Team:Lethbridge

From 2009.igem.org

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Revision as of 01:41, 20 October 2009

Project Overview

The issues surrounding energy production are becoming more prominent with increasing environmental concerns and the rising cost of energy. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) use biological systems to produce an electrical current. Cyanobacteria are organisms which have been studied in MFCs and have been found to create a current, although not highly efficient (Tsujimura et al., 2001). We wish to increase the efficiency of the cyanobacteria MFC by introducing microcompartments to create a BioBattery. The microcompartments are created by the production of the protein lumazine synthase forms icosahedral capsids. As a proof of principle we will create this system within Escherichia coli and target two different fluorescent proteins within the microcompartment to observe fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Furthermore, we will be exploring a novel method for the mass production of uniform nanoparticles, which is more efficient and cost effective than current methods.

University of Lethbridge Sponsors

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 ==Project Overview==
-With increasing concerns surrounding the environment and rising energy costs, many are devoting more time to address the issues surrounding energy production. In the 2009 Canadian Federal Budget, one billion dollars was designated to develop sustainable energy projects. In keeping with this, the University of Lethbridge iGEM Team is working towards creating an efficient sustainable energy source, the BioBattery.
+The issues surrounding energy production are becoming more prominent with increasing environmental concerns and the rising cost of energy.  Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) use biological systems to produce an electrical current.  Cyanobacteria are organisms which have been studied in MFCs and have been found to create a current, although not highly efficient (Tsujimura et al., 2001).  We wish to increase the efficiency of the cyanobacteria MFC by introducing microcompartments to create a BioBattery.  The microcompartments are created by the production of the protein lumazine synthase forms icosahedral capsids.   As a proof of principle we will create this system within Escherichia coli and target two different fluorescent proteins within the microcompartment to observe fluorescence resonance energy transfer.  Furthermore, we will be exploring a novel method for the mass production of uniform nanoparticles, which is more efficient and cost effective than current methods.
-The BioBattery is based on using photosynthetic pathways to create energy.  The self-sustaining battery will fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, provided that it is supplied with water and sunlight. However, simply using these photosynthetic pathways will not create a BioBattery efficient enough to be economically and environmentally applicable. Therefore, the creation of synthetic microcompartments is necessary to increase the energy output of the BioBattery. The microcompartments can contain the photosynthetic factors needed to maximize BioBattery efficiency.
 ==University of Lethbridge Sponsors==