University of Bologna Cesena Campus iGEM2007 Team/Project Description
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'''Genetic Schmitt Trigger - University of Bologna Cesena Campus 2007 Team.''' | '''Genetic Schmitt Trigger - University of Bologna Cesena Campus 2007 Team.''' | ||
The aim of our project is to design, build and test a Genetic Schmitt | The aim of our project is to design, build and test a Genetic Schmitt | ||
| - | Trigger. The Schmitt Trigger is a notable switch | + | Trigger. The Schmitt Trigger is a notable switch turned on |
| - | + | at a threshold (Th) higher than the one od the off transition (Tl), i.e. the stimulus that open the switch is higher | |
| - | transition | + | than the stimulus that shuts it off. The different thresholds confer to |
| - | + | ||
the switch an improved noise margin via hysteresis which is usefully | the switch an improved noise margin via hysteresis which is usefully | ||
handled in control systems. Originally the Schmitt Trigger was | handled in control systems. Originally the Schmitt Trigger was | ||
Revision as of 14:17, 25 October 2007
Genetic Schmitt Trigger - University of Bologna Cesena Campus 2007 Team. The aim of our project is to design, build and test a Genetic Schmitt Trigger. The Schmitt Trigger is a notable switch turned on at a threshold (Th) higher than the one od the off transition (Tl), i.e. the stimulus that open the switch is higher than the stimulus that shuts it off. The different thresholds confer to the switch an improved noise margin via hysteresis which is usefully handled in control systems. Originally the Schmitt Trigger was realized as an electronic circuit, invented by Otto Schmitt who was inspirited by its research on electric impulse propagation in squid axons. We are charmed by the idea to bring back this concept into biology. Indeed, hysteresis is already present in many biological systems, such as the lac operon of E. coli: our goal is to build up a synthetic genetic device able to operate like a Schmitt Trigger.
We plan to assemble BioBricks from iGEM 2007 plates to make new ones mimicking some of the functional units of the lac operon labelled with a fluorescent tag to implement a (bio)synthetic sugar-driven switch which silences or actives the expression of a gene.
