Friday October 1st the danish magazine The Engineer published an article about us!
We give you here a translation of the article and a link to the original story.
Student aim on gold for their synthetic E. coli, that flee from blue light
Students from Southern University is currently developing a photo tactical bacterium that converts light into mechanical work.
By Robin Engelhardt, Saturday 02 October 2010 pm. 11:00
A team bioengineer students from Southern University is getting ready for the annual iGEM competition to be held at MIT in Cambridge, USA, 5th-8th November. They have created an artificial E. coli bacteria with a photo sensor that enables the bacterium to move away when you shine the blue light on it.
There are still a few things missing, “says instructor Mike Barnkob, but he is confident that they have a good project:
“E. coli bacteria have some flagella they can wing. We found out that you can control them by combining with genes from other bacteria and then shine light on them. Blue light causes them to turn about and if it is dark in a different direction, they move there. “
Right now the team from SDU got the first proof that the system works and they are now conducting further characterization to see what types of light, it responds to, and how quickly they can get the bacterium to move.
The pictures show two petri dishes, respectively. a normal and a synthetic bacterial culture. Both have grown for 44 hours, and both have been covered halfway over. One can see how the manipulated culture moves toward the dark area.
The idea is that at a later stage to create a flow in a micro tube by coating the pipe with a layer of the new type of E. coli.
“It has actually proved to be a problem to mix liquids properly in very small areas,” explains Barnkob.
“By adding the bacteria, they can be whipped into the liquid with their little tails, which means you can control how liquids mix in small micro-tubes.”
Great interest
IGEM stands for International Genetically Engineered Machine and allows students from universities around the world to participate in the emerging field of synthetic biology, which are sometimes also called the do-it-yourself biology.
The competition has been held since 2004, and Denmark has been represented by two teams since 2009 - one from Southern University and one from DTU.
“What we thought was really cool about this project, is that it is fundamental that we know that light at a bacterium capable of converting light energy to a form of mechanical work,” says Barnkob.
“The important thing about iGEM’s getting to grips with the biological programming and see what you can do with it and what not.”
Over the past six years, students have built so-called BioBricks that form the foundation for programming biological organisms, which can range from being bacterial cameras and bio-beer to biological landmine detectors.
Last year the students from Southern University made a bacteria-filled bandage that ensures a better supply of antibiotics for a wound. The team from DTU in 2009 got a gold medal for the design of a ‘redoxilator’ that glows green when the bacterial metabolism is high and ready to produce.
“I will, in all modesty say we’ve got a super team with all 14 students from physics to biomedicine, molecular biology and medicine to philosophy,” says Barnkob from SDU.
“We hope to get gold in Boston. Last year we got bronze, and this year we believe that we have gotten a lot further. “
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