Team:Brown-Stanford

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Revision as of 20:53, 17 August 2011

REGObricks
Intro --------------------- ISRU --------------------- Biocement --------------------- S. pasteurii --------------------- Balloon
Flights --------------------- Transforming --------------------- Biobrick²
PowerCell
Intro --------------------- Cyanobacteria --------------------- Mars --------------------- Nutrients
FRETcetera
Intro --------------------- FRET etc. --------------------- Construct
Lab
Team --------------------- Parts --------------------- Notebook --------------------- Protocols --------------------- Safety
Partners
Collab --------------------- Sponsors
Outreach
SB5.0 --------------------- NASA --------------------- Lunar Science --------------------- Maker Faire --------------------- BBC --------------------- CBricks --------------------- Ethics --------------------- Regional
Jamboree

Synthetic Biology for Space Exploration

Synthetic Biology has the potential to revolutionize space exploration and settlement. One of the major challenges of space exploration is the limited payload mass that can be launched on a rocket and the difficulty of resupply. Any long term mission will require more resources than astronauts can initially bring with them. Biological tools have a major advantage over classical tools: the ability to self-replicate and regenerate.

The emerging field of Synthetic Biology will allow us to engineer microbial factories that will largely circumvent the limiting payload factors. These factories will generate fuel, food, medicines and building materials for settlers, but will consist of engineered cells that could be stored in a single test tube, and regrown to production scale as needed.

The Brown-Stanford iGEM team is excited to work on three different projects, under the common theme of developing Synthetic Biology applications for space:

RegoBricks uses bacteria to cement Martian and Lunar regolith (soil) simulant into durable building blocks, similar to concrete bricks. Future extraterrestrial settlements will be able to use such a process to build structures using resources readily available in the environment, instead of having to bring those materials from Earth.

REGObricks Overview

PowerCell develops a universal energy source for other engineered microbes. Engineered photosynthetic bacteria will generate nutrients from sunlight and air and secrete them to feed other organisms. The other organisms could transform these nutrients into fuel, building materials, food, drugs, and more.

PowerCell Overview

BioSensor develops a novel method of fast-acting biological reporting with changes in cell fluorescence. Bacteria could be used to detect toxic chemicals in the environment, for example, or inform astronauts that their microbial tools are unhealthy.

Biosensor Overview

News

August 4^th, 2011

June 7^th, 2011

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 {{:Team:Brown-Stanford/Templates/Twitter}}
-== '''Exploring the Synthetic Biology Applications to Mars Colonization''' ==
+== '''Synthetic Biology for Space Exploration''' ==
-Expanding the realm of human exploration to space is one of the primary goals of our space program. Our project aims to make human exploration and settlement on Mars, the closest earth-analogue, more cost-effective and self-sustaining. In order to maintain a continued presence on another planet, we will need to build structures and produce useful materials such as nutrients, drugs, and fuel. Our project has three major components: REGObricks, Biosensor, and PowerCell. REGObricks aims to reduce upmass by using in-situ regolith to create hard, durable, building materials. The bacterium S. pasteurii excretes ammonia and carbonate as byproducts of the urease reaction and in the presence of calcium, creates calcium carbonate crystals that bind the regolith particles to form a brick with compressive strength comparable to concrete. Biosensor is a novel mechanism of FRET reporting using engineered parts of the bacterial cellulosome in the form of cohesin-dockerin pairs. When combined with the desired activator, this sensor can help colonists detect DNA damage, environmental conditions, and more. PowerCell creates a more self-sustaining colony by using cyanobacteria to export carbon and nitrogen into the media, which are then taken up for use by heterotrophic organisms, such as E. coli, that produce our desired products. Thus, REGObricks, Biosensor, and any other microorganisms brought to Mars can be maintained without the need of additional inputs. All three projects suggest that synthetic biology will play a crucial role in enabling further space exploration and colonization.
+Synthetic Biology has the potential to revolutionize space exploration and settlement. One of the major challenges of space exploration is the limited payload mass that can be launched on a rocket and the difficulty of resupply. Any long term mission will require more resources than astronauts can initially bring with them. Biological tools have a major advantage over classical tools: the ability to self-replicate and regenerate.
+The emerging field of Synthetic Biology will allow us to engineer microbial factories that will largely circumvent the limiting payload factors. These factories will generate fuel, food, medicines and building materials for settlers, but will consist of engineered cells that could be stored in a single test tube, and regrown to production scale as needed.
+The Brown-Stanford iGEM team is excited to work on three different projects, under the common theme of developing Synthetic Biology applications for space:
+'''RegoBricks''' uses bacteria to cement Martian and Lunar regolith (soil) simulant into durable building blocks, similar to concrete bricks. Future extraterrestrial settlements will be able to use such a process to build structures using resources readily available in the environment, instead of having to bring those materials from Earth.
 *[[Team:Brown-Stanford/REGObricks/Overview|REGObricks Overview]]
+'''PowerCell''' develops a universal energy source for other engineered microbes. Engineered photosynthetic bacteria will generate nutrients from sunlight and air and secrete them to feed other organisms. The other organisms could transform these nutrients into fuel, building materials, food, drugs, and more.
 *[[Team:Brown-Stanford/PowerCell/Overview|PowerCell Overview]]
+'''BioSensor''' develops a novel method of fast-acting biological reporting with changes in cell fluorescence. Bacteria could be used to detect toxic chemicals in the environment, for example, or inform astronauts that their microbial tools are unhealthy.
 *[[Team:Brown-Stanford/DNADamage/Overview|Biosensor Overview]]