Team:UMaryland/Description

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TPA vs PCA detection

Cellulose Binding

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iGEM PET History

PET NET: Improve

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Patching holes in PET degradation

Plastic pollution does not need much introduction.

When we decided to pursue a polyethylene terapthalate (PET) plastic degradation project, we wanted approach the issue deliberately. PET degradation has been the target of a great number of iGEM teams (we count 24!), and all have made their own unique contributions. We have composed a condensed review of every iGEM team's PET project since 2012. After reading through all of these projects, we noticed key issues that blocked some of the most promising projects from success.

PETNET is an informed approach to address the challenge of PET degradation. This problem has eluded many attempts to fix it, but PETNET is deliberately made to address the shortcomings of these attempts. It addresses challenges in biofilm formation with a new biocatalytic approach based on cellulose binding combined with a custom bioreactor.

Difficulties in measuring PET degradation are also addressed with a highly sensitive biological device that may open many doors for further engineering of PETase.