Developed Ideas

Living/active biomaterials

Conventional materials have static bulk properties that cannot adapt to the environment changing. Hybrid materials would allow biological functionality and the variation of properties over time and space. One such implementation would build on Nature Materials 13, 515-523 (2014) and modify E.coli curli fibrils in order to create novel biomaterials. The expression of these could also be induced by external stimuli as desired. This could through producing biofilms that can coat surfaces and confer useful functions. For example the addition of non-living materials such as nanoparticles and quantum dots to confer electrical or optical properties. Possible uses include self healing materials, large scale biosensors as well as solar cells.

Bioweathering/Terraforming

The role of microorganisms in the weathering of terrestrial rocks and in the soil formation process has been shown to be significant with respect to physical processes alone. However the specific organism and method of weathering action is dependent on the terrain. This project would aim to engineer an organism that could act as an initial coloniser in a large range of environments, utilising multiple methods to breakdown rocky terrain into a soil. This would effectively kickstart succession, eventually making previously barren land usable for agriculture. This could in principle be used to increase arable land on Earth or even terraform other planets.

Thames water/wastewater treatment - microbial fuel cell

Water treatment coupled with either bioremediation, biomass growth or electricity was considered, particularly cultivating algae in waste water while producing electricity through an integrative co-culture microbial fuel cell. Algae could could be used as fuel or feedstock for farming. Another tangent from this idea was bioremediation of heavy metals using heavy metal-binding bacteria, occurring in conjunction with industrial wastewaters treatment. This would allow us to recollect and reuse these currently wasted metals (eg. platinum from electronics), perhaps for nanoparticle synthesis (Cd, Se, and Si). Maximise electron transfer at the microbe-electrode interface by using nanowires from G.sulfurreducens.

Animal free antibody generation

Forming a stable cell line (eukaryotic or prokaryotic) that can specifically and inducibly generate humanized antibodies. The benefit would be higher and purer production of antibodies, which would in turn allow antibody technology to become more affordable and ethically acceptable for animal activists. Together, these two reasons should allow for more widespread usage in research, particularly as common assays and for disease targeting.

Potsdam 2012 iGEM team have attempted a similar project using CHO (chinese hamster ovary) cells, and imitated the adaptability of the immune system that create a library of antibodies for in vivo clonal selection. They introduced a ‘Mutation Module’ consisting of the AID enzyme (Activation induced Cytidine Deaminase) that can introduce a 106 range of diversity through mutation. Then, in the ‘Selection Module’, they proposed a novel viral selection method where binding against the virus will select the appropriate antibody-matched cell, and will either promote or inhibit growth through signalling.

This idea was extended to perhaps apply a similar synthetic system for antibiotic design to address the antibiotic crisis. Delivery of an adaptable antibiotic or antibody producing biological unit into the gut or bloodstream to markedly improve our medical approach to bacterial and viral infections. We habitually only prescribe one pure form of antibiotic to patients and it is inconclusive whether this worsens the situation by directing and quickening evolution.

Programmable drug patches

Creating a dynamic, controlled, drug delivery system. inspired by the discussion of the low efficiency of the current nicotine patches used by smoking quitters. These provide a steady-state, quite low and constant nicotine supply done via skin absorption.Such a system would consist of three components: drug biosynthesis module, threshold setting module and an oscillatory release module. Such a system could be used to tackle smoking addiction but also other conditions that require an oscillatory drug supply. One example is chronic pain, where increasing tolerance and dependence can lead to serious problems. The advantage of such a system compared to a surgically implanted drug pump is that it is non-invasive and the dose cannot be modified by the patient.

Bio-electronic interfaces - protein nanowires

The advent of the personal computer made accessible the processing power and accuracy of these machines. Without these, significant advances in biology would have been delayed or unrealised due to unfeasible or lengthy data processing and rigidity in modelling capacity. Equally, if we were able to mediate direct signal or data transfer from one to the other, we would reveal wide possibilities that take the best of both worlds.

The biological unit is often better at sensing trace amounts, adapting to conditions, self-sustaining and communicating with other cells. If we could engineer an interface by which biology and computers could talk to each other, we can create bio-electronic sensors where a signal is sensed by the cell and this information is passed onto the computer. In turn, we could also better control biology by sending signals via the interface. The aim would be a quickly and easily programmable cell.

Conductive pilli are found in Geobacter and Shewellena species, and they could be arranged and engineered to be the mentioned interface, where the signal would be electrical. Potentially, this could provide a quantitative biosensor output on the computer. Some bacteria are naturally magnetic. A potential idea would be to align the poles of these bacteria directionally such that their combined magnetic force can induce an electromotive force perpendicular to their direction, according to Faraday’s Law. The idea would then be to read the strength and signal of the induced electricity.

Bacteria Breathalyser

The motivation for this idea was the Longitude Prize and it’s mission to prevent the rise of antimicrobial resistance through the development of a rapid, easy-to-use test for bacterial infections. This would allow health practitioners to use the appropriate antibiotics. Rapid specific detection of bacterial infections could be achieved through analysis of volatile organic compounds. This is already done to an extent using mass spectrometry techniques. A SynBio method would integrate the outputs of a number of biosensors in order to detect a specific strain. In order to do this the VOC profiles of specific species would first have to be identified. An alternative method of identification involves identifying unique molecules for each bacterial strain that are present in breath and using this to form a sensor. To achieve ease of use this would be incorporated into a breathalyser with some simple readout of results. One possible output would be a colour indicator for the most common infections.

Mammalian cell transformation

Mammalian genetic engineering is currently slow and expensive. This hampers research into many areas, including gene therapy, cancer research and fundamental genetics studies. Currently viral vectors and chemical/physical methods are used but these have fundamental problems. A new method that can carry larger payloads and allows easy engineering of genetic constructs is needed. We propose to develop a mammalian specific methods for transforming cells and use this to create induced pluripotent stem cells. Use as a treatment for diabetes would also be possible.

Plant Tumour transformation

Plant galls are usually seen as problematic by farmers as they direct resources away from crop plant development. This reduces yields and so affects the livelihoods of farmers.. It would be useful if these plant tumours could be used as living factories to produce high-value compounds. This would provide farmers with an additional source of income as well as meeting world demands.

Early Discarded Ideas