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The University of Calgary’s iGEM team is working on developing an electrochemical biosensor for Naphthenic Acids (NAs). NAs are toxic surfactants released into tailings ponds as a by-product of the bitumen extraction process of oil sands. Microorganisms indigenous to tailings ponds that are uniquely capable of degrading NAs suggest that bioremediation may be a viable solution. To be successful, however, levels of NAs need to be monitored and existing methods for detection are costly and offsite. Using two NA-degrading organisms relatively new to iGEM: microalgae and pseudomonads, we used bioinformatics and a novel NA affinity-based screen in an attempt to identify a sensory element. In the process, we have characterized an electrochemical reporter system and built a working measurement device. We have also submitted new parts for future work in microalgae, as well as novel parts to move constructs between Pseudomonas and E. coli.

Building a Naphthenic Acid Biosensor

This project is separated into four subcomponents:

The first is an examination of the native tailings pond genus Pseudomonas using ChIP-Seq, and attempting to find a naphthenic acid-sensitive promoter which can then be assembled with a reporter system. The second component involves constructing and characterizing an electrochemical reporter system that can produce quantifiable output without the need for optical measurements. This way, even cloudy tailings pond water can yield useful results. At the same time, we are also examining another potential chassis to detect and report naphthenic acids, in the microalgae Chlamydomonas. Finally, a software tool is currently in development that we hope will be able to locate and report degrees of non-homology between two separate genomes.

More details on the biosafety of our project can be found on our safety page.