“Kill switch” is a blanket term often used to describe a system that causes controlled cell death and is used as a way to safeguard against the effects of GMOs on wild type organisms. The lack of quantitative data on devices of this kind has become the basis of our project this year. We are testing three types of kill switch: a chemical kill switch using the fluorescent proteins Killer Orange and Killer Red which damages and destroys the cell with reactive oxygen species; an enzymatic (lysozyme) kill switch that lyses the cell on production; a DNase kill switch that targets DNA disruption. Through individual tests and a continuous culture we are testing both the efficiency and the stability of each kill switch, looking at the potential difference of plasmid or genome integration, hoping to provide effective characterisation and insight into their suitability as effective biocontainment methods.
Our Human Practices is centred around improving public engagement and tackling the lack of education of synthetic biology in the UK and overseas. In particular we are targeting education at a secondary school and university level, focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of the subject and assessing diversity. We want to highlight the benefits and potential applications of this new scientific field, as well as trying to uncover the reasons why synthetic biology doesn’t get as much positive attention as it should have.