Difference between revisions of "Team:WPI Worcester"
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<h3>Project Summary</h3> | <h3>Project Summary</h3> | ||
| − | <p>With the outbreak of <i>E. coli</i> on romaine lettuce in the news this past year, our team decided to focus on disrupting biofilm formation on crops. Biofilms are protein matrices created by bacteria that protect the bacteria against removal as well as antibiotics. A previous WPI iGEM team | + | <p>With the outbreak of <i>E. coli</i> on romaine lettuce in the news this past year, our team decided to focus on disrupting biofilm formation on crops. Biofilms are protein matrices created by bacteria that protect the bacteria against removal as well as antibiotics. A previous WPI iGEM team ([//2015.igem.org/Team:WPI-Worcester WPI iGEM 2015]) found that antifreeze proteins have anti-biofilm properties. Of particular interest to us are proteins that are derived from plants people already consume, such as those found in carrots, due to being already considered safe for consumption.</p> |
| − | <p>We are intending on genetically modifying crops to produce these antifreeze proteins. For our tests, we will be making a gene gun (inspired by the | + | <p>We are intending on genetically modifying crops to produce these antifreeze proteins. For our tests, we will be making a gene gun (inspired by the [//2016.igem.org/Team:Cambridge-JIC/Biolistics Cambridge 2016 iGEM]) to transform samples of lettuce leaf. Then we will determine how this impacts biofilm formation and whether it is a viable solution to the problem of human pathogens on crops.</p> |
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Revision as of 02:16, 16 October 2018
ICEberg (ISPs Combatting EPSs)
Project Summary
With the outbreak of E. coli on romaine lettuce in the news this past year, our team decided to focus on disrupting biofilm formation on crops. Biofilms are protein matrices created by bacteria that protect the bacteria against removal as well as antibiotics. A previous WPI iGEM team (WPI iGEM 2015) found that antifreeze proteins have anti-biofilm properties. Of particular interest to us are proteins that are derived from plants people already consume, such as those found in carrots, due to being already considered safe for consumption.
We are intending on genetically modifying crops to produce these antifreeze proteins. For our tests, we will be making a gene gun (inspired by the Cambridge 2016 iGEM) to transform samples of lettuce leaf. Then we will determine how this impacts biofilm formation and whether it is a viable solution to the problem of human pathogens on crops.