Integrated Human Practice

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This year the integrated human practice work of BNU-China 2017 iGEM team concentrated on the exploring the feasibility, safety, and potentials of the improved version of yeast surface display system. We contacted experts and technicians to discuss our design and experiment plan with them. Besides, we participated in a variety of related academic conferences to exchange ideas and gather others’ perspectives on our project. Results of these work have been proven helpful to the adjustment of the schematic design and the detailed experiment procedure. In addition, to lay down the ground work for future development, we’ve performed investigation on safety issue regarding possible applications.

Interview with Prof. Meng Wenxiang at Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology

After the literature research phase, we’ve found that microtubule is a fibrous polymer which can self-assemble in vitro under suitable conditions. Its subunits are highly adaptable. Furthermore, it can interact with a series of valuable small molecules as a whole. Lastly, there are various microtubule stabilizing drugs which would help to maintain the integrity of the assembled structure. All the above features have made it suitable for the material of our extracellular enzyme loading scaffold. In order to have more insights on our ideas, we scheduled an interview with professor Meng Wenxiang, an expert on microtubule, before we initiated our experiments.

With Prof. Meng Wenxiang at Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology

To our disappointment, professor Meng directly pointed out a fundamental flaw in our plan, which was the stability of microtubule could not meet the ideal level of the extracellular scaffold. According to his research, microtubule could not exist in vitro for more than a week even with the help of microtubule-stabilizing drugs, such as taxol® ███████®████and its analogues. This defect of microtubule invalidated its potential as the material for the extracellular scaffold, but it did inspire us to look for a similar but more stable material. Later, we searched for materials that met these requirements. At last, we found flagellar filament to be the stable self-assembled biopolymer we wanted. Thanks to professor Meng’s advice, we eliminated one possible systematical cause for failure in advance.

Interview with Prof. Zhang Linqi and Her PhD. Students at Tsinghua University:

Since we were new to this technique, and it’s imperative for us to broaden the horizon of our perception on this technique by all means possible. Hence, we went to Tsinghua University to consult professor Zhang Linqi and her PhD. students, who had tons of experiences and knowledge base on this technique.

With PhD. Zhou Panpan at Qinghua University

After our presentation, we received positive feedbacks for professor Zhang and doctor Zhou Panpan. They both considered our project to be promising and would severely increase the capacity of the original system. As for the problems we had encountered in the wet lab, they kindly offered us with practical solutions and helpful advices drawn from their first-hand experience, which significantly elevated the efficiency of our experiment process.

Interview with Director of Research, Prof. XXX, of Beijing Smistyle Sci. & Tech. Development Co., LTD.:

According to our research findings, Xynase, an enzyme from cellulase enzyme system, had been applied to substitute the variable D2 domain of flagellin FliC, and the adapted falgellins were successfully assembled into a functioning nano enzyme stick. Then it occurred to us to use the cellulose system as the prototype to test if our approach can increase the catalytic efficiency. To better define the contrast group for the comparison and to better portrait the actual using condition, we contacted Beijing Smistyle Sci. & Tech. Development Co., LTD, whose products covered all three enzymes in this system. We made an appointment with Doc. Zhao, the director of research of Smistyle.

With director of research at Beijing Smistyle Sci. & Tech. Development Co., LTD

Doc. Zhao listened to our power-point presentation attentively, and expressed her sincere appreciation for our project. Nevertheless, she indicated that the application of our improved system on cellulase enzyme system was not well-suited. The cost of manufacture of these enzymes had already been optimized to be very low, which made it economically unwise to go through sophisticated recycle procedure for repeated use instead of simply producing a large quantity of them and as disposable additions.

At the end of the interview, Doc. Zhao shared her thoughts on the suitable application for our system. Obviously, our target enzyme should be the ones that are hard to produce but highly valuable. This would make the choice of recycle with our system preferable than producing in quantity with a high cost. With these guidelines, we selected PETase, which can hydrolyze PET in low temperature.

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