Team:Bielefeld-CeBiTec/Project/Detection

Fluorescence Detection

We want to design a practical test stripe for everyone. But how to, if superfolder GFP is the ideal reporter protein for in vitro protein synthesis (Lentini et al, 2013 )? It isn't possible to see with naked eye. Therefore we had to design a device which can detect fluorescence. We researched previous iGEM projects with comparable needs and intentions e.g. iGEM Aachen 2014. They used a filter in front of a sensor to detect fluorescence. But it didn't work at all. Another possibility is, to put a filter in front of the flash like Hossain et al, 2014 . In the next step they analyzed a already taken photo with an app.

But why should we use only one Filter? We could use two. One Filter for emission and one for extinction. Now we can photograph the fluorescence, but it's still not really practicle to the user. So we decided to code a smartphone app. So you only have to take a photo and yout smartphone analyzes it.

Furthermore it's important to take the photo in an dark environment. Therefore we designed a box realizing it with a 3D printer. You can put your test stripe inside the box, place your smartphone on the top of the box and take the photo.

To sum it up: An easy method for fluorescence imaging was invented.

References

Lentini, Roberta; Forlin, Michele; Martini, Laura; Del Bianco, Cristina; Spencer, Amy C.; Torino, Domenica; Mansy, Sheref S. (2013): Fluorescent proteins and in vitro genetic organization for cell-free synthetic biology. In ACS synthetic biology 2 (9), pp. 482–489. DOI: 10.1021/sb400003y

Hossain, Arafat; Canning, John; Ast, Sandra; Rutledge, Peter J.; Yen, Teh Li; Jamalipour, Abbas. (2014): Lab-in-a-phone: Smartphone-based Portable Fluorometer for pH Field Measurements of Environmental Water. In Sensors Journal, IEEE, pp. 5095-5102. DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2014.2361651