes for accurate sensing
+
</html>
-
and acting upon their living environments. This bacterial versatility can be used by
+
<div id="content-area">
-
us, humans, to sense the environments in places we have trouble reaching. Maybe we
+
<div id="sub-menu" class="content-block">
-
would want to measure the conditions (e.g. nutrient availability, toxicity, pathogen
+
<h2>Cellular Logbook - A methylation-based reporter system</h2>
-
presence, light) somewhere deep under the ground, perhaps we would want to noninvasively
+
'''Multi-sensing genetic devices''' offer great future perspectives for biotechnology, environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics. In light of this we have created an innovative '''epigenetic DNA-methylation''' based '''detection system''' in <i>E. coli</i>, named '''Cellular Logbook''', that has the potential of simultaneously reporting on significantly more signals than current fluorescence-based systems (eg. GFP). The Cellular Logbook can be used to '''detect (Sensor module) and store (Writer module)''' the presence of '''any compound''' linked to a transcriptional regulator. This system allows for '''offline monitoring''' by functioning as a '''memory module (Writer module)'''. Assessment of the memory status is performed by digesting with restriction endonucleases followed by gel electrophoresis '''(Reader Module)'''. Furthermore, the Cellular Logbook is able to infer the '''time of signal-onset''' or '''signal-intensity''' using the natural dilution of the registered signal’s due to cell division. In shourt our novel epigenetic memory module system could potentially be utilized as a '''mulit-sensor/time indicating platform''' for many groundbreaking technologies and applications (eg. to measure environmental changes such as toxic compounds).
-
scan for biomarkers in diseased tissue in our bodies. The classical way
+
<html>
-
to make a bacteria tell us whether a certain event has happened is to link it to the
+
    <div id="sliderFrame">
-
transcription of fluorescent proteins. This however requires constant monitoring and
+
        <div id="ribbon"></div>
-
maintenance in order to get an idea of the time-variation of the studied system. Could
+
        <div id="slider">
-
we make the cell ‘remember’ what it has sensed and when so we can leave it alone for a
+
            <a href="http://www.menucool.com/jquery-slider" target="_blank">
-
while and make it report back to us later?<br><br>
+
                <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/c/c8/Igem_02F.jpg" />
-
 
+
            </a>
-
Meet <b>'Me C0l1'</b>, a methylation based celullar log, which uses the naturally occurring phenomenon
+
            <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/d/d7/Amsterdam_Slide-1.jpg" />
-
of <b>DNA methylation</b> to robustly store signals it has sensed in its environment. The
+
            <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/6/65/Amsterdam_Slide-2.jpg" />
-
Amsterdam iGEM 2012 team, consisting of six students, will dedicate the summer to
+
            <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/a/a9/Amsterdam_Slide-3.jpg" />
-
the realization of this innovative and ambitious plan. This novel storage mechanism,
+
            <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/c/c7/Amsterdam_Slide-4.png" />
-
redesignating an evolutionarly designed tested and proven principle for novel purposes,
+
            <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/3/3d/Amsterdam_Slide-5.png" />
-
could be linked to any of the many biological sensors that are available in the DNA
+
            <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/4/49/Amsterdam_Slide-6.jpg" />
-
parts registry. E. memo therefore holds great promise as a detect & store–system for
+
            <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/a/a9/Amsterdam_Slide-7.jpg" />
-
experimental and industrial purposes.<br><br>
+
        </div>
-
 
+
    </div>
-
Just storing whether certain signals have been sensed by the cell is only half of the story
+
</html>
-
however. The proposed memory mechanism would be a form of volatile memory,
+
-
of which the traces slowly dissappear as the E. memo-population keeps proliferating.
+
-
This is because methylation-patterns are not transferred to the progeny in eukaryotes.
+
-
We can use this our advantage. The most exciting part of our project would be to infer
+
-
when a signal has been sensed from the percentage of bits that is methylated, which
+
-
slowly decreases as the cells keep proliferating. This way, we won’t just store whether
+
-
a certain signal has occured; we will also know when it happened.<br><br>
+
-
 
+
-
<b>Molecular mechanism</b><br>
+
-
In short, we will introduce a site-specific methyltransferase into the iGEM default
+
-
chassis organism E. coli, that will only be active/transcribed when the measured signal
+
-
is encountered by the logbook-cell. The activated methyltransferase will then move
+
-
over to a plasmid region we’ve termed the bit and append a methyl-group to it. By
+
-
1
+
-
linking the methyltransferase to a Zinc-Finger, its site-specificity is greatly increased,
+
-
reducing the amount of undesired background methylation events to a minimum.
+
-
Furthermore, by slowing down the cell replication cycle of the cells, we can increase
+
-
the span of time we can use to do measurements on.</p>
+
</div>
</div>
 +
<div id="sub-menu" class="content-block" align="center">
 +
<html>
 +
<h2>Sponsors</h2>
 +
<a href="http://www.aimms.vu.nl/en/index.asp"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/1/12/Amsterdam_Logo_AIMMS.png" height="35" align="left" style="padding:10px; padding-top:20px;"></a>
 +
<a href="http://www.genscript.com/"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/6/6e/Amsterdam_Logo_Genscript.jpeg" height="35" align="left" style="padding:10px; padding-top:20px;"></a>
 +
<a href="http://nbv.kncv.nl/"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/8/8e/Amsterdam_Logo_nbv.gif" height="35" align="left" style="padding:10px; padding-top:20px;"></a>
 +
<a href="http://www.sysbio.nl/"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/0/01/Amsterdam_Logo_NISB.png" height="35" align="left" style="padding:10px; padding-top:20px;"></a>
 +
<a href="http://www.uva-alumni.nl/page.aspx?pid=460"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/3/3f/Amsterdam_Logo_universiteitfonds.png" height="35" align="left" style="padding:10px; padding-top:20px;"></a>
 +
<a href="http://eu.idtdna.com/site"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/c/c4/Xxidt.png" height="35" align="left" style="padding:10px; padding-top:20px;"></a>
 +
<a href="http://www.vu.nl/nl/index.asp"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/8/81/Amsterdam2012VuLogoHeader.png" height="35" align="left" style="padding:10px; padding-top:20px;"></a>
 +
<a href="http://www.uva.nl/"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/e/e4/Amsterdam2012UvaLogoHeader.png" height="35" align="left" style="padding:10px; padding-top:20px;"></a>
 +
</html>
 +
</div>
 +
</div>
 +
{{Team:Amsterdam/Foot}}
{{Team:Amsterdam/Foot}}

Latest revision as of 03:56, 27 September 2012

Cellular Logbook - A methylation-based reporter system

Multi-sensing genetic devices offer great future perspectives for biotechnology, environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics. In light of this we have created an innovative epigenetic DNA-methylation based detection system in E. coli, named Cellular Logbook, that has the potential of simultaneously reporting on significantly more signals than current fluorescence-based systems (eg. GFP). The Cellular Logbook can be used to detect (Sensor module) and store (Writer module) the presence of any compound linked to a transcriptional regulator. This system allows for offline monitoring by functioning as a memory module (Writer module). Assessment of the memory status is performed by digesting with restriction endonucleases followed by gel electrophoresis (Reader Module). Furthermore, the Cellular Logbook is able to infer the time of signal-onset or signal-intensity using the natural dilution of the registered signal’s due to cell division. In shourt our novel epigenetic memory module system could potentially be utilized as a mulit-sensor/time indicating platform for many groundbreaking technologies and applications (eg. to measure environmental changes such as toxic compounds).

Sponsors

Retrieved from "http://2012.igem.org/Team:Amsterdam"