GMU:Synthetic Biology/Product Screening

2009 Wiki - possible products

Aberdeen_Scotland

"Pico Plumber", a strand of bacteria that can find leaks and corrosion in pipes, reaching them by chemotaxis (although how this would work in real-life is not clear from their wiki, since the bacteria need an attractant. would need to be some kind of chemical that is released from pipes when they break). Upon reaching high density at the leaking site, they start producing a glue enzyme (not really specified, they mention tropoelastin, a protein that makes blood vessels elastic. can't tell from their wiki if that's their "glue"). Can be something you can use on a small scale at home for your water pipes.

British Columbia

E.coli Traffic Light

A strand of E.coli bacteria that senses chemicals of choices and gives a green, yellow or red fluorescent output. Could show a potentially dangerous rise in concentration for pollutants. Same as Cambridge, but with fluorescent proteins, which is very unhandy for at home use.

Brown

Allergene

A naturally occurring bacterium in the human nasal flora, Staphylococcus epidermidis, is used as a vehicle for the delivery of an anti-allergic drug that is produced only upon allergic reaction. This would come in the form of a nasal spray, I assume.

Cambridge

E. chromi

The E. Chromi strain of bacteria can be used for out- and indoor sensing of chemicals (i.e. pollutants) and gives a colour output in form of visible dye that can be directly analysed without fancy laser equipment. Plus the sensor is concentration sensitive.

Chiba

E. coli timer

A timer that is triggered by a chemical and depending on concentration gives an output after a certain time. Could be used together with E. chromi, or for boiling eggs.

Cornell

again a biosensor in form of a bacteria. It can sense the toxic heavy metal cadmium (very important for agriculture). Output is a fluorescent protein.

-> for questions concerning these projects, please contact Laura
Laura iGem 19:01, 6 August 2010 (CEST)

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Duke

Biodegradable, E.coli produced, plastic. More efficient and cheap than before due to better/new cloning strategy of the enzymes required for the biopolymer production.

Edinburgh

Bacteria detecting nitrite and TNT products for landmine detection. Their growth is directed towards the nitrite and TNT product to allow localization.

ESBS-Strasbourg

A bacterium which degrades the petroleum: In order to avoid a bacteria pollution of the environment, this bacteria is subject to a suicide gene. This suicide gene codes for a DNAse which is expressed when there is no oil left.

Gaston_Day_School

Nitrate contamination (agriculture) detecting Bacteria.

Groningen

Metal ion cleaning E.coli: "This strategy encompasses a biological device in which E. coli bacteria accumulate metal ions from solutions, after which they produce gas vesicles and start floating. This biological device consists of two integrated systems: one for metal uptake and storage, the other for metal induced buoyancy."

HKU-HKBU

Bacteria driven motor. Possible application in removing the plaque in arteriosclerosis.

HKUST

"[...]A novel yeast strain that could detect, attract and eliminate pests."

Imperial_College_London

E.coli that produces therapeutic and encapsulate itself to serve as a pill: "The E.ncapsulator provides an innovative method to deliver any biologically synthesisable compound and bypasses the need for expensive storage, packaging and purification processes. The E.ncapsulator is an attractive candidate for commercial pill development and demonstrates the massive manufacturing potential in Synthetic Biology."

-> for questions concerning these projects, please contact Laura
Jan-Ulrich 17:10, 10 August 2010 (CEST)

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UAB-Barcelona and uChicago

A bio senser for the recognition and removal of water pollutants (Trihalomethanes, Nitrite, Nitrate and orthophosphate ions), i.e. chloroform. The bio sensor runs in E. coli or yeast and has (for detection purposes) a GFP fluorescent protein as output. This product could be used in order to perform an easy water-quality test at home and thereby to minimize health-risks.

UCSF

They planned to program mammalian cells to perform a certain movement according to chemical gradients. They call it nano-bot in robot analogy. As future product possibilities they state: "Imagine, for example, therapeutic nano robots that could home to a directed site in the body and execute complex, user-defined functions (e.g., kill tumors, deliver drugs, guide stem cell migration and differentiation)."

UC Davis

This team envisions a medical product for curing Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease is the disease where people are unable to digest gliadin, a protein present in gluten. So they have to stick to a strong gluten-free diet. The team wants to engineer a micro-organism able to produce the enzyme for digesting gliadin. Therefore they work on

1. an enzyme secretion part
2. a pH detection part in order to limit the production of the enzyme to the stomach, where the digestion should be performed

ULB-Brussels

Development of a synbio-Glue produced by an engineered E. coli strain. This project takes advantage of a natural, bacterial glu, that has the following properties:

1. three times stronger than actual glues
2. glue that is able to strongly bind a wet surface

UNIPV-Pavia

Production of Ethanol from waste, i.e. toxic left over during cheese production. In general the approach to produce energy (i.e. ethanol) from energy-rich waste (i.e. plants, natural products) is one big goal of synthetic biology and would have a huge impact on energy production and the energy market.

UNIPV-Pavia

Beating obesity by approaching the topic as follows: Our goal is to engineer a strain of Lactobacillus to express the enzymes required for the synthesis of cellulose (a bio-polymer which is non-toxic and non-digestible for humans) from glucose (sugar) in an attempt to reduce the caloric intake of obese individuals.

