Team:Gaston Day School

From 2014.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
Line 310: Line 310:
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
 +
            <div class="show" id="pad">
 +
<h2 id="head">School Description</h2>
 +
<p id="pad">
 +
                            There are several issues in the switch from petroleum to alternative fuels. One problem is what to do with existing wastes including leaking coal ash ponds. Another issue is the efficient production of an alcohol that is effective as a fuel, easy and inexpensive to produce, and will function within the current infrastructure. This year, we improved the sensitivity of our cadmium detector using sensitivity tuners. We are developing a strain of E. coli resistant to isobutanol and cloning GlmY, GlmZ, and IlvM which are genes involved in the isobutanol production pathway. Addition of sensitivity tuners has improved the cadmium detector approximately 4-fold, from 10mM to 2.5mM, still over the federal limit. The isobutanol resistant strain of E. coli can tolerate 3 times as much isobutanol as the original strain. Finally, we have successfully isolated the glmZ coding region and have cloned it into the BioBrick vector.
 +
                        </p>
 +
</div>
              
              
             <div class="grid-pad" align="center">There are several issues in the switch from petroleum to alternative fuels. One problem is what to do with existing wastes including leaking coal ash ponds. Another issue is the efficient production of an alcohol that is effective as a fuel, easy and inexpensive to produce, and will function within the current infrastructure. This year, we improved the sensitivity of our cadmium detector using sensitivity tuners. We are developing a strain of E. coli resistant to isobutanol and cloning GlmY, GlmZ, and IlvM which are genes involved in the isobutanol production pathway. Addition of sensitivity tuners has improved the cadmium detector approximately 4-fold, from 10mM to 2.5mM, still over the federal limit. The isobutanol resistant strain of E. coli can tolerate 3 times as much isobutanol as the original strain. Finally, we have successfully isolated the glmZ coding region and have cloned it into the BioBrick vector.<div class="col-1-1"></div></div>
             <div class="grid-pad" align="center">There are several issues in the switch from petroleum to alternative fuels. One problem is what to do with existing wastes including leaking coal ash ponds. Another issue is the efficient production of an alcohol that is effective as a fuel, easy and inexpensive to produce, and will function within the current infrastructure. This year, we improved the sensitivity of our cadmium detector using sensitivity tuners. We are developing a strain of E. coli resistant to isobutanol and cloning GlmY, GlmZ, and IlvM which are genes involved in the isobutanol production pathway. Addition of sensitivity tuners has improved the cadmium detector approximately 4-fold, from 10mM to 2.5mM, still over the federal limit. The isobutanol resistant strain of E. coli can tolerate 3 times as much isobutanol as the original strain. Finally, we have successfully isolated the glmZ coding region and have cloned it into the BioBrick vector.<div class="col-1-1"></div></div>

Revision as of 20:22, 25 September 2014

Welcome to the 2014 GDS iGEM Wiki

Founded in 1967, Gaston Day School is a non-sectarian, college preparatory institution for grades Pre-K through 12. Throughout its history, nearly 100% of Gaston Day School's classes have entered four-year colleges and universities immediately upon graduation. Located in Gastonia, North Carolina, the school serves communities in a five-county area: Gaston, Lincoln, Cleveland, Mecklenburg and York counties. Enrollment is approximately 500 students. Gaston Day School is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The school is a member of the Southern Association of Independent Schools, the National Association of Independent Schools, and the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools.The students on the team are in grade 10-12, and each has completed (or is currently in) Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry, Honors Physics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics or some combination thereof.

There are several issues in the switch from petroleum to alternative fuels. One problem is what to do with existing wastes including leaking coal ash ponds. Another issue is the efficient production of an alcohol that is effective as a fuel, easy and inexpensive to produce, and will function within the current infrastructure. This year, we improved the sensitivity of our cadmium detector using sensitivity tuners. We are developing a strain of E. coli resistant to isobutanol and cloning GlmY, GlmZ, and IlvM which are genes involved in the isobutanol production pathway. Addition of sensitivity tuners has improved the cadmium detector approximately 4-fold, from 10mM to 2.5mM, still over the federal limit. The isobutanol resistant strain of E. coli can tolerate 3 times as much isobutanol as the original strain. Finally, we have successfully isolated the glmZ coding region and have cloned it into the BioBrick vector.

There are several issues in the switch from petroleum to alternative fuels. One problem is what to do with existing wastes including leaking coal ash ponds. Another issue is the efficient production of an alcohol that is effective as a fuel, easy and inexpensive to produce, and will function within the current infrastructure. This year, we improved the sensitivity of our cadmium detector using sensitivity tuners. We are developing a strain of E. coli resistant to isobutanol and cloning GlmY, GlmZ, and IlvM which are genes involved in the isobutanol production pathway. Addition of sensitivity tuners has improved the cadmium detector approximately 4-fold, from 10mM to 2.5mM, still over the federal limit. The isobutanol resistant strain of E. coli can tolerate 3 times as much isobutanol as the original strain. Finally, we have successfully isolated the glmZ coding region and have cloned it into the BioBrick vector.

The rising cost of petroleum, coupled with the environmental concerns that go with its use, have led to a recent increase in biofuel research. With this research has come developments in using bacteria to produce biofuels such as isobutanol and ethanol. These alcohols are favored because they can easily be swapped into our current infrastructure of car and truck engines. At Gaston Day School, we have decided to launch a biofuel-focused project. To create the alcohols, we are developing alcohol-resistant strains of E. coli through artificial selection. Also, we are using PCR to amplify and ligate the genes GlmZ, GlmY, and IlmV, which are used in native alcohol production. The combination of these genes and the alcohol resistant strains are the first steps in our new biofuels project.

The surrounding areas of Duke Energy’s Buck Steam Station have unintentionally been affected with millions of tons of coal ash, containing multiple toxic chemicals including Cadmium. The release of this ash has caused the water to become a high health hazard with the potential to cause a wide range symptoms, from flu-like symptoms to kidney damage, to fragile bones and possibly death, getting progressively worse through prolonged exposure. As the danger worsens, more lives are affected. In order to minimize the damage caused by cadmium in water, whether locally or globally, our 2012 team created several heavy metal detectors, but in 2013 decided to concentrate on the cadmium detector. The detector responds to the presence of cadmium with green fluorescence. In 2013, the team worked to increase the sensitivity levels of our detector. Our detector needed to be able to respond to cadmium at low enough levels that the detection would be useful, and the presence of cadmium would not already be apparent.This year, we completed the addition of the 2007 Cambridge team's sensitivity tuners to our detector. The sensitivity tuners amplify the signal received by the detector. At the end of last year, after adding the sensitivity tuners, we began to see indications of a peak at lower levels of cadmium than we had previously thought, so to define that peak, we used test points that were closer together. We discovered a peak of fluorescence, and identified our detection points.

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