Team:Imperial College
Welcome to the Imperial iGEM 2018 Team Wiki!
We want to merge the advancing technologies of electronics and synthetic biology to work on creating patterns to facilitate the evolution of complex biological systems.
Computer science and electrical engineering are two of the most innovative fields of modern technology and are the early inspirations for the field of synthetic biology. They have provided the concepts of modularity and circuits, which we as synthetic biologists have adapted to the context of biology.
While brainstorming, it came to our attention that so far nearly all avenues of gene expression control have been explored, including chemicals, temperature and optogenetics. We at Imperial want to push the limits of synthetic biology by exploring other methods of genetic control, which is why we have taken the challenge to bridge the communications gap between electronics and biology by creating a system where we can control gene expression using differential electrical stimuli.
Not only that, but we wish to achieve this on a 2D lawn of bacteria and have localised control of gene expression, essentially designing patterns of our choice. Why patterns you may ask? Well, because patterns are essential for complexity, one only has to look at any living organism to understand how crucial patterning and communication is for the evolution of composite tissues, beautiful shapes and intelligent behaviours.
Our project is called PixCell, and we look forward to seeing you at the Giant Jamboree.
Potential Collaborations
Parts Collaboration
Hey iGEMers, if anyone happens to be working on a project involving engineering fluorescent proteins, chromoproteins or transcription factors, do get in touch with us at official.imperial.igem@gmail.com to set up a potential collaboration!
Outreach Collaboration
Coming soon...
Human practices Collaboration
Coming soon...
