Team:Minnesota/Team

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The Minnesota iGEM '08 team consists of groups working on two different projects. One team is located primarily in Minneapolis and is designing a comparator for their project. The other team is based in St. Paul and is working on a time bomb.
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Team Comparator

Control systems are an integral component of almost all aspects of life. Whether it is in industrial, biological, or chemical applications, controllers provide a way to keep systems functioning properly. A vital part of any control system is the comparator. This component compares a set point value and a measured value, and determines which is larger. It then sends the appropriate signal to the controller, which reacts to bring the system back to the set point. In typical applications, the controller equipment is electronic. However, our team set out to create a comparator using only genetic components. This comparator could potentially be used as part of a new, solely biological control system that could be used to treat many diseases afflicting humans, for example diabetes. This comparator could compare the blood sugar of a patient to what it should be, and send this result to a control system that could compensate, for example by changing the levels of insulin.

In order to undertake this task, a system involving six genes was designed. For our system, the two inputs (one representing the set point and one representing the measured value) are IPTG and ATC. These inputs will activate the transcription of the LacI and TetR proteins, and set in motion the rest of the system to produce the outputs. Depending on the amounts of the two inducer molecules added to the system, either green fluorescent protein (GFP) or red fluorescent protein(RFP) will be produced. The actual design of the system can be seen below. In order to complete this project, a total of six genes will have to be cloned into plasmids, and two new BioBrick parts will be produced. One will be a TetR and p22-MNT dual-repressed promoter, and the other will be a LacI and lambdaphage cI dual-repressed promoter. We will also build mathematical models and conduct computer simulations that will help with the designs. This project will pave the way for other parts of a true genetic PID controller to be produced, which could be an exciting scientific development in the near future.


Team Comparator


Home The Team The Project Parts Submitted to the Registry Modeling Notebook


Contents

Who we are: Team Comparator

Advisors:
  • Yiannis Kaznessis: Head honcho
  • Katherine Volzing: Our babysitter
  • John Barrett:
  • John Tomshine: Our model expert
  • Vassilis Sotiropoulos: Our Greek model expert
  • Tony Hill: Our post-doc model expert
Undergrads:
  • Ellen Martin: Do you want to be UNCOMFORTABLY ENERGETIC?
  • Sarah Hendrickson: 400 babies
  • Ben Swiniarski: Likes long walks on the beach, getting caught in the rain
  • Jeremy Riesberg: Prefers sunshine
  • Kristen Lindblad: Actually knows biology
  • Emma Weeding: Thermodynamic Mastermind


Team Pictures

Who we are: Team Time Bomb

What we did

(Provide proper attribution for all work)


Where we're from

Ben Swiniarski: Papillion, Nebraska
Sarah Hendrickson: Lafayette, Colorado
Kristen Lindblad: Cottage Grove, Minnesota
Ellen Martin: Milford, Michigan
Jeremy Riesberg: Papillion, Nebraska