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"Warwick iGEM 2015 is the greatest team in the world" - Winston Churchill
Fluorescent microscopy helps validate protein expression, and we will be tying the expression of cell surface zinc fingers with that of fluorescent proteins inside the cell. By using different fingers with unique binding sites we allow different cell types to bond to our DNA structure.
As a proof of concept, that it is possible to bind different cell types to the same structure we are engineering E. coli to express different fluorescent proteins along with their unique zinc finger, showing how many different coloured cells can coexist in an environment.
Our art is influenced by diatom art made during the Victorian era using single celled algae (called diatoms) to make intricate geometric patterns. These artists slaved over a microscope with a pair of tweezers tirelessly arranging and rearranging the diatoms.
By engineering cells to export carbon, it may be possible to have multiple different cells working together to create carbon nanotubes in a way much cheaper than current methods. Nanotubes are an extraordinary material which exhibit enhanced mechanical properties.
We could engineer synthetic tissues of mixed cell types in a novel method. By controlling the exact placement of specific cells, it would be possible to create simple synthetic organs such as skin, or potentially to recreate more complex systems such as kidneys or even livers.
At Warwick iGEM we are passionate about the art of science, the way we can meld biology with design to make a product greater than the sum of its parts. We were inspired by this paper on using zinc fingers to barcode cells with fluorescently tagged double stranded DNA oligos; and considered whether it was possible to use these same zinc finger proteins in a way that has never been done before. By modifying our cells to express zinc finger binding domains on the outside of the cell wall could we, in the same manner that the DNA is bound to the cells in the paper, instead bind the cells to fixed structured DNA on a 2D plane? And then, using existing DNA origami research, could we expand this into creating self assembling 3D cell structures.
Fluorescent microscopy has long been the go to method for validating protein expression, and we are carrying on this long tradition by tying the expression of cell surface zinc fingers with the expression of fluorescent proteins inside the cell. By using multiple different zinc fingers with unique specific binding sites we allow different cell types to bond simultaneously to our DNA structure. The potential applications of this are limitless, imagine layers of different types of synthetic tissues; the construction of lab made skin and other organs. Imagine also a world where advanced materials with enhanced properties made cheaply by multiple different cells working together is possible.
As a proof of concept, that it is possible to bind different cell types to the same structure we are engineering E. coli to express different coloured fluorescent proteins along with their unique zinc finger proteins, showing visually how many different coloured cells can coexist in a controlled environment. Coincidentally, this allows us also to create art by arranging groups of coloured cells into images, allowing for some of the first fully coloured images made using only living cells.
