Team:UANL Mty-Mexico/Project/Applications

Our project's main objective consists on design a genetic circuit which works better in comparison of those that actualy exists. To reach this objective, we focus on two features:

1. The design of a circuit which is liable to produce a large amount of outputs with a minimum use of inputs.


2. The use of a circuit activation and inhibition in a noninvasive manner.

From the first feature, achieved by the use of switchs and logic gates, we pretend stablish bases for a cell to be able to interpret a combination of complex circuits in a future, and develop a complex code that allows us transmit to a cell what we want it to do.

On the second feature, we focus on the use of light as the easiest way to transmit a code. We consider light as the best option because it is noninvasive to the cell, is easy to use and of great savings.

We hope our contributions to be useful , not only in research area, but also in indutrial development and comercial aplications.With the right approach, our project can cause a significant impact both nationally and internationally, considering that the region where we live is one of the most important cities in industry and commerce of the country, focused, among other things, in the brewing industry, alcoholic beverages production, dairy manufacturing and biofuels development.

In those industries, product quality depends on the particular characteristics of an organism. Could you imagine how it may affect the production process the ability to control the desired features in the appropriate moment? In this way, our project could help to improve industrial processes, through improving quality, time and costs of the process.

We would like to mention some examples in wich we could apply our project:

For the elaboration of beer, organisms that carry out the fermentation process are very important. Fermenting organisms have great variability: they possess genes that give different flavors to beer. Therefore, depending of type of beer and type of bioreactor, it will be important to choose the appropriate strain. On the other hand, there are a great number of genes that are implicated in some interesting properties that need to be expressed in a specific point in the whole process and in an accurate time .

Moreover, it could be possible to control the level of glycolytic enzymes through the process and, by this way, increase rate of ethanol production and, finally, controlling levels of distinct esters that depending of the combination of their concentrations confer flavor to beer.

Currently one of the issues of greatest impact is the fossil fuel depletion, it has forced to seek alternatives for the production of fuels that are economical, easy to produce and environmentally friendly.