Team:INSA-Lyon/Achievements
Achievements
Project achievements
Using synthetic biology principles, we have created a self-diagnostic device to detect several Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), starting with two major health threats, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), as an alternative to sampling and laboratory testing.
During our journey, we added 7 new BioBrick parts to the iGEM registry. Check out our parts page.
We have successfully demonstrated that all our parts are functional. For example, our data shows that our chimeric protein, composed of Cellulose-Binding Domains (CBDs) covalently linked to a protein such as streptavidin, could be fixed on a cellulose support. See our results.
We have established and maintained dialogue throughout the entire project with potential end users. We have fruitfully investigated for advices and expectations from physicians, nurses and potential users of our device. Their suggestions and concerns influenced our design and the evolution of our project from the beginning. Take a look at our ethical reflexion and public engagement ethical reflexion
We have used models to advance from the proof of concept to the real diagnosis. In silico prediction allowed us to conduct the experimental work more efficiently.
We have created a software able to compute the most probable 3D structures of single-strand nucleic acids from scratch. This automated tool could help, we hope, future iGEM teams for easier 3D modeling of DNA or RNA.
We have designed an elegant and convenient device which is user-friendly and eco-friendly able to fulfil current societal expectations.
Medal criteria
Bronze Medal
We have gathered all the geniuses at our university and started the project.
We have registered our team and also had a great summer.
We have made a wiki and a poster to present our project.
We have worked over and over on the presentation for the Jamboree.
We have created a page on our team wiki with attributions of each aspect of our project and acknowledgement to each person who helped us to achieve our goal !
We have submitted to the iGEM registry and have firstly documented 3 new standard Biobrick parts which are: BBa_K1934040, BBa_K1934050 and BBa_K1934000.
Silver Medal
We have experimentally validated 4 new standard Biobrick parts which are BBa_K1934020, BBa_K1934030, BBa_K1934060 and BBa_K1934061.
We have made several exciting collaborations with iGEM teams from all around Europe and even Turkey.
Gold Medal
We have demonstrated that we have integrated our human practices reflexion into our project definition, design and use of our device. The whole team has matured a lot in 4 months.
We have improved the characterization of two existing parts: pTAC promoter (BBa_K864400 from Uppsala 2012 iGEM team) and streptavidin with CBDs (BBa_K1499004 from Stanford-Brown 2014 iGEM team).
We have demonstrated functional proves of concept of our project with a small molecule such as ATP and with a protein such as the human thrombin.
