Team:Calgary/Contribution
CONTRIBUTIONS
INTRODUCTION
Our project has sought to further the cause of REE recovery and the recycling of electronic wastes by taking advantage of the unique strengths of synthetic biology. We set out to build a foundation in many areas across this field, which can be built upon by others. In order to reduce the amount of unnecessary waste in landfills, spread awareness of how people can make a difference, and help others more easily follow after us, we built tools across disciplines to help. These tools range from genetic constructs, to education material, to synthetic biology software, but all share the common theme of helping others to carry on our fight against the waste and loss of REEs essential to our technological modern lives.
PARTS COLLECTION
The ever-increasing amount of e-waste and increasing demand for rare earth elements (REEs) does not seem to be a problem that is disappearing anytime soon. As such, the need for new and innovative e-waste recycling methods that involve REE recovery will continue to be needed in the future. Lanmodulin (LanM) is still a relatively novel protein for the scientific community. We aimed to make this protein more accessible for current and future iGEMmers as well as provide an REE extraction toolkit built around utilizing LanM. LanM’s unique ability to change conformations upon lanthanide-ion binding makes it a fantastic candidate for REE extraction and measurement systems. This collection consists of 26 parts in total and is split into two major subgroups: parts for REE recovery and parts for REE measurement.
The immobilization of LanM is a scarcely studied area, so we wanted to bring more awareness to it by developing constructs for LanM immobilization on cellulose. As such, the REE recovery parts provide a novel system of LanM immobilization to several different cellulose-binding domains. The immobilization of LanM is not restricted to only cellulose, but hopefully these parts will provide inspiration and building blocks for future teams who wish to pursue projects utilizing LanM. To learn more about the immobilization of LanM, check out the metal recovery subproject here.
Currently, there are no measurement systems that utilize LanM, so the measurement system parts in this collection provide a method for increasing the utility of recombinant LanM. These parts constitute three different systems: BRET, Lucifer, and Elektra, each of which provide a different way of utilizing LanM to measure REE concentration. To learn more about the measurement systems, check out the measurement subproject here.
To learn more about our parts overall, check out the parts pages here.
EDUCATIONAL TOOLS
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY LECTURES FOR HIGH SCHOOLS
In order to extend our reach to the high school demographic, we decided to host synthetic biology presentations for high school students. These presentations briefly discussed the basics of synthetic biology, alongside the ethics, safety, and current trends in synthetic biology.
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY INFO SESSION FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC
We also wanted to develop an informational resource about synthetic biology for the general public. For this, we decided that the interest levels and background knowledge of a general adult audience would best be suited to short presentations. After informally discussing with individuals unfamiliar with current synthetic biology methods and protocols, we developed two 30-minute lectures based on the high school presentation. These presentations covered the science, uses, ethics, biosafety, and history of GMOs, with particular emphasis on three interesting case studies of GMO applications. The goal of these presentations was to increase the engagement and open up an avenue of communication regarding public perception of GMOs. These informational sessions were held in collaboration with the Calgary Public Library to extend our reach to a broader audience. Our original high school presentation can be found on the Education page.
To learn more about our education tools, check out our Education page here.
SOFTWARE
With everyday rapid advances in technology, it’s amazing to see how far science has come. The usage of software tools has greatly aided scientific understanding, project design, and predicted outcomes. Still, there is always more room for improvement and new innovations. As such, this year’s team developed two software tools in order to fill the gaps in current technology.
BIRNAM WOOD
Assessing kinetic rate constant can be an important factor in characterizing a protein. Unfortunately, current methods rely primarily on laboratory-based experimentation. Birnam Wood fills this gap. By using a random forest ensemble learning method, this tool can predict kinetic rate constants for improved protein characterization. To learn more about Birnam Wood, check out this page.
EF HAND FINDER
EF Hands are structural motifs found in several proteins, often playing a critical role in binding affinity. Using the EF Hand Finder, we can predict the number of EF Hands and their location in protein sequences, streamlining our method of determining the effect of EF Hands on protein characteristics. Check out this page to learn more about the EF Hand Finder.
