Team:Tec-Chihuahua/brainstorm

• TEAM
  • MEMBERS
  • COLLABORATIONS
  • ATTRIBUTIONS
• PROJECT
  • DESCRIPTION
  • DESIGN
  • PARTS
  • EXPERIMENTS
  • RESULTS
• NOTEBOOK
  • NOTEBOOK
  • INTERLAB
  • BRAINSTORM
• HUMAN PRACTICES
  • HUMAN PRACTICES
  • PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
  • BEES & BEES
• MODEL
• ENTREPRENEURSHIP
• JUDGING
  • AWARDS
  • SAFETY

Previous ideas

Since the beginning, we wanted to develop a project that could generate a significant and positive impact on society and the world using synthetic biology. Therefore we analyzed problematics on our community that also could have a great impact on the world and we searched a way to solve them. We came up with the following ideas as project proposal:

Arsenic Biomethylation There are many water bodies contaminated by arsenic which is a highly toxic chemical and when it is ingested could develop some health problems like cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Our idea was through the modification of the bacteria Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1 confer it the ability to biomethylate the arsenic in order to make it less dangerous, by reducing its toxicity, preventing various health related issues.

Iron Bean We focused on how serious is the problem that represents in the world the anemia caused by malnutrition, and we wanted to make a solution. The goal was to develop a source of food that was available for most of the people and we thought beans could be the perfect subject. That is why we had the idea of modifying the bean plant in order to increase the iron nutrient for people could harness in a better way this legume.

Spicy Strawberry Botrytis cinerea is a fungus that attacks the strawberry crops. Our plan was to modify an endogenous microorganism from the strawberries with the gen of capsinoids from non-pungent peppers that have shown antifungal activity to give to the strawberries a mechanism.

BPA Filter Bisphenol A (BPA), which is an endocrine disruptor, can be found in water bodies contaminated with plastic residues. The human exposure to BPA might cause problems with the female fertility, immunological reproductive alterations, ovarian polycystic, fetal chromosomal abnormality among others. We wanted to develop a 'filter' using genetically modified bacteria capable of degrading Bisphenol A due to, even though, the actual methods may remove the plastic from the water they do not have the capacity to eliminate BPA.

THE ULTIMATE PROJECT

Despite we had a few potential ideas to develop as our project and although they meant to solve different problematics, it was one that stood out: the treatment of American and European foulbrood, diseases that affect honeybees.

It is widely known that bees are highly important for the world due to their pollination activity and their economic value in the beekeeping industry. Our team members always cared about nature, biodiversity, animals and of course bees. Then so, looking in our community and environment we found out a huge problematic. In the last years, there has been a decrease in the bee population around the world as a consequence of several factors such as diseases and the limited and inefficient treatment methods. In addition to the negative impact in the world, the bee death has caused struggles in the beekeeping industry.

The diseases American and European Foulbrood are present all over the world and are caused by larvae-killing bacteria, they threaten the beehives survival by killing the successor bees. Nowadays these diseases are treated with antibiotics that besides the risk of generating antibiotic resistance by misused, it is disadvantageous since their residues are prohibited on the bees products when they are exported causing huge economic losses for beekeepers.

Therefore we decided to create a solution through synthetic biology. Honeybees produce antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) which are components of their innate immune system and have properties against bacteria. Our project intends to lend these bees a hand against these diseases by introducing the genes that codify for these AMPs on Escherichia coli cultures and produce them. Once we have these peptides they would be used as an alternative treatment method.