Team:Illinois

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Welcome to the home page of the Illinois iGEM 2009 Wet Lab team! This is our second year in the iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition and we are excited to show the hard work that has gone into our project!

Our team has chosen to create a 2-to-4 binary decoder in Escherichia coli, giving bacteria the ability to perform logic. Our novel bacteria will be able to sense concentrations of two chemical inputs (such as sugars), identify these concentrations as "on" or "off", and produce one of four unique outputs (fluorescent proteins) depending on the combination of inputs.

In order to accomplish this we have decided to use small RNA molecules to regulate gene expression in the decoder. They will ideally provide a fast and efficient way of effectively regulating gene translation and expression. This will also allow us to sumbmit sRNAs and their target sequences to the registry of standard parts for use by other teams and researchers.

For a more detailed description of our project, please see our Project page.

Our team is also excited about the project that the Illinois Tools team has chosen. Please visit their Wiki page to view their project.

Announcements

• 8/5--We have finally gotten ligations to work! It is highly likely that our problem was caused by the ligase we were using.
• 7/14--Our Wiki is undergoing construction. Hopefully a new side navigation bar will be successfully added.
• 7/13--Added some pretty hilarious videos to the team page. Work in the lab is progressing, but ligations are still proving difficult.
• 6/30--We have reorganized lab groups again. The sRNA Library and Modeling groups will remain the same. The other two groups have become two new groups: the Hybrid Promoter group and the 3'-Acting sRNAs group.
• 6/27--Check out our new iGEM video on the Home page!
• 6/26--Meagan is leaving for Spain tomorrow to study abroad! Bye, Meagan! We'll all miss you!!!
• 6/24--Our team has split up into four groups working on four different aspects of the project: the sRNA library, mRNA degradation, sRNA dual regulation, and modeling. As a result, the Notebook page has been reorganized.
• 6/19--Our Wiki page has just been reorganized. There is now an Experiments tab that includes the Protocols, Plasmids, and Strain List pages.
• 6/18--We are experiencing difficulties in replicating our plasmid DNA. In the past couple days, our gels have continually reported a DNA fragment that is smaller than the one we expected to see, and today our streak plates are missing. We hope to rectify the situation as soon as possible so we may resume work.
• 6/18--Restriction and purification of genes and target sequences were successful.
• 6/17--All of the sRNA genes and target sequences have been successfully made by PCR and verified by gel electrophoresis. We will be adding restriction endonucleases and purifying our genes and target sequences today.
• 6/17--A Strain List page has been created under the Project heading that will list the strains of bacteria we have created in lab.
• 6/16--Please view our Notebook page to view our lab progress.
• 6/11--We expect to begin lab work on Monday! Four groups will be working for the next week to characterize four different sRNAs via target sequence-GFP fusions and add them to the Parts Registry.
• 6/11--The Notebook page is now set up. Lab group pages will be set up as research begins.
• 6/9--The Research page is now set up.
• 6/9--We have changed a lot on the Wiki page. The Sponsors and Pictures sections, as well as the Protocols, Research, Modeling, and Parts pages, are under construction. Announcements will be posted when each page/section is set up.
• 6/7--The Team page is now set up.
• 6/1--The Team, Protocols, Resources, Parts, Notebook, and Pictures pages are still under construction. Please check back regularly, as announcements will be posted when these pages are set up.
• 6/1--We are currently ordering supplies, as we will begin lab work as soon as possible. We are also continuing research on sRNAs and deciding on which model to use for our project. Testing various parts in the lab will help influence our final decision for a model to use.

Sponsors

We are very grateful to our sponsors for allowing us to compete in the 2009 iGEM competition. Thank you for all your contributions to the Illinois iGEM 2009 Team!