Team:Tacoma RAINmakers
Team:ECUST/Lab/Notebook
Welcome to iGEM 2018!
Our Description:
In Tacoma, Washington, arsenic contamination from the ASARCO copper smelter continues to devastate community soil and water. Even small amounts of arsenic pose a threat to long-term community health, causing cancer and child developmental disability. Tacoma and the state of Washington have spent more than 62 million dollars over 18 years testing in the region, with efforts still underway. Tacoma RAINmakers seek to revolutionize toxin detection by engineering an affordable and simple biosensor that alerts the user of arsenic contamination. Our biosensor is user-friendly by design and will not require hazardous chemical reagents. Synthetic biology is the fundamental tenet of the RAINmaker sensor. By employing an arsenic regulatory gene (ArsR) native to E. coli, the RAINmakers are able to identify the presence of arsenic in the environment. ArsR functions as a repressor for a chromoprotein reporter complex. In the presence of arsenic ions (i.e. arsenate, arsenite), our arsenic regulator protein will bind to the toxin, change conformation, and allow expression of our indicator. As mentioned previously, the RAINmakers will be employing chromoproteins, namely amilCP and spisPink. Both of these reporters are non-fluorescent color-producing proteins native to coral. The biosensor will function in vitro; our circuit DNA material will be pipetted and lyophilized into a paper ticket. Ultimately, this sensor will function as a qualitative test for arsenic that will be simple and inexpensive enough for layman use. The long-term goal is to improve community understanding of this ecological issue and bring an inexpensive tool to the hands of Tacoma and the world in a united effort to solve heavy metal contamination.
<--Your team has been approved and you are ready to start the iGEM season!
Before you start
Please read the following pages:
Styling your wiki
You may style this page as you like or you can simply leave the style as it is. You can easily keep the styling and edit the content of these default wiki pages with your project information and completely fulfill the requirement to document your project.
While you may not win Best Wiki with this styling, your team is still eligible for all other awards. This default wiki meets the requirements, it improves navigability and ease of use for visitors, and you should not feel it is necessary to style beyond what has been provided.
Uploading pictures and files
You must upload any pictures and files to the iGEM 2018 server. Remember to keep all your pictures and files within your team's namespace or at least include your team's name in the file name.
When you upload, set the "Destination Filename" to T--YourOfficialTeamName--NameOfFile.jpg. (If you don't do this, someone else might upload a different file with the same "Destination Filename", and your file would be erased!)
Wiki template information
We have created these wiki template pages to help you get started and to help you think about how your team will be evaluated. You can find a list of all the pages tied to awards here at the Pages for awards link. You must edit these pages to be evaluated for medals and awards, but ultimately the design, layout, style and all other elements of your team wiki is up to you!
Editing your wiki
On this page you can document your project, introduce your team members, document your progress and share your iGEM experience with the rest of the world!
Use WikiTools - Edit in the black menu bar to edit this page
Tips
This wiki will be your team’s first interaction with the rest of the world, so here are a few tips to help you get started:
- State your accomplishments! Tell people what you have achieved from the start.
- Be clear about what you are doing and how you plan to do this.
- You have a global audience! Consider the different backgrounds that your users come from.
- Make sure information is easy to find; nothing should be more than 3 clicks away.
- Avoid using very small fonts and low contrast colors; information should be easy to read.
- Start documenting your project as early as possible; don’t leave anything to the last minute before the Wiki Freeze. For a complete list of deadlines visit the iGEM 2018 calendar
- Have lots of fun!
Inspiration
You can also view other team wikis for inspiration! Here are some examples: