Team:Bonn-Rheinbach
Simple Biometallurgy
iGEM Bonn 2021 Biolan: Using proteins to extract rare-earth elements
BioLan
Rare-earth metals (RRE) have extraordinary and unique physical properties which make them suited for a variety of purposes. Our project, BioLan, uses an exotic protein, recently characterized, by an extremophile bacteria. This protein, LanModulin (LanM) specifically binds to lanthanides and with this, we developed our project to extract these rare metals (listed below). We hope to provide another perspective and opportunity for biomining by creating a process that refines specific metals from REE-Minerals without the use of extensive energy and chemical chelators. Using a biological method we hope to create a more environmentally friendly and conscientious method for lanthanide processing. But what makes lanthanides so special?
Electronics
Lanthanides are present in everyday technology. You are all using it right now to view our Wiki. Computers, Smartphones, Tablets require lanthanides to function properly. Neodymium(Nd) helps speakers, headphones, and microphones function.
Medical
MRI scans sometimes require contrasting agents and the most common one is based on the lanthanide Gadolinium (Gd). Other medical uses enabled by lanthanides include potential new drugs and radioisotopes both for imaging and treatment.
and more
High-powered magnets from Dysprosium (Dy) or Holmium (Ho), reactor control rods made with the help of Samarium (Sa), car batteries made with the help of Lanthanum (La). There are a lot more integral uses for these metals.
What we do
Focussing more on the bio metallurgical side of things we decided to streamline the biological process of producing the protein. Using basic vectors and basic techniques for genetic engineering we successfully and quickly managed to produce LanM in large amounts from a basic bacterial chassis. From that we thoroughly started to develop a process to extract rare-earth elements from minerals that were donated to us by researchers.
Throughout our Wiki, you can discover step by step how we developed our extraction processes and how we developed our protein production and purification methods - some even taking advantage of temperature and pH resistant properties of LanM to purify it without a tag. The project subpages will take you through our whole cycle, proof-of-concept, and how our project helps contribute to future iGEM teams.
Research projects shouldn't just include a purely scientific side. Social Outreach for this project is an integral part of our team's success. Promoting science and synthetic biology was the core of our Social Outreach team’s goal this iGEM year.
From organizing an online Science Slam streamed on twitch for everyone to see to Escapes Rooms with a biology theme. For more information on the events, we did during 2021 browse through our Social Outreach subpages.
