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Team:MIT/Project/
From 2011.igem.org
Project Description
Previous efforts in synthetic biology have focused on manipulating single cells. Our project this year is to expand the frontier of synthetic biology into the multicellular universe through previously unused cell-cell signaling mechanisms. We aim to develop modular orthogonal systems that incorporate cell communication, allowing unachieved levels of control over the behavior of a population of cells as opposed to single cells through local signaling. This ability to control a population's form and function will vastly increase the applications and possibilities of synthetic biology, perhaps one day leading to artificial tissues and organs.
Specifically, we aim to construct a modular system involving juxtacrine cell signaling and G-protein coupled receptors. This will allow us to engineer interchangeable circuit responses using Mammalian BioBricks to inflammatory, cancerous, or infectious cues, leading to applications in tissue engineering, immunology responses, and cell patterning. Our efforts thus far are focused on demonstrating complex cell patterning and signal propagation through a population of cells, and we hope that our work will unlock a new realm of possibilities for the synthetic biology community and future iGEM teams.
