Team:Brown/Notebook Meetings/4-22-09
From 2009.igem.org
iGEM 2009 Meeting
April 22, 2009
- 9:40PM: Meeting begins in the SciLi Basement
- 9:43: iGEM account, Google groups account, Mathworks; email Neil for google group invitation!
- 9:45: Minoo and Eli are attending the Webinar
- 9:46: Michael gives presentation on Bacterial Pixel
- GFP, BFP, RGP components within a bacteria
- Wavelength promoters need to be cloned
- 10:00 Flora’s project: ability to detect cancer cells, then induce apoptosis
- Detecting target – binding site on breast cancer cells – using nanoparticles to identify
- Once cells are identified, induce apoptosis by bringing inducer molecule
- Flora will meet with them on Friday; report back; “Click Chemistry”
- 10:12: Indu & Minoo: prevention of allergies creating bi-functional protein – idenitify histamine & induce liver uptake
- Common allergies - too much histamine
- Tics secrete 3 binding histamine protein – have been cloned
- EV131 in mice – binds to histamine with high affinity
- Look into mechanism to fuse these 2 proteins
- 10:25: Will – unlike every other team on the planet let’s use RNA synthetic biology
- RNA strand with UTR and translated region
- Toxin trigger conformational change of RNA
- Make RNA that binds to RNA strand, blocking ribosome binding
- Another part of RNA has spot that binds to one molecule, allowing RNA strand to fall off
- Advantage: faster mechanism of gene regulation
- “Ribo-regulators”
- 10:38: Ahmad – specialized Safe Cell where dangerous cells will die if they escape
- Cell can only produce ATP on plate
- Uncouplers stop ATP synthesis
- Inhibitor of uncoupler – liver x receptor alpha in media – cell dies
- 10:48: Ashley – eat as much as you want!
- Leptin creates satiety signals, but obese individuals have large adipose, and large leptin; however, leptin receptors are not receptive
- Use leptin signal to break down fats directly
- Establish threshold leptin level
- 10:59: Stephanie – meningitis – bacteria has gene called lactate permease that when absent in mutant, mutant incapable of taking up lactose
- Uses lactose instead of glucose as primary energy source
- Bind something to lactose to prevent uptake
- Needs adhesins
- Build machine that recognizes bacteria then have gene expressed where lactose binding lactin => lactate broken down
- Proposed targeting this towards lactose intolerance
- 11:08: Eli – sphingosine and sphingosine 1-phosphate (signaling lipids)
- Spingosine is pro-apoptosis, anti-mitotic
- Spingosine 1-P is anti-apoptosis, mitogenic (overexpressed in cancer cells)
- Create switch that would induce cells to grow and die via ribo-regulator or regulation of transcription
- 11:16: Need to pick favorites
- 11:22: Everyone agrees on Bactopixel, Cancer-detection, and Histamine
- Possibility to implicate RNA regulators into each project
- Glue idea (ask Katrina)
- 11:27: Next meeting 9:30 to 11:30 Same Place
- TEAMS
- Steph & Will – ribo-regulators
- Will – Glue
- Minoo & Indu & Ashley – histamine
- Bactopixel – Michael & Eli
- Cancer – Flora & Ahmad