Difference between revisions of "Team:BostonU/Temporal Control"

Line 21: Line 21:
  
 
<h3>Overview</h3>
 
<h3>Overview</h3>
−
<p>Our project this summer was making molecules that can change DNA when we want them to change it.  The field of synthetic biology seeks to engineer desirable cellular functionalities by developing molecular technologies that enable precise genetic manipulation. A promising solution is to reliably control proteins that naturally execute genetic modifications. Current strategies to regulate activity of such proteins primarily rely on modulating protein expression level through transcriptional control; however, these methods are susceptible to slow response and leaky expression.In contrast, strategies that exploit post-translational regulation of activity, such as conditional dimerization, bypassed these limitations and allowed us to gain temporal control of protein activity: which can enable us to modulate different cell states.  Examples of important cell state modulation are expressing genes in specific tissues of mice and building more functional, <i>dynamic</i> systems.</p>
+
<p>The field of synthetic biology as a whole seeks to engineer desirable cellular functionalities by developing molecular technologies that enable precise genetic manipulation. Controllable gene expression and controllable genome editing are two extremely important areas of current research in synthetic biology. Tightly controlling the activity of proteins that naturally execute genetic modifications can allow researchers to exert temporal control over the fundamental activities and phenotype of a cell at the genetic level.</p>
  
−
<p>We were first interested in gaining temporal control of proteins involved in manipulating DNA for conditional gene expression and genetic logic applications. Controllable gene expression and controllable genome editing are two important problems that synthetic biologists are trying to address. Realization of these applications is often executed by proteins that interact with DNA and manipulate it.</p>
+
<p>In the literature, there are several characterized strategies to control protein activity. Different techniques have different advantages and limitations that may make them better suited for particular applications. Here, we focus on a few of these methods and why we ultimately decided to utilize the method of conditional dimerization (a post-translational control mechanism) to split certain genetic manipulation proteins of interest.</p>
  
 
<div id=push></div>
 
<div id=push></div>

Revision as of 01:10, 18 September 2015

Overview Current Methods Our Workflow

Overview

The field of synthetic biology as a whole seeks to engineer desirable cellular functionalities by developing molecular technologies that enable precise genetic manipulation. Controllable gene expression and controllable genome editing are two extremely important areas of current research in synthetic biology. Tightly controlling the activity of proteins that naturally execute genetic modifications can allow researchers to exert temporal control over the fundamental activities and phenotype of a cell at the genetic level.

In the literature, there are several characterized strategies to control protein activity. Different techniques have different advantages and limitations that may make them better suited for particular applications. Here, we focus on a few of these methods and why we ultimately decided to utilize the method of conditional dimerization (a post-translational control mechanism) to split certain genetic manipulation proteins of interest.