Uppsala-Sweden

Biofuel (ethanol, butanol) production from sun light. Approach: using cyanobacteria (being able to use light as energy source) for the production of those biofuels.

Valencia

Lightnig Cell Display: Building of a bio-screen consisting of yeast being able to sense electric stimuli and produce light. Although such a display seems to have no advantage over normal, classic display, it has indeed some interesting properties:

1. dot-size is equal to the size of single cells (super-high resolution)
2. no electricity needed for color production --> energy saving
3. cells have interesting properties (can move etc.), which may lead to new possibilities in computer-screen engineering

please address questions according to those projects to Dominik

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Possible products for the investigated teams are written bold

IPN-UNAM-Mexico

• “self-emerging patterns in an activator-inhibitor network”
  • bacteria create glowing patterns depending on stimulations
  • nothing more than visualization of diffusion processes

IPOC1-Colombia

• “Molecular Device to Detect Sea Salinity”
  • poor outline
• product: BioPoolCheck
  • use harmless bacteria to sense the salinity of your swimming pool
    • water starts to glow if re-fresh is necessary

IPOC2-Colombia

• “Biodegrading Pesticides”
  • no details about success, parts a.s.o.
• product: BioFieldCheck
  • neutralize toxicity by distributing bacteria on your farm

Johns_Hopkins

• only template page

Johns_Hopkins-BAG

• “Build A Genome”
  • synthetic yeast genome construction
    • production of complicated DNA sequences without constrains
    • only one chromosome arm was synthesized and inserted

KULeuven

• “Essencia coli, The fragrance factory”
  • engineered E. coli senses vanillin concentrations in surrounding media
  • own vanillin production depending on blue-light irradiation
    • blue light and vanillin as antagonists

KU_Seoul

• “Integrated Heavy Metal Detection System”
  • E. coli in water sense cadmium and zinc concentration
    • fluorescence depending on water pollution
• product: ToxiChecker
  • powder to proof water quality

Kyoto

• “Gene Switch Depending on Duplication”
  • for therapeutical means but no useful supermarket application
• “Cells in cells”
  • no cool purpose either

LCG-UNAM-Mexico

• “Fight Fire with Fire – Phage mediated bacterial bite back”
  • population of bacteria becomes “immune” against phage infections
    • mechanism: fast protection response to prevent spread of phage infection
    • “kamikaze”

Lethbridge

• “BioBattery”
  • creation of microcompartments and targeted localization of nanoparticles
  • ambitious goals but only minor achievements (confusing presentation of results)
• rough product idea: BioBattery
  • usage of modified cyanobacteria to create a current

McGill

• no title
  • cellular communication via chemicals
  • feedback loop: one cell is affecting the other and vice versa

METU-Gene

• “Wound Dressing”
  • experimental testing of oxygen-depending promoters (active during wound healing)
  • research on epidermal growth factors to support epithelialization
• product: BioBandAid
  • a synbio cream that accelerates wound healing
    • content: bacteria that produces substances for different regeneration phases

Michigan

• “The Toluene Terminator”
  • usage of existing parts and pathways to degrade toxic toluene into CO2 and H2O finally
  • suicide mechanism of bacteria as soon as the job is done
• product: for removal of petrol or paint thinners

Minnesota

• “AND gates”
  • research on common and simple molecular devices
  • integration of two input signals as a necessity for output in general

Missouri_Miners

• “Microbial Fuel Cell”
  • specific molecules make extracellular electron transfer possible
  • electrons can be transferred through E. coli cell envelope
  • produced electricity can be monitored or utilized elsewhere
• product: BioBattery
  • with E. coli instead of cyanobacteria (see above)

MIT

• “Photolocalizer”
  • protein localization depending on a light pulse
  • plant proteins in yeast change their conformation
    • thereby: binding or release of target protein
• product: BioNotes
  • cellular white board
  • notifications can be written on it by applying a red laser-pointer
  • in enlightened cells, fluorescent proteins will be released and degraded
    • change of color, where red light hits the board

MoWestern_Davidson

• “Can´t Get No SATisfaction”
  • bacterial computers solve logical (i. e. SAT) problems
    • application of different suppressor tRNAs as a precondition for correct reporter gene expression
• product: BC (bacterial computer with BAC OS X)
  • solving of simple input-output operations: synbio calculator
    • in combination with AND gates from Minnesota (see above)

NCTU_Formosa

• “Bac. Cup Referee”
  • controllable synthetic circuit (OR gate) in E. coli with adjustable timer and counter functions to integrate temporal and environmental signals
  • motive: control the freshness (bacterial contamination) of stored food in supermarkets
• product: FreshFridge
  • colorful reminder if you have to buy fresh food

Nevada

• “Cinnamicide: Producing a Natural Insecticide against Mosquito Larvae in E. coli and Duckweed“
  • expression of enzyme genes in E. coli for production of insecticides
    • eco-friendly and cost-effective
• product: synbio insect spray

Newcastle

• “BAC-MAN”
  • engineered B. subtilis to sense and sequester cadmium from the soil environment into metallothionein containing spores, rendering it bio-unavailable for many years
  • it is always the same with soil detoxification projects

Lorenz 22:17, 8 August 2010 (CEST)