Team:SoundBio/Project Description

Description

When searching for a project this year, we looked at various materials that had special properties that could be optimized to benefit our community. When researching potential biomaterials to optimize, we came across materials that had antimicrobial properties, such as silver nanoparticles and bacterial cellulose. After learning about biomaterials their many useful properties, we wanted to pursue a project centered on bacterial cellulose and its potential for various applications further because of its versatility as a biomaterial.

Specifically, our team was intrigued by the biomedical properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) and we designed our project around improving wound treatment as there are already multiple cases where BC has been used to treat burn wounds. However, after talking with researchers and doctors like Dr. Eliane Troavati and Dr. Nicole Gibran, limitations in the biomaterial itself, as well as lack of development, keeps it from being the standard treatment.

This year our project, Bacto-Basics, strives to spatially control the attachment of functional proteins to bacterial cellulose using an optogenetics, synthetic biology, and systems biology interdisciplinary study by incorporating hardware and software aspects. When selecting our primary goals we strived to stay consistent and practical, such that it would be possible to reach these goals and show our team’s progress. Under our primary umbrella project, we were split into subteams, such as public relations and wetlab, and devised goals for each subteam to achieve over the course of the iGEM 2019 season as the subteams were better informed to create their own feasible goals.

Our primary project goals this year are:
  • Engineer E. coli to express fusion proteins, which are cellulose binding domains (CBDs) connected to chromoproteins, and control that expression via two different light sensor systems: a red light system and a blue one.
  • Design/build a bioreactor that has minimal to no agitation so the K. Rhaeticus can grow. How we will achieve this is by testing the K. Rhaeticus in minimal to no agitating bioreactors such as wave bioreactors, static bioreactors, and airlift bioreactors.
  • Create a model of the bioreactor processes to speed up testing and allow us to find optimal conditions for BC growth and functionalization, both in terms of the organisms and their genetic circuits, and the hardware involved.
  • To engage our community in science by giving a mini iGEM experience to young students and incorporate public feedback and engagement with our project.


In the future, we see our iGEM project as a new, easily controlled platform used to produce BC with desired properties.

Our project, Bacto-Basics aims to address the anti-inflammatory and tissue regeneration points for improving BC’s characteristics for treating wounds.

By spatially controlling the attachment of proteins to bacterial cellulose, scientists can functionalize BC to have the specific proteins and growth factors found in different tissues to accelerate wound healing and decrease inflammation.