Difference between revisions of "Team:Columbia NYC"

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<p> Our ultimate goal is to design a template for the establishment of a consortia of engineered bacteria whose individual component can effectively communicate with one another. From an abstract perspective, this collection of biological parts and circuits is essentially a biological computer that can perform algorithms by processing information and generating an output. From a practical perspective, such a system will allow individual cell types to have specific roles that allow for the division of labor, much like the specialization of cells in multi-cellular organisms. However, such a broad goal is quite expansive and not appropriate for the time frame of an iGEM project; as such, we narrowed the scope of the project to focus on establishing such a consortia of bacteria for the organized release of gut-peptides in probiotic cells that will work in tandem with the natural gut-flora to help modulate and regulate hormonal activities in humans - thereby providing a therapeutic system that is adaptive to the environment of the host. In order to design a system with a practical purpose and further refine our goals, the team focused on a design that could potentially combat obesity and diabetes by utilizing the following gut peptides: <p>
 
<p> Our ultimate goal is to design a template for the establishment of a consortia of engineered bacteria whose individual component can effectively communicate with one another. From an abstract perspective, this collection of biological parts and circuits is essentially a biological computer that can perform algorithms by processing information and generating an output. From a practical perspective, such a system will allow individual cell types to have specific roles that allow for the division of labor, much like the specialization of cells in multi-cellular organisms. However, such a broad goal is quite expansive and not appropriate for the time frame of an iGEM project; as such, we narrowed the scope of the project to focus on establishing such a consortia of bacteria for the organized release of gut-peptides in probiotic cells that will work in tandem with the natural gut-flora to help modulate and regulate hormonal activities in humans - thereby providing a therapeutic system that is adaptive to the environment of the host. In order to design a system with a practical purpose and further refine our goals, the team focused on a design that could potentially combat obesity and diabetes by utilizing the following gut peptides: <p>

Revision as of 00:59, 18 July 2015

Project Description

Our ultimate goal is to design a template for the establishment of a consortia of engineered bacteria whose individual component can effectively communicate with one another. From an abstract perspective, this collection of biological parts and circuits is essentially a biological computer that can perform algorithms by processing information and generating an output. From a practical perspective, such a system will allow individual cell types to have specific roles that allow for the division of labor, much like the specialization of cells in multi-cellular organisms. However, such a broad goal is quite expansive and not appropriate for the time frame of an iGEM project; as such, we narrowed the scope of the project to focus on establishing such a consortia of bacteria for the organized release of gut-peptides in probiotic cells that will work in tandem with the natural gut-flora to help modulate and regulate hormonal activities in humans - thereby providing a therapeutic system that is adaptive to the environment of the host. In order to design a system with a practical purpose and further refine our goals, the team focused on a design that could potentially combat obesity and diabetes by utilizing the following gut peptides: <p>

<p>The key components to such a system are a platform for the release of peptides from the cell and inter- & intra- cellular communications. Possible mechanisms for release of peptides that we are focusing on are secretion via Type II secretion pathways using signal peptides and the lysis of cells containing the gut peptides using a holin-lysin system. Possible mechanism for inter- & intra- cellular communication among cells being examined are quorum sensing systems and the intein system found in proteins. <p>