Newcastle University/10 July 2008

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Minutes IGEM 10/04/08

 * Minute taker:** Morgan Taschuk


 * Date:** 10/04/08


 * Place:** CT. 601


 * Time:** 15.30-16.20


 * Attendees:** 6/9


 * Supervisors:** Dr Anil Wipat, Dr Jennifer Hallinan, Dr Matthew Pocock, Morgan Taschuk


 * Team Members:** Mark Wappett, Megan Aylward

First off...
Practice talks in two weeks: April 25 * All have to have talks about their projects...

Agendas:
Agreed that the team members should direct the course of the meetings.

Suggested that the team should organize itself, perhaps with a group leader

Team members have to organize the agenda by Mondays and decide what talks want to be given

Potential agenda items * Java programming (maven, svn, etc) * Neural networks * Bottom up modeling with Mike Cooling (next week Thursday 3:30pm) * Jan and wetlab stuff, show the microscopes, great videos? * Flagella talks, Phil Aldridge. For turning flagella on or off.

Biology!
Discussed results of last week's research:

MRSA: exotoxins, enterotoxins, T Cell receptor binding sites, oxypeptide pheromone

Look at [|Cambridge link] sent out by Jan last week

Application:
Megan described the application like this: it have a bacteria that you have in a solution, take a swab or someone's mouth that you think is infected, put it into the test tube and find a protein that's secreted by the MRSA and binds to the bug

Anil mentioned that there are levels of complexity for the different detections

We have three GFPs to use for detection purposes.

Neil: Gram positive bacteria use short peptides to talk to one another. They are exported by the gram positive. Different peptides for different processes, and different levels. Change depending on the species. Need to somehow evolve a network that switches on the appropriate GFPs.

Matt: Peptides activate cell receptors which cause other internal mechanisms to be switched on. Multiple inputs and variable outputs, aka neural networks.

For research: * How do peptides work within the cell? * Potential targets: Two-component systems, transcription factors. * Keywords: Peptide systems, neural networks.

Also need to use: * transcription factors not used by the host * peptide sensing pathways that won't cause cross talk in the chassis.

AOB
Sexy name possibility: Bug Busters

Bacillus systems would be ideal for 3rd world applications, because they can be dried down for transport and re-hydrated. Can set up a test kit with an LED, powdered bacillus, and a battery.

Why are we interested in flagella: Stop swimming when it comes to sensing stuff.

Registration for iGEM 2008, when we can, because the website doesn't appear to let us do it yet.

Still looking for a full iGEM team! Any potential microbiology students in 2nd or later years should be mentioned to one of the supervisors.