Team:IIT Madras/Human practices

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bar iGEM 2011 - Home Page Indian Institute of Technology - Madras





Human Practices

A safe screening technique

Through our project we propose a light-based transformant screening technique. This technique uses a vector designed by our team, pREX525, wherein the Antibiotic resistance gene is replaced by Green-light absorbing Proteorhodopsin. The stress used for screening is the substrate limitation in minimal media, and the survival advantage is the ability to use light as an energy source.

We propose that the light-based screening can replace antibiotics based screening. The problems with antibiotics based screening include
  • 1. Horizontal gene transfer of Antibiotic Resistance gene, which can contribute to Drug resistance 2. Risk of spread of Antibiotic resistance/tolerance among the bacterial flora 3. Release of Antibiotics, which are essentially toxins, into the environment


    • Light based screening minimizes these risks. With a futuristic approach, wherein synthetic biology can be completely toxin free, we recommend using light-based screening vector, for cloning and screening.

    Spreading the word

    As synthetic biology is a less talked about research field in India, IIT Madras team held a poster presentation on the projects it is involved in synthetic biology. The presentation was at the Research Expo in Shaastra 2011 which had a footfall of about 60,000 students/scientists from the country. Research Expo was basically a research poster presentation for ongoing projects in the country.

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