Team:Calgary/Project/Accomplish

From 2012.igem.org

Revision as of 16:24, 3 October 2012 by Emily Hicks (Talk | contribs)

Hello! iGEM Calgary's wiki functions best with Javascript enabled, especially for mobile devices. We recommend that you enable Javascript on your device for the best wiki-viewing experience. Thanks!

Accomplishments


The University of Calgary iGEM Team has had many accomplishments this summer:


In our Human Practices project, we ...

  • Established a dialogue between industry experts in order to inform the design of our project.

  • Led a discussion through the oil sands leadership initiative (OSLI) on the need and potential for the use of synthetic biology in the oil sands.

  • Submitted novel riboswitch, promoter and regulatory elements for use in the tight control of killswitch applications and beyond.

  • Submitted and characterized both a magnesium riboswitch/promoter GFP construct and a manganese riboswitch/promoter kill gene construct.

  • Showcased our project to our city and the world through various outreach initiatives including a ted talk.

  • Premiered and beta tested a video game at the Calgary Telus spark world of science.


In terms of FRED, we ...

  • Constructed a transposon library in pseudomonas, identifying two positive hits sensitive to a variety of tailings pond toxins.

  • Submitted and characterized electrochemically the function of two novel hydrolase enzymes from E. coli, demonstrating the validity and potential of a triple-output system with high sensitivity and little background noise.

  • Designed and wet-lab verified a kinetic model of electrochemical gene expression.

  • Designed both software and hardware for a biosensor prototype.


In terms of OCSAR, , we ...

  • Demonstrated the successful conversion of naphthenic acids into hydrocarbons using the PetroBrick.

  • Documented the functionality of an alternative enzyme (oleT) in producing alkenes from fatty acids.

  • Modified an existing xylE part to show the degradation of catechol into, and then its degradation into hydrocarbons using the PetroBrick and oleT enzyme.

  • Designed built and tested a functioning bioreactor system in which to house our toxin degrading strain.

  • Used flux variability analysis to optimize the production of our hydrocarbons, surpassing Washington’s previous results, through modification of growth media.

  • Demonstrated the successful degradation of carbazole and DBT by our model strains.

  • Submitted sequenced BioBricks for the removal of nitrogen and sulphur from various compounds.

  • Submitted and characterized a new catalase-containing construct as well as a novel oxido-reductase enzyme for use in our desulphurization project.

  • Had an amazing summer and learned a ton!