Difference between revisions of "Team:Bio Without Borders/Description"

Line 5: Line 5:
  
  
−
<div class="column full_size">
 
−
<h1>Description</h1>
 
−
 
−
<p>Tell us about your project, describe what moves you and why this is something important for your team.</p>
 
−
 
−
</div>
 
−
 
−
 
−
 
−
<div class="column two_thirds_size">
 
−
<h3>What should this page contain?</h3>
 
−
<ul>
 
−
<li> A clear and concise description of your project.</li>
 
−
<li>A detailed explanation of why your team chose to work on this particular project.</li>
 
−
<li>References and sources to document your research.</li>
 
−
<li>Use illustrations and other visual resources to explain your project.</li>
 
−
</ul>
 
−
</div>
 
  
 +
<body>
 +
   
 +
  <h2 style="background-color:#608ACF;">Project motivation </h2>
 +
    <p > We are from New York City and the Altantic Ocean is essentially next door. Horseshoe crabs are seen a lot throughtout the shores especially in Jamaica Bay. Unfortunately throughout the years the horseshoe crab population has been decreasing. We wondered why this was happening and after realizing what the pharmaceutical companies were doing with horseshoe crab blood. We wanted to find a different way in which we can optain the same protein that detects endotoxins without having to harvest bloood from horseshoe crabs. </p>
 +
   
 +
    <h2 style="background-color:#608ACF;">Defining the project challenges</h2>
 +
    <p > Even though the patent on Factor C assay has expired and new recombinant methods have been created — for example, Lonza bioscience has created an rFC assay — the assay still remains monopolized and inaccessible (in order to be able to view the Lonza protocol, you have to request permission from the company). It is also inaccessible in the sense that the protocol is very demanding in terms of the dollar amount, and requires expensive equipment and reagents. Therefore, the challenge of our project was to create a more accessible and easy-to-use diagnostic tool with the rFC in a way where we could visualize the self-cleavage of the protein. We decided that our best course of action would be to create a second reporter protein, in our case a fusion protein between green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a cellulose binding domain (CBD), that included the cleavage site double Ile-Ile bond on the actual Factor C ,so that when the protein performed autocatalysis it would also recognize the site on the reporter and cleave that as well, causing a visual readout. </p>
 +
   
 +
    <h2 style="background-color:#608ACF;"> How did we combat the challenges </h2>
 +
    <p ></p>
 +
</body>
 +
</html>
 
<div class="column third_size" >
 
<div class="column third_size" >
 
<div class="highlight decoration_A_full">
 
<div class="highlight decoration_A_full">

Revision as of 01:33, 17 October 2018

Project motivation

We are from New York City and the Altantic Ocean is essentially next door. Horseshoe crabs are seen a lot throughtout the shores especially in Jamaica Bay. Unfortunately throughout the years the horseshoe crab population has been decreasing. We wondered why this was happening and after realizing what the pharmaceutical companies were doing with horseshoe crab blood. We wanted to find a different way in which we can optain the same protein that detects endotoxins without having to harvest bloood from horseshoe crabs.

Defining the project challenges

Even though the patent on Factor C assay has expired and new recombinant methods have been created — for example, Lonza bioscience has created an rFC assay — the assay still remains monopolized and inaccessible (in order to be able to view the Lonza protocol, you have to request permission from the company). It is also inaccessible in the sense that the protocol is very demanding in terms of the dollar amount, and requires expensive equipment and reagents. Therefore, the challenge of our project was to create a more accessible and easy-to-use diagnostic tool with the rFC in a way where we could visualize the self-cleavage of the protein. We decided that our best course of action would be to create a second reporter protein, in our case a fusion protein between green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a cellulose binding domain (CBD), that included the cleavage site double Ile-Ile bond on the actual Factor C ,so that when the protein performed autocatalysis it would also recognize the site on the reporter and cleave that as well, causing a visual readout.

How did we combat the challenges

Inspiration

See how other teams have described and presented their projects:



Advice on writing your Project Description

We encourage you to put up a lot of information and content on your wiki, but we also encourage you to include summaries as much as possible. If you think of the sections in your project description as the sections in a publication, you should try to be concise, accurate, and unambiguous in your achievements.

References

iGEM teams are encouraged to record references you use during the course of your research. They should be posted somewhere on your wiki so that judges and other visitors can see how you thought about your project and what works inspired you.