Talk:Results

a bunch of stuff about the team: photo, abstract, link to wiki, embedded blip player. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Cellular Lead Sensor: About 40% of the world does not have access to clean water. Lead is a major contaminant worldwide. In the US alone, over 1 million children ages 1 through 5 have elevated levels of lead in their blood. Current lead detection systems are expensive and require lab analysis. Home lead testing kits are inaccurate and only detect lead at very high levels. We have created a genetic circuit in E Coli that responds to lead. The promoter and lead binding protein we use are ten times more selective for lead than for other similar heavy metals. We have also incorporated a genetic amplifier into our circuit to allow us to detect fairly low concentrations of lead. Tristable Switch - The Tri-Stable Toggle Switch represents a continuation on the theme of the Toggle Switch begun by Gardner, et al to produce stable outputs in response to transient inputs. Applications such as a memory circuit and a drug delivery system are a few suggestions, but perhaps the most promising innovation lies in the design process. Our novel approach to the Tri-Stable Switch development is founded on quantitative principles, pioneering a technique to remove the guesswork from designing and debugging biological systems.

Electric Bacteria: The goal of our project is to use directed evolution to increase the current output of the electrogenic bacteria Shewanella oneidensis (affectionately referred to as Shewie in the Gardner Lab). As the name suggests, directed evolution consists of two main steps: intentionally mutating DNA and then selecting for the expression of desired traits. In the case of S. oneidensis, certain global transcription regulators in its genome have been identified as being related to the metabolic processes of the bacteria. These global transcription regulators will be mutated via error-prone PCR and transformed into S. oneidensis in hopes of altering current output. Bacteria that express greater electrogenic capability will then be selected via flow cytometry or other viable selection methods. This process of directed evolution can be repeated with previously selected S. oneidensis in order to increase the level of electrogenesis even further.

Cellular Lead Sensor - About 40% of the world does not have access to clean water. Lead is a major contaminant worldwide. In the US alone, over 1 million children ages 1 through 5 have elevated levels of lead in their blood. Current lead detection systems are expensive and require lab analysis. Home lead testing kits are inaccurate and only detect lead at very high levels. We have created a genetic circuit in E Coli that responds to lead. The promoter and lead binding protein we use are ten times more selective for lead than for other similar heavy metals. We have also incorporated a genetic amplifier into our circuit to allow us to detect fairly low concentrations of lead. Tristable Switch - The Tri-Stable Toggle Switch represents a continuation on the theme of the Toggle Switch begun by Gardner, et al to produce stable outputs in response to transient inputs. Applications such as a memory circuit and a drug delivery system are a few suggestions, but perhaps the most promising innovation lies in the design process. Our novel approach to the Tri-Stable Switch development is founded on quantitative principles, pioneering a technique to remove the guesswork from designing and debugging biological systems.