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Team:uOttawa
From 2011.igem.org
Brewer's yeast has become a model organism for the study of eukaryotes due to its homology with mammalian organisms and its ease of genetic manipulation. For this reason, we believe it is important to develop tools that improve our ability to use yeast as a standard BioBrick organism. To this end, we aim to submit several BioBricks optimized to work in the simple eukaryote S. cerevisiae as well as build a novel yeast chassis that is capable of the robust characterization of these Biobricks. In addition, we are developing a new assembly protocol that will greatly improve upon existing BioBrick assembly protocols and allow for rapid integration into S. cerevisiae.
Team
This year’s team brought together many students from different faculties. With fundraising, computer programming, website design and wet lab work there was a role for everyone.
Project
Characterization and standardizing of biological parts is a continuing problem for synthetic biologists. This year we decided to focus on developing a more efficient assembly method as well as optimizing characterization of BioBricks in S. cerevisiae.
Results
We were able to successfully create a new assembly method as well as characterize a number of transcription factors.
Parts Submitted
We submitted 7 new biobricks to the registry this year.
Human Practices
In order for the field of Synthetic Biology to grow, more youth outreach is needed. The uOttawa team created a game to teach simple synbio theory and has arranged high school tutorials for the fall. Also check out our essay on the public view on Synthetic Biology and ways of improving it.
Sponsors
The uOttawa team would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support this year. Our sponsors graciously supplied us with lab equipment, reagents and funds necessary for the team to compete.
