Team:Birkbeck/Results

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Birkbeck iGEM

The Owligos are the first-ever team entered into the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition by Birkbeck, University of London. We’re a varied group of students who reflect the diversity and unique character of our institution: many of us have chosen science as a second career, having already spent some time in full-time work. For most of us, this has meant making our way through a degree while continuing to work full-time. Hopefully this kind of dedication will help us successfully navigate our way through our iGEM project.

Project Aim

Our project aims to create a new diagnostic solution that will be low-tech and cost-effective enough to allow its usage in deprived and remote communities. We’re attempting to engineer a bacteriophage lambda chassis to change its host affinity, while simultaneously adding a marker that will facilitate easy detection of a target bacterial pathogen in patient samples.

To demonstrate this approach as a proof of concept for the competition, we plan to change this affinity between different strains of E.coli; however, ultimately we hope to demonstrate that this principle could also be applied to alter the phage’s host range to other bacterial species. We could then provide a modular system capable of diagnosing a range of diseases. Of course, we haven’t chosen a simple goal. But as Birkbeck pioneers, we are determined to prove ourselves by making our project a success. We can’t wait to present the results of our work at the Giant Jamboree in September!




Under Construction

Fig. 1: Growth Curve of E. coli DH5α Strains Following Culture Optical Density of 600 nm.


Fig. 2: Growth Curve of E. coli DH5α Strains Following Culture Optical Density of 395 nm.



Fig. 3: Viable Count of E. coli DH5α After 60 mins.


Descriptive Statistics of 1 hour Viable Count of E. coli DH5α.
  N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Viable Count 9 1600000 3750000 2566666.67 627495.020
Valid N (listwise) 9        

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of 60 minutes Viable Count of E. coli DH5α..

Fig. 4: Viable Count of E. coli DH5α After 175 mins.


Descriptive Statistics of 175 Minutes Viable Count of E. coli DH5α.
  N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Viable Count 9 90000000 175000000 133333333.33 29154759.474
Valid N (listwise) 9        

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of 175 minutes Viable Count of E. coli DH5α.


Fig. 5: Growth Curves of Different Strains of E. coli DH5α Following Culture Optical Density at 601 nm.


Fig. 6: Growth Curves of Different Strains of E. coli DH5α Following Culture Optical Density at 501 nm.


Fig. 7: Growth Curves of Different Strains of E. coli DH5α Following Culture Optical Density at 475 nm.


Fig. 8: Growth Curves of Different Strains of E. coli DH5α Following Culture Optical Density at 395 nm.


Fig. 9: Growth Curves of Different Strains of E. coli DH5α Following Culture Fluorescence.