Team:Montreal

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Project Overview: Synchronizing the Repressilator

Background

A sinusoidal wave demonstrates a circadian rhythm

Although typically used to describe physical phenomena, oscillations are also observed in a range of biological processes such as circadian rhythms, pacemaker cells, neuronal communication and nephron function. [http://www.aph.caltech.edu/people/elowitz_m.html Elowitz] and Leibler ([http://www.aph.caltech.edu/people/Repressilator.pdf 2000]) have designed a genetic system called the Repressilator, composed of three genes (λcI, TetR, LacI) tied in negative feedback loops, which generates oscillations in protein expression within Escherichia coli.

In a Nutshell

Unlike oscillating cells in the human body, the Repressilator does not allow for the synchronization of oscillations in a population of cells. We attempt to bring oscillating cells into phase with eachother by coupling via the "autoinducer" molecule AI. Our 2-gene construct may also be used in future genetic systems, making it a system of choice in a highly modular synthetic biology framework.

Relevance and inspiration

While it may be presumptuous to call the synchronization of Elowitz's Repressilator the proverbial '[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Grail Holy Grail]' of modern bioengineering, parallels can be drawn between these two that tempt the leap to association. Synchronization is a crucial stepping stone towards the understanding of natural oscillatory systems and towards creating a synthetic system that can accurately emulate this natural phenomenon. Innumerable past, present and future bioengineering projects in iGEM and the scientific community focus and revolve around this concept and its applications. By exploring the fundamental theory through mathematical models and empirical observation, we hope to understand the nature of these systems and develop future synthetic applications. •

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+<center>[[Team:Montreal/Sponsors|Your logo here!]]</center>
-!align="center"|[[Team:Montreal|Home]]
+{| align="center"
-!align="center"|[[Team:Montreal/Team|The Team]]
+|align="center" |[[Image:mcgill front2.jpg|850 px]]
-!align="center"|[[Team:Montreal/Project|The Project]]
+|}<br>
-!align="center"|[[Team:Montreal/Parts|Parts Submitted to the Registry]]
+{|style="font color="#ffffff"; background-color:#cd0000; cellpadding="3" cellspacing="5" border="2" bordercolor="#cd0000"border-spacing:6px; text-align:center" width="960px"
-!align="center"|[[Team:Montreal/Modeling|Modeling]]
+!style="text-align:center; background-color:#cd0000; border-width:0px; padding:3px;"|[[Team:Montreal|<font color="#ffffff">Home</font>]]
-!align="center"|[[Team:Montreal/Notebook|Notebook]]
+!style="text-align:center; background-color:#cd0000; border-width:0px; padding:3px;"|[[Team:Montreal/Team|<font color="#ffffff">The Team</font>]]
+!style="text-align:center; background-color:#cd0000; border-width:0px; padding:3px;"|[[Team:Montreal/Project|<font color="#ffffff">The Project</font>]]
+!style="text-align:center; background-color:#cd0000; border-width:0px; padding:3px;"|[[Team:Montreal/Parts|<font color="#ffffff">Parts</font>]]
+!style="text-align:center; background-color:#cd0000; border-width:0px; padding:3px;"|[[Team:Montreal/Notebook|<font color="#ffffff">Notebook</font>]]
+!style="text-align:center; background-color:#cd0000; border-width:0px; padding:3px;"|[[Team:Montreal/Modeling|<font color="#ffffff">Modeling</font>]]
+!style="text-align:center; background-color:#cd0000; border-width:0px; padding:3px;"|[[Team:Montreal/Links|<font color="#ffffff">Links</font>]]
+!style="text-align:center; background-color:#0000FF; border-width:0px; padding:3px;"|[[Team:Montreal/Sponsors|<font color="#ffffff">Sponsors</font>]]
 |}
-{|align="justify"
-|You can write a background of your team here.  Give us a background of your team, the members, etc.  Or tell us more about something of your choosing.
-|[[Image:Small mcgill igem.jpg|200px|right|frame]]
-|-
-|
-''Tell us more about your project.  Give us background.  Use this is the abstract of your project.  Be descriptive but concise (1-2 paragraphs)''
-|[[Image:Team.png|right|frame|Your team picture]]
-|-
-|
-|align="center"|[[Team:Montreal | Team Example 2]]
-|}
-<!--- The Mission, Experiments --->
+== '''Project Overview: Synchronizing the Repressilator''' ==
+===Background===
+[[Image:Osc-rep.jpg||thumb|right|300px | A sinusoidal wave demonstrates a circadian rhythm]]Although typically used to describe physical phenomena, oscillations are also observed in a range of biological processes such as circadian rhythms, pacemaker cells, neuronal communication and nephron function. [http://www.aph.caltech.edu/people/elowitz_m.html Elowitz] and Leibler ([http://www.aph.caltech.edu/people/Repressilator.pdf 2000]) have designed a genetic system called the Repressilator, composed of three genes (&lambda;cI, TetR, LacI) tied in negative feedback loops, which generates oscillations in protein expression within ''Escherichia coli''.
+===In a Nutshell===
+Unlike oscillating cells in the human body, the Repressilator does not allow for the synchronization of oscillations in a population of cells. We attempt to bring oscillating cells into phase with eachother by coupling via the "autoinducer" molecule AI. Our 2-gene construct may also be used in future genetic systems, making it a system of choice in a highly modular synthetic biology framework.
+===Relevance and inspiration===
-(''Or you can choose different headings.  But you must have a team page, a project page, and a notebook page.'')
+While it may be presumptuous to call the synchronization of Elowitz's Repressilator the proverbial '[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Grail Holy Grail]' of modern bioengineering, parallels can be drawn between these two that tempt the leap to association. Synchronization is a crucial stepping stone towards the understanding of natural oscillatory systems and towards creating a synthetic system that can accurately emulate this natural phenomenon. Innumerable past, present and future bioengineering projects in iGEM and the scientific community focus and revolve around this concept and its applications. By exploring the fundamental theory through mathematical models and empirical observation, we hope to understand the nature of these systems and develop future synthetic applications.
+&bull;
+[[Image:mcgillwinterpng.png|800px|center|McGill in winter]]