Team:Washington
Welcome to iGEM 2017!
Your team has been approved and you are ready to start the iGEM season!
Our draft project description: We have decided to continue our previous year's project.
Viva la Violacein – a Real-Time Metabolics Tracker
Abstract: Synthetic biology can be used to create new, cost-effective, metabolites resulting from metabolic pathways. However, managing cultures containing these metabolic pathways is difficult and time-consuming. Constantly measuring and adjusting culture conditions in order to produce a desired metabolite in a specific quantity is both tedious and labor intensive. Furthermore, modern assays that accomplish this, such as high precision liquid chromatography, can also be prohibitively expensive.
Our project aims to reduce the amount of time and effort needed to maintain cultures through real-time, automated analysis of metabolic products in an adjustable turbidostat. This includes the creation of an affordable image analysis system that reads visual data to measure the current state of a culture and then provide feedback to release inducers to alter the expression of the metabolic pathway.
Our project utilizes the violacein pathway as a pigment-based proxy to predict the production of other metabolic pathways. By regulating gene expression within the Violacein gene set with two different inducible promoters, we are able to yield up to four different color outputs. These outputs are measured by an open-sourced Raspberry Pi setup, which captures visual data, calculates feedback based on the culture’s RGB value, and then directs the gradual release of inducer chemicals to maintain or change the culture’s color over time. Therefore, this process allows us to better understand the relationship between gene expression and actual metabolite production rate.
Currently, yeast strains capable of coexpressing both a violacein and a non-visible pathway are being cloned. In addition to this, a machine comprised of 3D-printed syringe pumps, a turbidostat, and image analysis software is in development. By combining biological, software, and hardware systems, we expect our unique design to be able to generate previously unavailable visual data in certain biosynthesis processes, such as those involved in antibiotic production or fermentation.
We are looking for collaborations! If you would like to collaborate, please email us at uwigem@uw.edu!
Before you start:
Please read the following pages:
Styling your wiki
You may style this page as you like or you can simply leave the style as it is. You can easily keep the styling and edit the content of these default wiki pages with your project information and completely fulfill the requirement to document your project.
While you may not win Best Wiki with this styling, your team is still eligible for all other awards. This default wiki meets the requirements, it improves navigability and ease of use for visitors, and you should not feel it is necessary to style beyond what has been provided.
Wiki template information
We have created these wiki template pages to help you get started and to help you think about how your team will be evaluated. You can find a list of all the pages tied to awards here at the Pages for awards link. You must edit these pages to be evaluated for medals and awards, but ultimately the design, layout, style and all other elements of your team wiki is up to you!
Editing your wiki
On this page you can document your project, introduce your team members, document your progress and share your iGEM experience with the rest of the world!
Use WikiTools - Edit in the black menu bar to edit this page
Tips
This wiki will be your team’s first interaction with the rest of the world, so here are a few tips to help you get started:
- State your accomplishments! Tell people what you have achieved from the start.
- Be clear about what you are doing and how you plan to do this.
- You have a global audience! Consider the different backgrounds that your users come from.
- Make sure information is easy to find; nothing should be more than 3 clicks away.
- Avoid using very small fonts and low contrast colors; information should be easy to read.
- Start documenting your project as early as possible; don’t leave anything to the last minute before the Wiki Freeze. For a complete list of deadlines visit the iGEM 2017 calendar
- Have lots of fun!
Inspiration
You can also view other team wikis for inspiration! Here are some examples:
Uploading pictures and files
You can upload your pictures and files to the iGEM 2017 server. Remember to keep all your pictures and files within your team's namespace or at least include your team's name in the file name.
When you upload, set the "Destination Filename" to T--YourOfficialTeamName--NameOfFile.jpg. (If you don't do this, someone else might upload a different file with the same "Destination Filename", and your file would be erased!)
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