Difference between revisions of "Team:CU Boulder/Design"

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<h1>Design</h1>
 
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<h1>The BioStake</h1>
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<br>
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<h2><big>Biological Design Considerations</big></h2>
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<br>
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<big><big>Cells which contain logic gates and take part in
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cell-to-cell signaling demand a very specific environment in order for
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the system to work properly. Since the logic gates are intended to be
 +
used as information storage as to whether a contaminant has passed and
 +
are designed so monitoring does not need to be continuous, the cells
 +
must be able to survive and remain active for several days inside the
 +
device. Furthermore, the cell-to-cell singaling requires that the cells
 +
are suspended in such a manner that AHL diffusion is efficient and that
 +
they can induce one-another in an efficient manner. In order to support
 +
both of these, we designed a special hydrogel scaffold made out of
 +
crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol. PVA hydrogels are commonly used in
 +
biomaterials based on its hyrdophilic nature which can attract moisture
 +
and nutrients to keep the cells alive, its pore size which allows for
 +
the diffusion of proteins and sugars while holding the cells in a
 +
relatively fixed position, and its biodegradability, which is
 +
attractive in the context of making an environmentally-conscious
 +
product.<br>
 +
<br>
 +
In early September, PVA scaffolds were made which contained cells with
 +
the pBad inducible promoter in front of the RFP gene, and experimental
 +
results support the hypothesis that the engineered E. coli were able to
 +
live inside and respond to arabinose when soaked in the solution.<br>
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</big></big><big><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>
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<br>
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</span></big>
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<h2><big>Designing for Environmental Functionality</big></h2>
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<br>
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<br>
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<br>
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<h2><big>Creating a User-Friendly Device</big></h2>
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<big><br>
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<br>
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<br>
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</big>
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<h2><big>Future Directions for Development</big></h2>
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<br>
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<big><big>Further experimentation is required to determine
 +
the
 +
feasibility of AHL diffusion in cell-to-cell signaling, extensive cell
 +
growth studies to see if the system, and&nbsp;</big></big><br>
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<br>
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<br>
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<br>
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<br>
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<br>
 
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Revision as of 11:47, 17 September 2015


<!DOCTYPE html> Team:CU_Boulder - 2015.igem.org

Design

The BioStake


Biological Design Considerations


Cells which contain logic gates and take part in cell-to-cell signaling demand a very specific environment in order for the system to work properly. Since the logic gates are intended to be used as information storage as to whether a contaminant has passed and are designed so monitoring does not need to be continuous, the cells must be able to survive and remain active for several days inside the device. Furthermore, the cell-to-cell singaling requires that the cells are suspended in such a manner that AHL diffusion is efficient and that they can induce one-another in an efficient manner. In order to support both of these, we designed a special hydrogel scaffold made out of crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol. PVA hydrogels are commonly used in biomaterials based on its hyrdophilic nature which can attract moisture and nutrients to keep the cells alive, its pore size which allows for the diffusion of proteins and sugars while holding the cells in a relatively fixed position, and its biodegradability, which is attractive in the context of making an environmentally-conscious product.

In early September, PVA scaffolds were made which contained cells with the pBad inducible promoter in front of the RFP gene, and experimental results support the hypothesis that the engineered E. coli were able to live inside and respond to arabinose when soaked in the solution.

Designing for Environmental Functionality




Creating a User-Friendly Device

Future Directions for Development


Further experimentation is required to determine the feasibility of AHL diffusion in cell-to-cell signaling, extensive cell growth studies to see if the system, and 





Team:CU-Boulder - 2015.igem.org