Team:McGill/Results





















Theoretical

 * We have discovered through mathematical modeling the dependance on separation distance on the dynamical behaviour of activation-inhibition intercellular signaling. The results displayed in the project section of this website constitute the gathering of evidence for a proof of principle that this type of system could serve as a novel type of biological sensor.


 * Imagine a sensor built of bacteria grown in a general arrangement on a plate exposed to the environment. As a foreign substance (to be observed) invades the colony, the special material of the plate could lead to the distance between cells to increase/decrease (like in building fire sprinkler systems) leading to the dynamics of the cells to change, which can be empirically measured and reported. It is not necessary to have the distance between cells change, other parameters that could be used as sensors are the rate of diffusion or degradation, both of which would lead to a change in dynamics.


 * These are all preliminary findings. Please refer to our jamboree poster/oral presentation for more information. We also plan on continuing this project past this years iGEM competition, so feel free to contact us if you have any further questions!

Experimental

 * We have observed fluorescence as predicted from cells with high copy numbers of Construct 2 (K290002), which represents the basal level of expression of EYFP from lux pL (R0063).



This is an indication that the K290002 construct performs as predicted, at least in so far as fluorescence is concerned.

Further experiments will focus on characterizing the pRhl and lux pL promoters and, by combining the two populations of cells, on experimentally verifying the oscillations as predicted by the theoretical models.