Preliminary Project Description

Organisms engineered by synthetic biologists have the potential to deliver solutions to a wide range of problems. However, they must be implemented in responsible and controlled ways. For example, last year the Kingsborough team focused on engineering E. coli to degrade nitrogeous waste in sewage more effectively. However, we found that E. coli can survive in local waterways, which is the ultimate desintation for wastewater after treatment. To combat escape of modified E. coli from the treatment plant, we are focused this year on improving and characterizing a control element, commonly referred to as a 'Kill switch'. We will focus on development of a light-inducible kill switch, since the bacteria will not be exposed to significant amounts of light within the sewage treatment plant. Other teams have proposed and modelled such switches, but few have successfully built, implemented, and characterized such devices.