Achievements

We are proud to announce that we accomplished the following objectives:

General Achievements

• Our engineered E.coli can detect CTC based on their elevated lactate output.

• We designed a novel system for detection of circulating tumor cells in blood samples using genetically modified bacteria.

• We designed a genetic circuit that integrates two different cancer specific signals (lactate and AHL) in an AND gate.

• We designed and validated a tight AND gate with a clear binary behavior.

Experimental Achievements

• We documented and submitted two new basic parts to the iGEM parts registry and created a part collection with 13 parts.

• We characterized two newly designed hybrid promoters and were able to show that one of our combined promoters, P_lac-lldR (K1847010), reacts in a clear AND gate fashion to a combination of lactate and IPTG. To our knowledge, combining these two elements has never been attempted before.

• We improved and characterized variants of the E. coli lldPRD-operon promoter based on the natural version (BBa_K822000), on which there is only a limited amount of information available in the Parts Registry and in the literature. The characterization of a synthetic promoter library yielded promoter variants that far outperform the wild type LldPRD promoter.

• We characterized the autodinducer inactivation enzyme (aiiA). With aiiA the quorum sensing system has 10 000x lower sensitivity.

• We characterized sTRAIL to induce apoptosis in cancer cells.

• We characterized the natural plldR promoter and came up with the hypothesis that LLDR has combined repression and activation.

• We designed a chip for future application of our MicroBeacon E. coli.

• We participated in the interlab study.

• Our experiments complied with the safety instructions at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering D-BSSE in Basel where our lab is situated.

Modeling Achievements

• We separately modeled two different signals of our cancer detection system, the Lactate Module and the AHL Module.

• We defined and estimated all relevant parameters for our models.

• We integrated the two modules into a Combined Compartment Model to simulate a logical AND gate.

• To account for the diffusion and degradation of signaling molecules under real-world conditions we designed various Reaction-diffusion Models.

• We optimized our model by integrating experimental data gathered by the characterization of our LldR promoter constructs.

• We showed that the successful detection of cancer cells with our system is feasible in principle.

Human Practices and Collaboration Achievements

• We interviewed several medical doctors and integrated the insights we got into the design of our device.

• We thought and performed a biological experiment with primary school children and learnt about their enthusiasm for science.

• To get the publics attention we published two articles about iGEM and our project, one in a regional newspaper and one in the ETH-student magazine "Polykum". In addition we did a survey in the streets of Basel and asked the people about their perception of synthetic biology.

• Talking to an ethics expert helped us consider important ethical questions such, e.g. if it is defensible to use engineered organisms for diagnostic purposes.

• We conducted an interview with the founder of a startup biotech company and discussed with him if MicroBeacon would be a promising business idea.

• We talked to a patent expert and learnt about patents in general and discussed about what parts of our system would be interesting to patent.

• We collaborated with the team from Stockholm by testing their constructs.

• We contributed to the Newsletters from Amoys team, met with the Darmstadt team, conducted a survey together with the EPFL and provided Colombias team with protocols and troubleshooting advice for their transformations.

Medal Criteria

	We registered for iGEM, had a great summer so far, and now we are looking forward to attending the Giant Jamboree!	Going for it!
	We completed and submitted the Judging Form.
	We created a description of our project in time.
	We documented all the parts taken from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, of which two (BBa_C0160 and BBa_K822000) were redesigned and newly characterized.
	We are going to present a poster and give a talk at the Giant Jamboree.	Going for it!
	We created this website for you to learn about every aspect of our iGEM project.
	We documented and submitted two new basic parts to the iGEM parts registry and created a part collection with 13 parts.
	These 13 new parts for our parts collection we also submitted to the iGEM Parts Registry.
	We characterized two newly designed hybrid promoters and were able to show that one of our combined promoters, Plac-lldR (K1847010), reacts in a clear AND gate fashion to a combination of lactate and IPTG. To our knowledge, combining these two elements has never been attempted before.
	Our Human Practices Efforts: We visited two different elementary schools, thaught the children about what DNA is, performed experiments with them and published an article about it in the local newspaper. We informed the ETH-student magazine polykum about iGEM and gave an interview. We contributed to the Newsletters from Amoys team, met with the Darmstadt team, conducted a survey together with the EPFL and provided Colombias team with protocols and troubleshooting advice for their transformations.
	More Human Practices Efforts: We interviewed many different experts from various fields: medical doctors, an expert from the ethics commission of the ETH Zurich, the founder of a startup biotech company as well as an expert in patent law and integrated their advice and ideas into our project design.
	We collaborated with the team from Stockholm by testing their constructs.
	We Improved and characterized variants of the E. coli lldPRD-operon promoter based on the natural version (BBa_K822000), on which there is only a limited amount of information available in the Parts Registry and in the literature. The characterization of a synthetic promoter library yielded promoter variants that far outperform the wild type LldPRD promoter.