Team:WITS-CSIR SA/Project/Abstract

From 2011.igem.org

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                  Collaboration</h1>
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                                <p>
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                                    One of the defining characteristics of humanity is the constantly evolving sophistication
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<p>The Wits CSIR iGEM team collaborated with Imperial College London, both for the modelling and the potential suitability of motility experiments in the testing of our machines. The biologists in our team and those at Imperial College London had a number of skype conferences to discuss the progress of our lab work as well as to share insight into both qualitative and quantitative assay for motility. </p>
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                                    with which human beings communicate and store information: from the earliest cave
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                                    drawings, smoke signals and tablet carvings, to the printing press, telephony, the
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                                    Internet and future cloud computing. The recent advent of the Internet perfectly
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                                    encapsulates this phenomenon of global interconnectedness - allowing for the worldwide
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<p>We provided Imperial College London with some ideas regarding motility assays using TTC in stab agar. Their team gave us some tips about the preparation of cells for motility experiments and recommended spinning down the bacteria and resuspending them in a low volume of broth to increase the density of cells. They also recommended the use of capillary motility assays.  There was an exchange of protocols both ways to aid in the set-up of our experiments. A week later we discussed the progress we had made in the lab. We gave each other tips and suggested more assays to indicate the ability of our bacteria to move towards a stimulus. Imperial College London shared with us a type of capillary assay they were performing at the time and we, too, shared a protocol with them which is detailed in Gullivan and Topps (2006) paper, Guiding bacteria with small molecules and RNA.</p>
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                                    communication between cultures, organisations and individuals, through a single
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                                    data network entity.
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<p>Collaboration was also performed between the engineers to improve the modeling for both the teams (coming soon)</p>
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                                    Biologically, data communication networks exist too. The transfer of data occurs
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                                    via signalling molecules incorporated into highly regulated and integrated networks.
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                                    Our goal is to construct an automated bacterial communication network that will
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                                    allow a group of genetically engineered bacteria to transport messages in a directed
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                                    manner, with the final aim of completing location-based functional tasks. Such a
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                                    biological network can be engineered to function in specific applications and assist
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                                    in carrying out the tasks involved in the pipeline of a particular process, be it
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                                    medical or industrial.
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                                <p>
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                                    We have focused on one aspect of this network: the directed transport of the message-carrying
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                                    “communication modules” within our biological network. These communication modules
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                                    will take the form of bacteria, which can move over physical distances carrying
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                                    information. The content of the message - designed to elicit a desired output -
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                                    is, of course, vital to the eventual application. However, the successful delivery
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                                    and transport of these messages to other effector bacteria - dictating the end-points
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                                    of the data network - is of vital importance for proof of concept. Thus, we will
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                                    attempt to engineer the exogenously controlled chemotactic behaviour of bacteria
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                                    using synthetic riboswitches to regulate the expression of a protein required for
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                                    bacterial motility. This will allow for their directed movement towards a desired
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                                    location where they can deliver the message: a biological analogy to the Transmission
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                                    Control Protocol (TCP) of the Internet, which delivered the data to your computer
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                                    allowing you to read this abstract.</p>
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Latest revision as of 21:45, 17 September 2011

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> Biotweet - Abstract

Biotweet iGem
sidebar

One of the defining characteristics of humanity is the constantly evolving sophistication with which human beings communicate and store information: from the earliest cave drawings, smoke signals and tablet carvings, to the printing press, telephony, the Internet and future cloud computing. The recent advent of the Internet perfectly encapsulates this phenomenon of global interconnectedness - allowing for the worldwide communication between cultures, organisations and individuals, through a single data network entity.

Biologically, data communication networks exist too. The transfer of data occurs via signalling molecules incorporated into highly regulated and integrated networks. Our goal is to construct an automated bacterial communication network that will allow a group of genetically engineered bacteria to transport messages in a directed manner, with the final aim of completing location-based functional tasks. Such a biological network can be engineered to function in specific applications and assist in carrying out the tasks involved in the pipeline of a particular process, be it medical or industrial.

We have focused on one aspect of this network: the directed transport of the message-carrying “communication modules” within our biological network. These communication modules will take the form of bacteria, which can move over physical distances carrying information. The content of the message - designed to elicit a desired output - is, of course, vital to the eventual application. However, the successful delivery and transport of these messages to other effector bacteria - dictating the end-points of the data network - is of vital importance for proof of concept. Thus, we will attempt to engineer the exogenously controlled chemotactic behaviour of bacteria using synthetic riboswitches to regulate the expression of a protein required for bacterial motility. This will allow for their directed movement towards a desired location where they can deliver the message: a biological analogy to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) of the Internet, which delivered the data to your computer allowing you to read this abstract.

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