Difference between revisions of "Team:BostonU/Description"

Our project aims to integrate multiple digital environmental signals (signals that are either present or absent, no in between) to dictate the analog expression level of a certain gene. Different combinations of these digital signals will produce different intensities of gene expression. This is similar to many gene activation pathways found in nature, and yet there is no standardized, easy-to-use system to replicate these pathways. Being able to dynamically change the level of gene expression based on combinations of multiple environmental signals would be invaluable to creating responsive, dynamic genetic devices. Therefore, our goal this summer is to create a system that can recognize multiple digital signals, and change the level of gene expression based on what combination of signals it is registering. This system would work with any gene of interest, allowing it to be used in diverse applications including immune therapy, recreating natural genetic signaling pathways, and research of toxic genes. Scroll down to see how we designed our system to meet these aims.