Difference between revisions of "Team:UrbanTundra Edmonton/Description"

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Sustainable Living on Mars: Remediation of Martian Soil to Produce Oxygen

Our high school team hopes to present our Mars colonization project at an international science competition in Boston (iGEM). A Martian colony must make efficient use of the planet’s limited resources. Martian soil contains high levels of perchlorate (ClO4) making it toxic. Our team is developing an automated prototype for ClO4 extraction, its conversion to rocket fuel, and its genetically engineered biodegradation to oxygen. Remediated soil can then be recycled for construction and agriculture.

Our project has two main themes: 1) the extraction, purification and concentration of ClO4 from Martian soil, and 2) the bioconversion of ClO4 to oxygen using genetically engineered E. coli. These themes and others are covered more thoroughly under “Lab Notes”. ClO4 is highly soluble in water. We are testing the idea that ClO4 can be highly enriched and concentrated inexpensively using activated charcoal, as previously shown for a similar compound [4]. For O2 production, we plan to synthesize and express the genes from the soil bacterium that are responsible for ClO4 breakdown, Ideonella dechloratans, [3] into the bacterium E. coli. We have also developed a method for the recycling of Martian colony biowaste into a highly enriched media for bacterial growth.

References

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.

Inspiration

See how other teams have described and presented their projects:

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-<div class="column full_size">
-<p>Tell us about your project, describe what moves you and why this is something important for your team.</p>
-<h5>What should this page contain?</h5>
-<ul>
-<li> A clear and concise description of your project.</li>
-<li>A detailed explanation of why your team chose to work on this particular project.</li>
-<li>References and sources to document your research.</li>
-<li>Use illustrations and other visual resources to explain your project.</li>
-</ul>
-</div>
 <div class="column full_size" >
-<h5>Advice on writing your Project Description</h5>
+<h5>Sustainable Living on Mars: Remediation of Martian Soil to Produce Oxygen</h5>
 <p>
-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.
+Our high school team hopes to present our Mars colonization project at an international science competition in Boston (iGEM). A Martian colony must make efficient use of the planet’s limited resources. Martian soil contains high levels of perchlorate (ClO4) making it toxic. Our team is developing an automated prototype for ClO4 extraction, its conversion to rocket fuel, and its genetically engineered biodegradation to oxygen. Remediated soil can then be recycled for construction and agriculture.
 </p>
 <p>
-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.
+Our project has two main themes: 1) the extraction, purification and concentration of ClO4 from Martian soil, and 2) the bioconversion of ClO4 to oxygen using genetically engineered E. coli. These themes and others are covered more thoroughly under “Lab Notes”. ClO4 is highly soluble in water. We are testing the idea that ClO4 can be highly enriched and concentrated inexpensively using activated charcoal, as previously shown for a similar compound [4]. For O2 production, we plan to synthesize and express the genes from the soil bacterium that are responsible for ClO4 breakdown, Ideonella dechloratans, [3] into the bacterium E. coli. We have also developed a method for the recycling of Martian colony biowaste into a highly enriched media for bacterial growth.
 </p>