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Results from the 2011 iGEM Americas Regionals

We are pleased to report that iGEM Calgary came home with a gold medal and two of the eight special awards: Best Wiki and Best Experimental Measurement for our electrochemical reporter. We will be proceeding on to the World Jamboree at MIT in November, after further refining of our project. Stay tuned for more on this!

The University of Calgary iGEM Team has had many accomplishments this summer:

In our promoter project...

• We designed a novel protocol to identify small hydrophobic molecule interactors within a cell.

• We were able to successfully biotinylate a naphthenic acid, suggesting that it is possible to biotinylate other small hydrophobic molecules as well. This may be used to screen for various small molecule interactors.

• We identified a gene that is up-regulated in the presence of naphthenic acids.

In our Reporter Project...

• We characterized a novel reporter function for the lacZ gene using an electrochemical output.

• We laid the groundwork for future use of electrochemical reporting in iGEM.

In our Chassis project...

• We characterized a Pseudomonas-E. coli conjugation construct

• We submitted parts and protocols for future work in both microalgae and Pseudomonas

• We characterized the viability of Pseudomonas and E. coli to grow and survive in tailings ponds

Judging Requirements

• Team registration - Our team successfully registered for the iGEM Competition.
• Complete Judging Form - To view our Judging Form please click here.
• Team Wiki - Our team has successfully designed a wiki page for our project.
• Submit at least one new well-characterized standard BioBrick Part - Our team has submitted several new parts all of which we have fully characterized.

• Demonstrate at least one new BioBrick part designed works as expected - All of our parts have been carefully tested. Our oriT-ori1600 Pseudomonas conjugation part has been well characterized.
• Enter this information and other documentation on the part's 'Main Page' section of the Registry - The data relating to our new BioBrick parts have all been added to the Registry.

• Improve the function of an existing BioBrick Part - Our team utilized the lacZ gene to develop and characterize it as an electrochemical detector. Please see the reporter section for more information.
• Help another iGEM Team - The University of Calgary iGEM Team collaborated with the University of Lethridge iGEM Team since both of our projects were involving tailings ponds water. We characterized E. coli viability in our unique tailing ponds samples and developed a well standardized data set by working together. For more information, click here
• Outline a new approach to an issue of Human Practice in Synthetic Biology - In Canada, the government has mandated that oilsands companies must test for the presence of naphthenic acids four times a year in their tailings ponds. Obviously public opinion and government policy will influence the actions oil companies will make in Alberta. Our human practices is a report on the role of government and industry on tailings ponds bioremediation and how synthetic biology and our device will fit into the present policies and procedures implemented in Alberta. Please click here for more information.