Revision as of 11:15, 17 October 2014

Cellock Holmes - A Case of Identity

"What's living on the table in front of you?" seems to be an easy question to answer: microoganisms. However, "Which microorganisms are there?" is not such a trivial question anymore, especially in environments where you only want to have a non-pathogenic microflora or no microorganisms at all, such as lab spaces or health care institutions.

Our project Cellock Holmes solves this case of identy.

Cellock Holmes encompasses our 2D biosensing technology with which can detect bacteria on solid surfaces. Cellock Holmes is mainly devised to overcome the drawbacks of existing techniques and aims for a faster, inexpensive, open source, mobile and an easy to handle detection method.

We demonstrate the proof-of-concept for Cellock Holmes by detecting an opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This gram-negative prokaryote infects patients with open wounds and burns as well as immunodeficient people. P. aeruginosa cells use quorum sensing to communicate with each other by secreting autoinducers into their environment. Using a Synthetic Biology (SynBio) approach, our team engineered sensor cells, so-called Cellocks, that are able to detect the native autoinducer of P. aeruginosa and elicit a distinct fluorescence signal. Further, the response time of our sensor cells has been highly enhanced by the use of our special REACh construct.

So far Cellocks are able to detect P. aeruginosa only, however, due to the modular composition of our genetic device, it is possible to engineer Cellocks in a way that they are able to detect other bacteria's autoinducers as well. Even more flexibility would be introduced using our alternative molecular approach using Galectin-3.

Hand in hand with the biological side of our project, our IT crew built the measurement device WatsOn that is able to read and analyze the fluorescent signal. Since we want to make our technology available for everybody, we published construction manuals and technical details of our device.

To learn more about the different parts of our 2D biosensor, click on the respective panels on the right.

The OD/F Device - A Project Spin-Off

OD/F Device

Originally planned to be used as our own measurement device in the Interlab Study, our IT division developed our OD/F Device. This device can measure optical density and fluorescence of a liquid sample. It is used in the same way as a regular spectrophotometer: A plastic cuvette is filled with sample solution and inserted into the device. The values of optical density and fluorescence are subsequently displayed to the user.

The target group for our device are low-budget institutions such as schools, community labs and the bio-hacker scene. The OD/F device is designed in accordance with the open source principle and all technical details as well as construction manuals are published on our wiki.

Contact Disclaimer

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 ''Cellock Holmes'' encompasses our '''[https://2014.igem.org/Team:Aachen/Project/2D_Biosensor 2D biosensing technology]''' with which can detect bacteria on solid surfaces. Cellock Holmes is mainly devised to overcome the drawbacks of existing techniques and aims for a faster, inexpensive, open source, mobile and an easy to handle detection method.
-As a '''proof-of-concept''' for ''Cellock Holmes'' we decided to detect the bacterium '''''Pseudomonas&nbsp;aeruginosa'''''. This opportunistic bacterium mainly infects patients with open wounds and burns as well as immunodeficient people. ''P.&nbsp;aeruginosa'' cells use quorum sensing to communicate with each other by secreting autoinducers into their environment. Using Synthetic Biology, our team '''engineered sensor cells''', so-called '''''Cellocks''''', that are able to detect these autoinducers and to elicit a fluorescence signal. Furthermore, the response time of our sensor cells is sped up through the use of our special [https://2014.igem.org/Team:Aachen/Project/FRET_Reporter '''REACh construct'''].
+We demonstrate the '''proof-of-concept''' for ''Cellock Holmes'' by detecting an opportunistic pathogen ''Pseudomonas&nbsp;aeruginosa''. This gram-negative prokaryote infects patients with open wounds and burns as well as immunodeficient people. ''P.&nbsp;aeruginosa'' cells use quorum sensing to communicate with each other by secreting autoinducers into their environment. Using a Synthetic Biology (SynBio) approach, our team engineered sensor cells, so-called Cellocks, that are able to detect the native autoinducer of ''P.&nbsp;aeruginosa'' and elicit a distinct fluorescence signal. Further,  the response time of our sensor cells has been highly enhanced by the use of our special [https://2014.igem.org/Team:Aachen/Project/FRET_Reporter '''REACh construct'''].
 So far ''Cellocks'' are able to detect ''P.&nbsp;aeruginosa'' only, however, due to the modular composition of our genetic device, it is possible to engineer ''Cellocks'' in a way that they are able to detect other bacteria's autoinducers as well. Even more flexibility would be introduced using our [https://2014.igem.org/Team:Aachen/Project/Gal3 '''alternative molecular approach using Galectin-3'''].