Team:Toronto Bluegenes

Team Undergoing Lab/Leadership Transition
This year, the University of Toronto BlueGenes team is in the process of integrating with the Parkinson Lab at MaRS, with Dr. John Parkinson as the new faculty advisor. The team leadership structure is being reorganized, and planning for the 2009 project is underway.

The Project
The proposed project for the 2009 Jamboree involves the use enzyme channeling to produce an industrial useful product such as biofuels. This will involve the design of a self-assembling protein-based reaction compartment (encapsulin) that encapsulates enzymes. The encapsulins will prevent potentially toxic reaction byproducts from damaging the cell and can allow reactions that normally do not occur to proceed by reducing the activation energy barrier through confinement of the reactants (and thereby reducing the Gibbs free energy).