Brown

From 2007.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
Line 121: Line 121:
<span style="font-size:18pt">Cellular Lead Sensor</span>
<span style="font-size:18pt">Cellular Lead Sensor</span>
<p style="font-size: 13pt">
<p style="font-size: 13pt">
-
Lead poisoning is a public health concern - there is lead in soil, paint, water, and dust. Lead Poisoning is often caused by ingesting contaminated drinking water, or soil. It can cause neurological and gastrointestinal disorders, especially among children.
+
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.
-
</p>
+
-
The legal limit of lead in drinking water is 15 parts per billion.
+
-
<p>
+
-
Current ways of testing for lead either require expensive chemical lab analysis or involve inaccurate home kits.
+
-
<p>
+
-
A lead detector, based on E. Coli, is cheap, sensitive, quick, and specific
+
-
<p>
+
-
Our system involves a Lead detecting promoter, an amplifier, and an output of GFP. We're also working on a system to remove false positives.
+
</td>
</td>
<td colspan=3 class="contentright" align=left valign=top>
<td colspan=3 class="contentright" align=left valign=top>

Revision as of 02:44, 27 October 2007

Brown University
Home Lead Sensor Tristable Switch Community Supplemental About us
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

Wouldn't you like to have a stable signal in the continuously fluctuating environment of cells?

And if, say, your system doesn't work the very first try, wouldn't you like to have a methodical means to go about debugging it?

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. Our novel approach to the Tri-Stable Switch design is founded on quantitative principles, pioneering a technique to remove the guesswork from designing and debugging biological systems.

http://www.brownigem.com/images/pfizer.gif http://www.mandel.ca/suppliers/images/logo_labnet.gif http://brownigem.com/images/sponsors/nanodrop_small.jpg

  Links
Brown iGem on Openwetware
Brown iGem Official Website
Check out our Videos!
 News Updates
09.06.07
Brown University students love the Brown iGEM Booth at the Student Activities Fair!

09.04.07

Brown iGEM visits Pfizer HQ in Groton, Conneticut

08.28.07

Nanodrop donates ND-1000 Spectrophotometer and ND-3300 Fluorospectrophotometer to Brown iGEM

08.22.07

Brown iGEM Team presents its August Update to faculty and friends

08.20.07

Nanodrop it like it's hot! http://youtube.com/watch?v=pKT4Zrjeh6s

08.18.07

iGEM 2007 Meetup. Teams from MIT, BU, McGill, and Cold Spring Harbor presented their progress to each other and discussed the future of Synthetic Biology.

08.04.07

Brown iGEM presents summer research at the Brown University UTRA (Undergraduate Research) Symposium

07.30.07

Deepa and Tito gave a presentation to Brown Summer students and discussed the applications of synthetic biology

07.15.07

Brown iGEM presents June Update to faculty and friends of iGEM

07.03.07

The iGEM Team met up with Jody Hall's Biotechnology class on July 3rd. Afterwards we toured the lab and discussed the ethics of synthetic biology.

06.15.07

Brown iGEM presents June Update to Pfizer Team and Brown community

06.07.07

$25,000 grant from Pfizer for equipment purchases

06.01.07

Labnet sponsors Brown iGEM with vortex mixers, a microcentrifuge, pipettes, and autopipettes.

Retrieved from "http://2007.igem.org/wiki/index.php/Brown"