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Overview Sensitivity Tuner --- Characterisation --- Modelling Colour Generators --- Carotenoids (Orange/Red) --- Melanin (Brown) --- Violacein (Purple/Green) The Future Safety

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Overview

Previous iGEM teams have focused on genetically engineering bacteria to respond to novel inputs – for example light, or biologically significant compounds. There is an unmistakable need, therefore, to also develop clear, user-friendly outputs, especially for use with biosensors. The most popular output is the expression of a fluorescent protein, detectable using fluorescence microscopy. However, how much easier would it be if we could simply see the output with our own eyes? The Cambridge 2009 iGEM team is engineering E. coli to produce a range of pigments in order to equip future projects with better, more reliable, discrete outputs under logic control. Further, our bacteria utilize an amplifying mechanism, which effectively acts as an "on" switch to guarantee maximum pigment production even with low level input.