Outlook

Our new application, The AcCELLerator, can have great impact on basic research. Creating only one transgenic model organism with the light-inducible receptor will enable introduction of any gene of interest via the MuLV in a highly specific, spatio-temporally resolved manner. In combination with modern genome engineering tools like CRISPR/Cas9, The AcCELLerator will be a powerful tool for creating tissue specific and temporally regulated knock-outs. These properties are predestined to be used in the field of tissue engineering or synthetic production of biomaterials. In a tissue or biomaterial all cells have to express a distinct subset of genes; deficient gene expression would lead to abnormalities and cancer.

The AcCELLerator can further provide a powerful tool for the rapid generation of stable cell lines. In combination with the powerful iGEM registry, where we introduced the pMIG backbone for viral delivery, it would be possible to stably express all available genes within a couple of days. As the potential applications are numerous and as it is not possible to optimize the system completely in the course of only one iGEM project, we encourage the community to use and improve The AcCELLerator!