Difference between revisions of "Team:Stockholm/Description"

• HOME
• TEAM
  • Modeling Team
  • Read-out Team
  • Recognition Team
  • Signaling Team
  • Finance Team
• PROJECT
  • Description
  • Experiments & Protocols
  • Results
  • Design
• PARTS
  • Team Parts
  • Basic Parts
  • Composite Parts
  • Part Collection
• NOTEBOOK
  • Modeling Team
  • Read-out Team
  • Recognition Team
  • Signaling Team
• ATTRIBUTIONS
• MEDAL REQUIREMENTS
• COLLABORATIONS
• HUMAN PRACTICES
• SAFETY
• MODELING
• MEASUREMENT
• SOFTWARE
• ENTREPRENEURSHIP
• SPONSORSHIP

Project Description

Synthetic biology offers many potential cost-effective healthcare technologies. One of those could be new ways to diagnose and treat disease at an early stage. Current techniques for biomarker detection (e.g. ELISA, RIA) are time consuming, expensive and require specialised equipment.
We intend to design a microbiological system for the detection of low quantities of biomarkers. This assay aims to be easier and more cost efficient than existing techniques and possible to perform in modestly equipped settings. Initially, we will focus on the expression of a receptor for the desired biomarker. Depending on the nature of the biomarker, the receptor will be either be native or designed.
Upon biomarker detection, signal amplification will be triggered by our receptor system to activate a read out/detection system (e.g. Luciferase, GFP) inside the microorganism to artificially amplify the extracellular signal. In the next stage, the team will go on to design a read-out system to measure the concentration of biomarkers in body samples. Finally we want to investigate if we can make this system transferable to other biomarkers, changing only the receptor part of the system.
The system would be cheap, fast and possible to distribute without advanced equipment. Our motivation is to improve patient prognosis and quality of life and to improve efficiency and reduce costs within the healthcare system.

Modelling

Recognition

Signalling

Read out

The read-out of the system consists of a yes/no mechanism which operates using two different fluorescent proteins in a separate bacterial strain. In the case of no biomarker being bound to the receptor, the recognition/signaling strain will output one quorum sensing molecule (OHHL, negative) and with the biomarker bound it will output a different one (BHL, positive). Quorum sensing is communication between bacteria using so called auto-inducers. In our case we use two different homoserine lactones found endogenously in gram negative bacteria other then E. coli. The read-out strain will detect these two quorum sensing molecules separately and output a red fluorescent protein (mCherry) for the positive quorum sensing signal, and a green or yellow fluorescent protein (not yet decided which) for the negative quorum sensing signal. Over time it will hopefully be possible to quantify the amount of biomarker roughly as a higher concentration of biomarker will lead to a stronger red signal and a weaker green/yellow signal..

References

I'm a little placeholder short and stout...