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Team:Duke
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<p>Our team is fully aware of it's disadvantages, being smaller than the rest, and holding less funding than the competition. However, these notions motivate each individual on the team rather than discourage us. We know that we will get out of this project, exactly what we put into it. Understanding this notion is why it is not unusual to find our team working 12 hour shifts daily. We are inspired and determined to contribute to the scientific community in a substantial way, utilizing our resources, and setting new standards.</p> | <p>Our team is fully aware of it's disadvantages, being smaller than the rest, and holding less funding than the competition. However, these notions motivate each individual on the team rather than discourage us. We know that we will get out of this project, exactly what we put into it. Understanding this notion is why it is not unusual to find our team working 12 hour shifts daily. We are inspired and determined to contribute to the scientific community in a substantial way, utilizing our resources, and setting new standards.</p> | ||
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| + | <h2>Optogenetics: The <u>hot</u> topic </h2> | ||
| + | Optogenetics is the combination of genetic and optical methods to control specific events in targeted cell. In 2010, optogenetics was chosen as the Method of the Year across all fields of science and engineering by the interdisciplinary research journal Nature Methods. At the same time, optogenetics was highlighted in the article on "Breakthroughs of the Decade" in the scientific research journal Science Breakthrough of the Decade. | ||
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<h2>Useful Links</h2> | <h2>Useful Links</h2> | ||
Revision as of 07:42, 3 October 2012
Abstract
Medical genetic therapy has shown promise for improved accuracy in personalized genetic therapy of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. However, the speed of current medical genetic screening methods is limited by time-consuming rates of cell growth and gene expression. The goal of this work, therefore, was to develop a comprehensive platform for other researchers to use in further medical genetic studies. In yeast, an orthologous model of human gene function, we developed a system of two dimerizing fusion proteins to control two-hybrid mediated transcriptional activation in response to a 450 nm blue light (optogenetic) stimulus. After extensive characterization and optimization of our system, we compiled our methodologies into a physical toolkit, which contains custom yeast strains frozen in glycerol stocks, standardized plasmids, a stochastic network model, the design of a light pulse generator to induce gene expression, and a custom software package for rapid analysis of data. In the coming weeks, we will begin testing an application of our system by screening for orthologous suppressors of beta-amyloid that may be used in genetic therapy of Alzheimer’s disease. Our comprehensive toolkit streamlines identification of genetic therapeutic targets, and will speed progress toward personalized therapy of a variety of diseases.
