"

From 2011.igem.org

Increased biosafety through cell free systems

While developing our project idea we employed thoughts about biosafety in our blueprint. Last year’s Bielefeld iGEM Team was working on a Biosensor for capsaicin, which is responsible for the spiciness in food. The approach was to use a test strip to get a visible light signal depending on the spiciness of the sample. This was only supposed to be a proof of principle project, but there is one huge disadvantage: The Biosensor was cell based, so to use it genetically modified E. coli have to be taken out of the lab and near ones food. This restrains a possible application because it does not only raise up possible problems with biosafety but is also against the law in many countries like Germany. Hence we thought it would be great to lay the basis for cell free biosensors. Besides higher durability or more specific signals, cell free biosensors have the extremely relevant advantage that for the application and production all GMOs stay in the controlled environment of the lab. All cells are grown under controlled conditions and only qualified personnel has access to them. This reduces the risk of releasing GMOs into the environment and therefore the possibility of horizontal gene transfer.

Our project as an example for possible applications

To show the general public the advantages and possibilities of synthetic biology we wanted to chose an easy to understand and relevant application. Therefore we developed a biosensor for the supposedly harmful substance bisphenol A which is used in the production of polycarbonates. Hence bisphenol A can be found in a variety of everyday use objects like baby bottles, tin cans or DVDs. By providing an easy to use cell-free biosensor, bisphenol A can be detected without expensive machines or toxic substances. This project is a major step towards an application of Synthetic Biology and therefore a great example to show the public the advantages and possibilities of this new biotechnology branch.