Difference between revisions of "Team:Stanford-Brown"

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<h2>2016 Project Description</h2>
 
<h2>2016 Project Description</h2>
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<p>The Stanford-Brown 2016 iGem team is building a biologically produced balloon for space exploration. Biological materials have a variety of advantages over traditional balloon materials; most importantly, they are light and self-replicating. These characteristics make functional biological components ideally suited for space exploration applications. To make a functional balloon, we need at least two elements. The balloon has to be made of something, and the balloon has to do something. To that end our team is working on both producing (relatively) gas impermeable biological membranes and creating biological sensors that can either attach directly to those membranes, or be embedded in a balloon payload.
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<p>The Stanford-Brown 2016 iGEM team is building biologically produced membranes and sensors for space exploration. Biological materials have a variety of advantages over traditional building materials; most significant for our purposes, they are light and self-replicating. These characteristics make biomaterials ideally suited for space exploration. One possible application for these materials would be a biosensing balloon, which could be sent up into both terrestrial and extraterrestrial atmospheres to detect both temperature and molecules of interest. Furthermore, biomembranes and biosensors have many additional applications both on here on Earth and in space.</p>
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<br><br>Specifically, our membrane team is researching ways to biologically produce a variety of materials that could be assembled into a membrane. At the moment, many materials are actively on the table, including but not limited to: elastin, collagen, kevlar, nylon, spider-silk, and more. We hope to stimulate the production of at least one of these monomers in E. coli and demonstrate that, with the right cross-linking reagents, these biologically isolated monomers can be assembled into functional membranes. Finally, we are working on creating robust models of our balloon’s load-bearing capabilities based on the atmospheric pressure of different possible balloon destinations (Earth, Mars, Titan etc.) which will incorporate experimental data we collect about the actual gas permeability of the test membranes.
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<br><br>Meanwhile, our sensors team is working on a variety of approaches to biologically sense both temperature and specific small molecule ligands. With regards to temperature, while there are a large variety of well documented BioBricked chromoproteins, no one to our knowledge has ever examined the thermodynamic stability of these proteins, nor the extent to which they can be denatured and renatured while still maintaining their color. We are in the process of collecting that data, in the hopes that we can discover a wide dynamic temperature range represented by the denaturing of different colors and assemble the collection into a functional biological thermometer for our balloon.
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<br><br>Finally, we are working on several cell-free approaches that incorporate RNA or DNA aptamers, extremely specific nucleic acid sequences that bind to specific small molecules, as molecular sensors to go on or in our balloon. We are particularly interested in two specific mechanisms -- IRES (internal ribosome entry site) and FQ (fluorophore-quencher). In both cases, when the aptamer specific for the target molecule is un-bound, the sensor is “off”, and when the specific aptamer is bound, the sensor is “on”. The difference is in how we detect the “on” phase. In the IRES system, the aptamer binding the target ligand frees the previously inaccessible ribosome binding site, allowing translation of GFP to begin. This system is useful because it is self contained to a single mRNA transcript, allowing for in vivo self replication. In the FQ system, the aptamer binding the target ligand pulls the quencher away from the fluorophore, producing detectable fluorescence. This system is useful because we aim to be able to attach the sensor molecules directly to our protein membrane. We hope to use this part of our project not only to create novel sensors for molecules that are of interest to NASA, but also to carefully standardize and document both platforms so that other teams in the future can build on this work to create robust aptamer sensors for targets of their choice.</p>
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<h5> Editing your wiki </h5>
 
<h5> Editing your wiki </h5>
 
<p>On this page you can document your project, introduce your team members, document your progress and share your iGEM experience with the rest of the world! </p>  
 
<p>On this page you can document your project, introduce your team members, document your progress and share your iGEM experience with the rest of the world! </p>  
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<p> <a href="https://2016.igem.org/wiki/index.php?title=Team:Example&action=edit"> Click here to edit this page! </a></p>
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<p> <a href="https://2016.igem.org/wiki/index.php?title=Team:Example&action=edit"> </a>Use WikiTools - Edit in the black menu bar to edit this page</p>
  
 
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<h5> Uploading pictures and files </h5>
 
<h5> Uploading pictures and files </h5>
 
<p> You can upload your pictures and files to the iGEM 2016 server. Remember to keep all your pictures and files within your team's namespace or at least include your team's name in the file name. <br />
 
<p> You can upload your pictures and files to the iGEM 2016 server. Remember to keep all your pictures and files within your team's namespace or at least include your team's name in the file name. <br />
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When you upload, set the "Destination Filename" to <code>Team:YourOfficialTeamName/NameOfFile.jpg</code>. (If you don't do this, someone else might upload a different file with the same "Destination Filename", and your file would be erased!)</p>
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When you upload, set the "Destination Filename" to <br><code>T--YourOfficialTeamName--NameOfFile.jpg</code>. (If you don't do this, someone else might upload a different file with the same "Destination Filename", and your file would be erased!)</p>
  
  

Revision as of 22:52, 30 June 2016

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2016 Project Description

The Stanford-Brown 2016 iGEM team is building biologically produced membranes and sensors for space exploration. Biological materials have a variety of advantages over traditional building materials; most significant for our purposes, they are light and self-replicating. These characteristics make biomaterials ideally suited for space exploration. One possible application for these materials would be a biosensing balloon, which could be sent up into both terrestrial and extraterrestrial atmospheres to detect both temperature and molecules of interest. Furthermore, biomembranes and biosensors have many additional applications both on here on Earth and in space.

Before you start:

Please read the following pages:

Styling your wiki

You may style this page as you like or you can simply leave the style as it is. You can easily keep the styling and edit the content of these default wiki pages with your project information and completely fulfill the requirement to document your project.

While you may not win Best Wiki with this styling, your team is still eligible for all other awards. This default wiki meets the requirements, it improves navigability and ease of use for visitors, and you should not feel it is necessary to style beyond what has been provided.

Wiki template information

We have created these wiki template pages to help you get started and to help you think about how your team will be evaluated. You can find a list of all the pages tied to awards here at the Pages for awards link. You must edit these pages to be evaluated for medals and awards, but ultimately the design, layout, style and all other elements of your team wiki is up to you!

Editing your wiki

On this page you can document your project, introduce your team members, document your progress and share your iGEM experience with the rest of the world!

Use WikiTools - Edit in the black menu bar to edit this page

Tips

This wiki will be your team’s first interaction with the rest of the world, so here are a few tips to help you get started:

  • State your accomplishments! Tell people what you have achieved from the start.
  • Be clear about what you are doing and how you plan to do this.
  • You have a global audience! Consider the different backgrounds that your users come from.
  • Make sure information is easy to find; nothing should be more than 3 clicks away.
  • Avoid using very small fonts and low contrast colors; information should be easy to read.
  • Start documenting your project as early as possible; don’t leave anything to the last minute before the Wiki Freeze. For a complete list of deadlines visit the iGEM 2016 calendar
  • Have lots of fun!
Inspiration

You can also view other team wikis for inspiration! Here are some examples:

Uploading pictures and files

You can upload your pictures and files to the iGEM 2016 server. Remember to keep all your pictures and files within your team's namespace or at least include your team's name in the file name.
When you upload, set the "Destination Filename" to
T--YourOfficialTeamName--NameOfFile.jpg. (If you don't do this, someone else might upload a different file with the same "Destination Filename", and your file would be erased!)

UPLOAD FILES