Team:Sheffield

SWITCHED ON !!!

For the second time running [http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ University of Sheffield] is proud to undertake another remarkable iGEM journey. The team constitute of three members specializing in different fields of engineering such as biomedical and system control.

Project Description

By modifying E.coli so that it can use a phytochrome- with a light receptor- from cyanobacteria as a trigger of protein generation. This pathway is controlled by a certain wavelength of red light, acting as a system switch for lacZ production. LacZ can react with substrate X-gal and form a blue precipitate as a reporter. However, other reporter genes can be attached to the lacZ gene, so different reporters can be expressed. From the fact that this mechanism is sensitive to a certain wavelength of light, we hope to create a system that can be sensitive to various wavelengths and hence triggering different protein generation. Through this the E.coli can become a wavelength sensor; a different wavelength can trigger a different production of protein, for example various types of fluorescent protein, giving a different a colour-scaled indication of the wavelength of the environment around the E.coli.

Our aim is to design an E.coli system that is sensitive to multiple wavelengths of light and therefore produce a colour indication of the specific wavelength it is exposed to. A pictorial description is shown below:

Sponsors

Special thanks to:

Prof Philip Wright, Prof Visakan Kadirkamanathan, Prof Alan Matthews, Dr Jagroop Pandhal, Dr Josselin Noirel, Tara Baldacchino and everyone in the bioincubator.