This year, we collaborated with Canmore. Our goals was to get the opinion of another team in order to get an impartial and unbiased analysis of each others projects. We wanted to get another opinion on the usefulness of our biobrick along with any concerns about practicality or safety. Below are the write ups down by both teams.

Canmore:

Canmore’s project deals primarily with the issue of hair and feather build up in the water treatment systems. This is clearly a major issue and can use extensive amounts of money and time to remedy. There is an extreme amount of inconvenience to unclog the water treatment systems once they get to this point. Creating a BioBrick to produce keratinases could be an effective and cheap solution to the problem and also in preventing the problem.

Our concerns for Canmore lie in the prototype and safety. The specific engineering and prototyping of a bioreactor is extremely important. The conditions required to keep the bacteria alive, the amount of keratinases that would need to be produced, and the length of time this process will take are all aspects to look into when designing the bioreactor. Their plan to use the membrane bioreactor is a very good and easily applicable idea but the research as to optimum conditions concerning the production of the gene is incredibly important. Having a viable analysis of the cost, time and resources required to make this something we can implement is society is also an important consideration. The time frame of how long it takes to break down the keratin is also something to look into. The comparison of the time requirements to break down other pollutants in the bioreactor chamber compared with the time to break down keratin. Knowing this will allow a design maximizing potential.

Other thoughts for them to consider include: what types of bacteria are already being used in the bioreactor? What are they breaking down? Is there a way to genetically modify bacteria already in use to contain the kera or karus gene? This would eliminate the need to introduce another species and readjust conditions while allowing maximum productivity. Overall, I believe this project could introduce a valid and much needed solution to the issue of hair build up and could be quite effective, quick and safe. As the bioreactor is not connected to the main water line and is completely contained, contamination of water with E. coli would not be an issue. The proposed prototype also utilizes the current system and technologies used making it as easy as possible for implementation. Canmore has done an excellent job in looking at the practical portions of their project and with more research their project could do a lot of good in our world. (-Sam Davies)

Consort:

This year the iGem team from Consort is continuing with their ECOS project, bacteria designed to detect the presence of aromatic hydrocarbons in order to prevent any harm to the environment. Consort’s ongoing project is a great concept for many reasons. Firstly it is something that is a local problem in their community and especially hits home for some of the team members, which means that they devote themselves fully to the project. Secondly because the outcome of this project could be very helpful for surrounding communities and possibly could hold some wealth in it. Finally because this project could help save countless amounts of crops and livestock from what is a major threat to them.

The science behind the project is very intriguing as well. The indicator protein is atoned to xylene, which is a very volatile liquid hydrocarbon, which in itself is a good thing to find and remove but it is tied to other dangerous compounds. When these compounds are detected the proteins emit a color indication that would alert the user to the presence of said dangerous compounds. Whilst this all seems simple the biobrick is not, and they have spent years developing this to perfection to start with their prototypes.

The prototype and models of prototypes look to be a very effective method of using ECOS. I was able to see one of the prototypes and it looked good even though I was unable to see it in action, this shows great promise for the team in their upcoming endeavors. I can see much success in the future if this team especially if they have a working prototype at the giant Jamboree, I personally wish them the best (-Joshua Lamb)