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From 2014.igem.org
University College London, iGEM Team 2014 - Goodbye Azo Dye!
Azo dyes are the main synthetic colourant used in a wide range of products, such as clothing, cosmetics, tattoo ink, and more. They are generally known to be safe and stable colour compounds, however, when they are broken down in the guts of organisms, they can result in dangerous, toxic products. In industry, excess textile dyes are often simply washed off and disposed of, without proper treatment to remove the leftover azo dyes in the waste water. As a result, these azo dyes accumulate in rivers and lakes, causing problems further downstream. When animals drink these polluted waters, their gut bacteria will break down and release toxic chemicals. As well as being damaging to the environment, the released chemicals can be mutagenic and carcinogenic, which can further cause health issues to other animals, including humans.
The UCL iGEM Team 2014 are going to build a bacteria with BioBricks capable of controlling the break down of excess azo dyes found in industrial waste water. In this way, we can try prevent toxic build-up in the environment, keep our water systems clean, and reduce health problems caused by azo dyes.
About our project
Find out more about the issues of azo dyes, and how we are using synthetic biology to try solve this problem.
Meet the team
Get to know us! Come find out our diverse and colourful backgrounds, and how we are all going to make this iGEM team brilliant.
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New to Synthetic Biology?
Find out more about the exciting new field of synthetic biology!
The Basics to Microfluidics
We'll also be applying the multidisciplinary field of microfluidics to our project. Find out more here!
BioBrick Parts
See what BioBrick parts we'll be creating and characterising to carry out our project.
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