Team:Sheffield/Description
★ ALERT!
This page is used by the judges to evaluate your team for the improve a previous part or project gold medal criterion.
Delete this box in order to be evaluated for this medal. See more information at Instructions for Pages for awards.
Tell us about your project, describe what moves you and why this is something important for your team.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Brainstorming & Selection Process
When brainstorming for project ideas, we approached the project from different directions to generate as many ideas as possible. For instance, we looked at current and imminent world issues, from infectious diseases to plastics recycling. We researched recent scientific developments to find synthetic biology solutions that can then be applied to problems, as well as looking at past iGEM projects to see if we could build upon those ideas. We then narrowed down the list of ideas based on whether it was feasible within the project timeframe and whether the idea was able to involve and engage all team members and their areas of expertise. Based on this shortlist, we researched and expanded on each idea in detail before voting for our favorite idea.
We decided to focus on the issue of antibiotic resistance and the lack of diagnostic tools to differentiate between bacterial and viral infections. When the cause of an infection is unknown, antibiotics are usually prescribed as a preventative measure. However, this contributes to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
What We Hope to Accomplish
iGEM Sheffield 2016 aims to combat the issue of a lack of diagnostic tools by building a bedside device that can detect a bacterial infection from a viral one within 15 minutes of extracting the patient’s blood sample. We plan to design Escherichia coli receptors to detect siderophores, which are molecules produced by bacteria to scavenge iron from low-iron environments such as the bloodstream. As a proof of concept, we will only be focusing on the siderophore enterobactin.
Our biosensor involves the use of engineered E. coli strains that produce a detectable color change in response to the uptake of enterobactin-iron complexes. To improve the sensitivity of this system, the number of enterobactin-iron complexes being internalized by E. coli will be maximized before the actual detection step. This can be done by decoupling lipocalin-enterobactin complexes and saturating enterobactin with iron. Our detection system involves the use of the protein hemerythrin, a high-affinity iron-binding protein, that turns blue when bound to iron. By comparing the color against a standard, the cause of infection can be determined.
What should this page contain?
- A clear and concise description of your project.
- A detailed explanation of why your team chose to work on this particular project.
- References and sources to document your research.
- Use illustrations and other visual resources to explain your project.
Advice on writing your Project Description
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.
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.
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:
