Team:UCLouvain/Approach1

iGEM UCLouvain Team iGEM UCLouvain Team

Our project
Auxotroph
Auxotrophe approach

Photocaged ONB

Our aim is to create a rapid UV-response system, so people can be rapidly warned of an UV-exposure. For this reason, we’ve decided to work with a photocaged amino acid. One of our PIs, Professor Patrice Soumillon, has already worked with those compounds during his doctoral thesis and knows how efficiently they work. We’ve used the ortho-nitrobenzyl tyrosine (ONB-Tyr) for its relatively low price compared with other photocaged amino acids. The cage, the ONB molecule, is cleaved when exposed to UV rays, and releases the tyrosine for protein synthesis (Fig 1).

you think we're cool? so are our sponsors!
  • UCL
  • Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles
  • Fondation Louvain
  • Imperial College
  • Agilent Technologies
  • AGL
  • ISV
  • UCL faculté des Sciences