From 2007.igem.org

Welcome to the University of Calgary Wiki for the 2007 IGEM Competition. We are updating this page with new information for the public on an ongoing basis!

The primary UofC iGEM project for 2007 is to design and build a biomechanical printer; composed of a two dimensional plotter equipped with a red laser, software to translate computer images into instructions for the plotter, and E. coli cells engineered to respond to the laser light. Bacteria are spread in a solid lawn on the plate, or mixed in the media before pouring the plate. The response triggered by this biological circuit is to produce beta agarase, an enzyme which degrades the agar polymer that the cells rest on.

By varying the amount of light exposure each point on the plate receives, we can control the amount of agarase expression, and so the height of the agar gel, at each location. The result is bacterial lithography. In particular, the fine resolution achievable by laser control could allow resolution as high as 10 megapixels per inch, precise enough to target individual cells.