From 2012hs.igem.org
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| Established in 1958, [http://www.iitb.ac.in IIT Bombay] is one of the most recognized centers of academic excellence in the country today. The excellence of its academic programs, a robust research and development program with parallel improvement in facilities and infrastructure have kept it at par with the best institutions in the world. The ideas on which such institutes are built evolve and change with national aspirations, national perspectives, and global trends. At IIT Bombay we are continuously seeking to extend the boundaries of our research in a sustained manner with clear cut executable goals, grounded solidly in national realities.
This is our first year of participation and as such, we are pretty excited about the prospects. We are a group of students from the Chemical Engineering Department and from the School of Biosciences & Bioengineering. The most exciting aspect that we found about this competition was the interdisciplinary learning. A chemical reactor system invariably involves the design of control structures, and it is the design of these structures in a biological system that we wish to attain via our project.
A major objective of synthetic biology is to unveil the inherent design principles prevailing in biological circuits. Multiple feedback loops (having both positive and negative regulation) are highly prevalent in biological systems. The relevance of such a design in biological systems is unclear. Our team has used synthetic biology approaches to answer these questions. Our team comprises of nine undergraduates, three graduate students as student mentors and two faculty mentors, one each from biology and engineering background. The project specifically deals with the analysis of the effect of single and multiple feedback loops on gene expression. This project involves theoretical and experimental studies. We have designed synthetic constructs to mimic multiple feedbacks. The focus of our experimental work is to visualize the effect of multiple feedback loops on the synthetic construct using single cell analysis. The project provides insights into the roles of multiple feedback loops in biological systems.
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Team
Notebook
March
Brainstorming
Project ideas:
Pests
· Bacterial Pest attractor (engineer bacteria to produce a substance, such as a pheromone or smell, that attracts and kills pests such as insects)
· Natural pesticides (engineer bacteria to produce a substance that repels or kills pests, such as those that harm crops, that can later be implemented into plants)
Water/Environment:
· Desalination of water (engineering bacteria to get rid of salt in salt water in order to make drinkable water from sea water)
· Getting rid of estrogen mimicking compounds in water (engineering bacteria to degrade them or sequester them)
· Waste treatment (engineering bacteria that can be integrated into waste water treatment)
· CFCs (engineer bacteria to produce metabolites that break down chlorofluorocarbons—compounds that contribute to the degradation of the ozone layer)
Health
· Stomach ulcers (creating a medication containing engineered bacteria to specifically target and kill Helicobacter pylori – the organism that causes stomach ulcers)
· Diabetes (engineered bacteria as Islet cells to produce insulin)
· Allergies/Immune system (engineer bacteria to produce antihistamines or alter epitopes)
· Bone density (engineer bacteria to produce and secrete calcium and other compounds to help heal broken bones or to prevent osteoporosis)
Process Improvement
· Oil fractionation catalyst (engineering bacteria to improve the separation of crude oil into valuable fraction and waste fraction)
· Nitrate fixation (engineer bacteria to improve nitrogen fixation so not as much fertilizer is needed)
Kill Switches (engineering bacteria to undergo induced or programmed cell death in order to control the organism)
April
May
June
Results/Conclusions
Safety
Attributions
Human Practices
Fun!
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