Team:ULaVerne Collab
The University of La Verne iGEM Team
2019 Silver Medalists
Our Project
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by high glucose levels over a prolonged period of time. This epidemic disease affects approximately 371 million people around the world (Castillo, 2012 & World Health Organization, 2014). Current treatments for diabetes include injections and pumps, but the cost to produce insulin has increased over the past few years due to monopoly companies and patent laws, making this life-saving medicine increasingly expensive to afford.
The Open Insulin Project is an open and ongoing project which its goal is to manufacture cheap, simple, and new insulin by making the protocol and product open to everyone. We are contributing to this Open Insulin Project by synthesizing human proinsulin and 3 novel single chain insulin (SCI) proteins that do not require the cleavage of the C peptide like insulin does and, thus, no enzyme is needed to make it an active form of insulin.
Our goal is to secrete human proinsulin and the 3 different single-chain insulin analogues from the periplasmic membrane of E. coli BL21 and purify them out using nickel purification and TEV protease cleavage. The concentration and folding of the purified insulin analogues are then determined using an Elisa assay, and the efficiency is tested with the glucose uptake assay using CHO-K1 cells.
About Us
The University of La Verne
Located in the small city of La Verne nearby Pomona and in the LA County area, as students of the University of La Verne, we are a small group of motivated individuals who work hard to be recognized by others as we work constantly towards building a better future. Ranging from freshman to senior students, we constantly thrive for knowledge and in search of solutions to everyday problems while trying to tackle the more prominent ones like diabetes. We are constantly learning, coinstantly working, and always persisting.
"The team has become my second family and I am glad to have taken the step towards a higher learning experience with other people who are fun and great to be around!" - Janette, Junior Chemistry Major.
"Being in iGEM for 2 years has taught me that 'Positivity is Key'." -Rosette, Senior Biology Major.
"Have fun, explore new experiences, and take each day one step at a time!" -Magaly, Senior Biology Major.
Our Project
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by high glucose levels over a prolonged period of time. This epidemic disease affects approximately 371 million people around the world (Castillo, 2012 & World Health Organization, 2014). Current treatments for diabetes include injections and pumps, but the cost to produce insulin has increased over the past few years due to monopoly companies and patent laws, making this life-saving medicine increasingly expensive to afford.
The Open Insulin Project is an open and ongoing project which its goal is to manufacture cheap, simple, and new insulin by making the protocol and product open to everyone. We are contributing to this Open Insulin Project by synthesizing human proinsulin and 3 novel single chain insulin (SCI) proteins that do not require the cleavage of the C peptide like insulin does and, thus, no enzyme is needed to make it an active form of insulin.
Our goal is to secrete human proinsulin and the 3 different single-chain insulin analogues from the periplasmic membrane of E. coli BL21 and purify them out using nickel purification and TEV protease cleavage. The concentration and folding of the purified insulin analogues are then determined using an Elisa assay, and the efficiency is tested with the glucose uptake assay using CHO-K1 cells.
About Us
Located in the small city of La Verne nearby Pomona and in the LA County area, as students of the University of La Verne, we are a small group of motivated individuals who work hard to be recognized by others as we work constantly towards building a better future. Ranging from freshman to senior students, we constantly thrive for knowledge and in search of solutions to everyday problems while trying to tackle the more prominent ones like diabetes. We are constantly learning, coinstantly working, and always persisting.
"Being in iGEM for 2 years has taught me that 'Positivity is Key'." -Rosette, Senior Biology Major.
"Have fun, explore new experiences, and take each day one step at a time!" -Magaly, Senior Biology Major.
