Having successfully shown that our genetic constructs worked as expected under lab conditions, we had the final challenge of integrating them into the breadboard hardware that we had designed to illustrate a simulated real-world use-case scenario.
Figure 1: We placed a microfluidic chip containing E. coli transformed with our BBa_K1895000 construct onto our magnetic breadboard system and captured this image under UV light, indicating that the fluorescing bacteria can be observed. Note - this is a technical recreation wherein the cells were placed in a shaking incubator at 42°C before being injected into the chip. This was due to technical difficulties. We have previously demonstrated that we can successfully achieve the required temperature change within the chamber to induce sfGFP expression via electrical heating, and that sfGFP is expressed highly in E. coli transformed with this construct at this temperature.
Figure 2: We placed the miniature microbial fuel cell construct containing E. coli transformed with BBa_K1895004 and another standard microfluidic chip, connecting them via our hardware connector pieces. We confirmed using a multimeter that the voltage across the receiving chip (being output from the 'battery') was as we expected based on our previous results.
We believe that this demonstrates the culmination of our entire project. We have successfully designed and combined physical hardware (the breadboard, connectors and microfluidic fuel cell) and novel genetic constructs (the 'lightbulb' and 'battery' analogues) in a simulated real world environment, satisfying the criteria for Gold Medal Achievement #4.
