Our team application was accepted on April 2nd 2019, this can be seen at this link: iGEM Newcastle registration.
Team:Newcastle/Medals
Medals
Bronze
Registration and Giant Jamboree Attendance
Competition deliverables
Wiki, Poster & Presentation: The wiki page was completed on October 21st as indicated by the wiki freeze deadline. Both the poster and presentation will be shown at the Giant Jamboree 31/10-04/11.
Judging form: Our Newcastle judging form was submitted on October 16th and is visible for the judges.
Attributions
Visit our Attributions page!
Project Inspiration and Description
The idea to create a Parkinson's Disease biosensor came about during our bootcamp when Matt mentioned that his mother and him had been discussing “Super Smeller” Joy Milne over breakfast. To read more about how the project came together, visit our Project Inspiration and Description!
Characterisation / Contribution - Standard Tracks
We have characterised the part BBa_J23100 promoter using eGFP as the reporter protein. The fluorescence was compared to a standard curve using a His-tagged eGFP under the same promoter. We also characterised the parts BBa_J04450, BBa_K515105, BBa_1033907, BBa_K592011 in a reporter protein mixing experiment.
Silver
Validated Part or Contribution - Standard Tracks
We developed a glycine biosensor with gcvBp promoter region and RFP reporter, our part is Type IIS compatible and allows as expected. Characterisation of this new part can be found through our link BBa_K3206000. To aid our characterisation of the promoter BBa_J23100, we developed an eGFP with a His6-Tag to aid our characterisation. This part can be found here - BBa_K3206014.
Collaboration
As part of collaborations, Newcastle hosted the 2019 UK iGEM Meet-up on July 30th and 31st.
We also collaborated with Waterloo iGEM in order to develop our models.
Human Practices
Our human practices subteam focused on learning about the impact of a diagnosis on both people affected by Parkinson's Disease and their carers. By attending several local Parkinson's UK social gatherings such as the Newcastle Eldon Square monthly cafe meet-up, the Wickham pub-lunch, and the Marriott Hotel. The teams personal reflection on these social engagements have lead to the development of biosensors for healthcare and diagnostic applications. To see more, please see our Human Practices!
Gold
Integrated Human Practices
Following on from our Silver medal criteria #3, we used our observations of both Parkinson's Disease social groups and specialist academics to improve and develop the design of 'muninn'. Our gold medal human practices evidence can viewed on our link, Human Practices!
Improve a Previous Part / Project
Not applicable.
Model Your Project
We have built a kinetics model to understand how different CPLX1 concentrations impact the time until maximum active GFP was established. This was vital for the project as it was originally hypothesised that assays containing different CPLX1 mRNA concentrations allowed to run too long would demonstrate equalised fluorescence yet measurements taken too early would not demonstrate significant difference in fluorescence.
To see the how the CRISPR SHERLOCK CPLX1 model affected our project, please read our Informed Design section of our modelling page.
Click here to visit our Modelling page!
Demonstration of Your Work
Not applicable.
