Team:WPI Worcester
ice structuring proteins ISPs Combatting extracellular polymeric substancesEPSs
a project on food safety
and bacterial biofilms
Project ICEBERG
Inspired by the 2018 romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak in the United States and the work of the 2015 WPI iGEM team, we investigated methods to prevent biofilms of human pathogens on crops. We analyzed the antibiofilm properties of ice structuring proteins (ISPs), also called antifreeze proteins (AFPs), and curcumin, a component of turmeric. The biofilms were measured by the amount extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) they produced. In the future, we envision transgenic crops that produce antimicrobial proteins to protect themselves against colonization of human pathogens.