Team:Carnegie Mellon

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Team:Carnegie_Mellon - 20012.igem.org

Team:Carnegie_Mellon

From 2012.igem.org


Contents

Introduction: Motivation

  • We seek to develop a BioBrick that will allow researchers in the field of synthetic biology to accurately measure translational efficiency, and transcriptional strength.
  • We believe that we can use Spinach as a biosensor to reflect these metrics in vivo, rather than in vitro, which has previously proven to be very costly and impractical.
  • We will characterize the relationship between genetic expression of Spinach (upstream), translational efficiency, and transcriptional strength.


Place abstract/info here

Motivation question?

Humanistic implications go here

Primary Objective: A single sustainable bacterial solution

A false-colour SEM of MicroMaize cells.
A false-colour SEM of MicroMaize cells.

We have been investigating engineering bacteria to produce starch from the cellulose in waste biomass (that is agricultural waste, wood chippings, waste from paper production etc.). This starch could be:

  1. sold to the biofuels industry for conversion to ethanol
  2. used as feed for livestock
  3. used as a starch supplement in the human diet if needed.

This will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and free up agricultural land for the growth of food crops, ultimately putting less strain on ecosystems.

Secondary Objective: Solving vitamin A deficiency in the developing world

We have also been continuing the work of our 2007 team in engineering Escherichia coli to produce the vitamin A precursor β-carotene. Vitamin A is required for vision and a healthy immune system. 250,000-500,000 children in the developing world lose their vision each year, half of them dying within 12 months of this (WHO).

Further Considerations

In the pursuit of our project, as well as the biological aspects, we: