Difference between revisions of "Team:Warwick/Description"

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<h3>★  ALERT! </h3>
 
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<p>This page is used by the judges to evaluate your team for the<a href="https://2016.igem.org/Judging/Medals"> improve a previous part or project gold medal criterion</a>. </p>
 
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<p> Delete this box in order to be evaluated for this medal. See more information at <a href="https://2016.igem.org/Judging/Pages_for_Awards/Instructions"> Instructions for Pages for awards</a>.</p>
 
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<p>Tell us about your project, describe what moves you and why this is something important for your team.</p>
 
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<h5>What should this page contain?</h5>
 
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<li> A clear and concise description of your project.</li>
 
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<li>A detailed explanation of why your team chose to work on this particular project.</li>
 
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<li>References and sources to document your research.</li>
 
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<h5>Advice on writing your Project Description</h5>
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<h5>Project Description</h5>
  
 
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We encourage you to put up a lot of information and content on your wiki, but we also encourage you to include summaries as much as possible. If you think of the sections in your project description as the sections in a publication, you should try to be consist, accurate and unambiguous in your achievements.  
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There is no global challenge worth greater investment than improving quality of life. During initial discussions, we identified a wide range of problems that we felt further scientific development would be most beneficial: increasing crop yields; sewage filtration; reclamation of rare earth metals. Upon evaluation, the team decided that synthesizing a modular biosensor detection kit would be most influential, due to the potential application to a wide range of diseases and environmental health issues. This affordable, accessible system could tackle multiple issues over a large demographic, making the venture truly worthwhile. Lyme’s disease, although not at the forefront of discussion, is the inceptive focusof the investigation, as current detection methods can only be applied after debilitating symptoms have manifested. The theoretically adaptable nature of the bio detector could allow replacement of antibody-reliant detection systems, hence why our other primary research focus is leptospirosis. We also aim to modify this technology such that it can be used to monitor toxic lead and mercury levels in water supplies.
 
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Judges like to read your wiki and know exactly what you have achieved. This is how you should think about these sections; from the point of view of the judge evaluating you at the end of the year.
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Our detection system for infectious agents and environmental pollutants will be based on CRISPR/Cas9 technology, relying on conformational changes in an RNA-based sensor that will trigger transcriptional regulation by a dCas9 protein. We plan to produce a modular gene circuit that can detect the presence of either RNA from an infectious agent or metallic ion and output a fluorescent signal. TheRNA sensor will be a modified sgRNA containing a motif binding either Borrelia/Leptospira RNA or lead/mercury aptamers. This binding will cause a conformational change such that the dCas9 enzyme may bind upstream of the transcriptional start site of a fluorescent reporter gene inducing transcription.We will be testing this using a multiple novel dCas9 fusion proteins as well asmore traditional CRISPR/dCas9 method. Afterwards, the sensor will be freeze-dried onto a paper scaffold for ease of use.  
 
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<h5>References</h5>
 
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<p>iGEM teams are encouraged to record references you use during the course of your research. They should be posted somewhere on your wiki so that judges and other visitors can see how you thought about your project and what works inspired you.</p>
 
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<h5>Inspiration</h5>
 
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<p>See how other teams have described and presented their projects: </p>
 
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<li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Project"> Imperial</a></li>
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<li> Sander, J. D. & Joung, J. K. Nat. Biotechnol. 32, 347–55 (2014).
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<li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:UC_Davis/Project_Overview"> UC Davis</a></li>
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<li> Zalatan, J. G. et al. Cell 160, 339–50 (2015).
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<li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:SYSU-Software/Overview">SYSU Software</a></li>
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<li> Lee, Y. J., Hoynes-O’Connor, A., Leong, M. C. & Moon, T. S. Nucleic Acids Res. 44, 2462–73
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(2016).
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<li> Berger, Stephen (2014). Lyme disease: Global Status 2014 Edition. GIDEON Informatics Inc.
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p. 7.
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<li> Listeriosis: NHS choices. www.nhs.uk/conditions/Listeriosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx
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<li> Cruz-Toledo, J. et al. Database: The journal of biological databases and curation. bas006 (2012).
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<li> Feng Long, Anna Zhu, Hanchang Shi, Hongchen Wang & Jingquan Liu. Scientific Reports 2308
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(2013).
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<li> Rodrigo, G., Landrain, T. E. & Jaramillo, A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 109, 15271–6
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(2012).
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<li> Espah Borujeni, A., Mishler, D. M., Wang, J., Huso, W. & Salis, H. M. Nucleic Acids Res. 44,
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1–13 (2016).
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<li> Filonov, G. S., Moon, J. D., Svensen, N. & Jaffrey, S. R. J Am Chem Soc 136, 16299–16308
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(2014).
 
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Revision as of 15:34, 29 June 2016

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Project Description

There is no global challenge worth greater investment than improving quality of life. During initial discussions, we identified a wide range of problems that we felt further scientific development would be most beneficial: increasing crop yields; sewage filtration; reclamation of rare earth metals. Upon evaluation, the team decided that synthesizing a modular biosensor detection kit would be most influential, due to the potential application to a wide range of diseases and environmental health issues. This affordable, accessible system could tackle multiple issues over a large demographic, making the venture truly worthwhile. Lyme’s disease, although not at the forefront of discussion, is the inceptive focusof the investigation, as current detection methods can only be applied after debilitating symptoms have manifested. The theoretically adaptable nature of the bio detector could allow replacement of antibody-reliant detection systems, hence why our other primary research focus is leptospirosis. We also aim to modify this technology such that it can be used to monitor toxic lead and mercury levels in water supplies.

Our detection system for infectious agents and environmental pollutants will be based on CRISPR/Cas9 technology, relying on conformational changes in an RNA-based sensor that will trigger transcriptional regulation by a dCas9 protein. We plan to produce a modular gene circuit that can detect the presence of either RNA from an infectious agent or metallic ion and output a fluorescent signal. TheRNA sensor will be a modified sgRNA containing a motif binding either Borrelia/Leptospira RNA or lead/mercury aptamers. This binding will cause a conformational change such that the dCas9 enzyme may bind upstream of the transcriptional start site of a fluorescent reporter gene inducing transcription.We will be testing this using a multiple novel dCas9 fusion proteins as well asmore traditional CRISPR/dCas9 method. Afterwards, the sensor will be freeze-dried onto a paper scaffold for ease of use.

References
  • Sander, J. D. & Joung, J. K. Nat. Biotechnol. 32, 347–55 (2014).
  • Zalatan, J. G. et al. Cell 160, 339–50 (2015).
  • Lee, Y. J., Hoynes-O’Connor, A., Leong, M. C. & Moon, T. S. Nucleic Acids Res. 44, 2462–73 (2016).
  • Berger, Stephen (2014). Lyme disease: Global Status 2014 Edition. GIDEON Informatics Inc. p. 7.
  • Listeriosis: NHS choices. www.nhs.uk/conditions/Listeriosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx
  • Cruz-Toledo, J. et al. Database: The journal of biological databases and curation. bas006 (2012).
  • Feng Long, Anna Zhu, Hanchang Shi, Hongchen Wang & Jingquan Liu. Scientific Reports 2308 (2013).
  • Rodrigo, G., Landrain, T. E. & Jaramillo, A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 109, 15271–6 (2012).
  • Espah Borujeni, A., Mishler, D. M., Wang, J., Huso, W. & Salis, H. M. Nucleic Acids Res. 44, 1–13 (2016).
  • Filonov, G. S., Moon, J. D., Svensen, N. & Jaffrey, S. R. J Am Chem Soc 136, 16299–16308 (2014).