Team:Imperial

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<h2>Our Project</h2>
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<p>Greetings fellow iGEMers! We, Imperial College’s 2014 iGEM team, are pleased to welcome you to our WIP wiki.</p>
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<h3>Background</h3>
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<p>Cellulose is the most abundantly available organic polymer in nature. Plants, bacteria and even select animals (such as marine urochordates) produce it, utilising its properties for support, adhesion, and floatation. </p>
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<p>Cellulose is significant in our everyday lives for paper, dietary fibre, and clothing. It is the main ingredient in cotton, linen and any plant-derived material - we are constantly in contact with it!</p>
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<p>Given its properties and prevalence in nature, cellulose finds other uses as a feedstock, in composite materials, as a biomaterial for tissue regeneration and many more.
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<p>Due to its adaptability and ubiquity the full potential of cellulose has yet to be fulfilled. There are still many ways that we can engineer cellulose for novel uses though all research areas desire reduced cost of production and processing.</p>
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<p>Most of the cellulose we currently process comes from plants. Plant cellulose exists naturally in a mixture with other compounds, which requires an energy-intensive purification step to yield the pure cellulose that is useful in many medical and environmental contexts. Bacterial cellulose, on the other hand, grows in a much purer and finer form. Treatment usually consists only of heating with aqueous NaOH. </p>
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<h3>Our Plan</h3>
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<p>This summer, we aim to optimize cellulose production in bacteria, particularly <i>Gluconacetobacter xylinum</i> (previously known as <i>Acetobacter xylinum</i>), a highly-studied native producer of cellulose, and in our very own research-friendly <i>E. coli</i>. This should notably improve cost-efficiency and accessibility for its many potential applications which we will also explore. </p>
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<a class="twitter-timeline" href="https://twitter.com/imperialigem" data-widget-id="491584474698620928">Tweets by @imperialigem</a>
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<h2>Get In Touch</h2>
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<p> Contact us as at <a href="mailto:imperialigem2014@gmail.com">imperialigem2014@gmail.com</a> or send us a tweet</p>
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                        <h2>Customisable Ultrafiltration Membranes from Bacterial Cellulose</h2>
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                        <h2>The Project</h2>
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                            <p>Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural biomaterial that is of interest in many fields due to its high purity compared with plant-derived cellulose. We are optimising BC biosynthesis in <em>Gluconacetobacter xylinus</em>, transferring the system to <em>E. coli</em>, and functionalising the material using proteins in order to expand its properties. </p> <p>BC has seen use in clothing and health foods, but we develop its application to the global issue of water purification. Rising demand for limited freshwater supplies will lead to more than half of the global population suffering severe water stress by 2030. Improved filtration techniques would help relieve this problem.</p><p> The porosity of BC and our synthetic attachment of contaminant-specific binding and catabolic proteins make for a flexible, modular water filter. Our manufactured biomaterial would augment water recycling and reclamation on local and industrial scales, helping to alleviate water stress.</p>
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                            <div class="more-box "><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Project">read more...</a>
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                                        <h2>Implementation</h2>
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                                        <h3>Our final idea</h3>
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                                        <div class="more-box"><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Implementation">read more</a>
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                                        <a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Results"><h2>Main Achievements</h2></a>
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                                            <li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Functionalisation">Functionalised BC using CBD fusions</a></li>
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                                            <li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Gluconacetobacter">Created a library of <em>G. xylinus</em> parts</a></li>
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                                            <li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Parts">Created over 100 constructs</a></li>
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                                            <li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Gluconacetobacter#genome_sequencing">Sequenced two genomes</a></li>
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                                            <li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/EColi">Achieved cellulose production in <em>E.coli</em></a></li>
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                                        <h2>Water Report</h2>
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                                        <h3>The Liquid of Life</h3>
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                                        <div class="more-box"><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial/Water_Report">read more</a>
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                                    <h2>Latest Tweet</h2>
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                                    <a class="twitter-timeline" data-dnt="true" height="200" width="280" data-link-color="#fff" border-color="#fff" data-tweet-limit="1" data-chrome="transparent nofooter noheader" href="https://twitter.com/imperialigem" data-widget-id="501710215125819392">Tweets by @imperialigem</a>
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                                    <div class="more-box"><a href="http://twitter.com/imperialigem">All tweets @imperialigem</a>
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Latest revision as of 03:55, 18 October 2014

Imperial iGEM 2014

Aqualose

The Project

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural biomaterial that is of interest in many fields due to its high purity compared with plant-derived cellulose. We are optimising BC biosynthesis in Gluconacetobacter xylinus, transferring the system to E. coli, and functionalising the material using proteins in order to expand its properties.

BC has seen use in clothing and health foods, but we develop its application to the global issue of water purification. Rising demand for limited freshwater supplies will lead to more than half of the global population suffering severe water stress by 2030. Improved filtration techniques would help relieve this problem.

The porosity of BC and our synthetic attachment of contaminant-specific binding and catabolic proteins make for a flexible, modular water filter. Our manufactured biomaterial would augment water recycling and reclamation on local and industrial scales, helping to alleviate water stress.

read more...

Implementation

Our final idea

read more

Main Achievements

Water Report

The Liquid of Life

read more

Latest Tweet

All tweets @imperialigem

Retrieved from "http://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial"