2. iGEM 2013 Jamboree
What is iGEM?
iGEM (International Genetically Engineered
Machine) is a synthetic biology competition for
third level students. The iGEM competition
began in 2004 and has grown exponentially with
over 245 participating universities from across
the globe. iGEM involves teams of
undergraduate students undertaking research
projects in the area of synthetic biology over the
summer months. The teams then present their
work at the iGEM Jamboree and compete for
prizes in a variety of categories. This year’s
iGEM Jamboree is being held in Boston at the
Hynes Convention Center in November and is
expected to attract more than 2500 participants. It
is being billed as “the largest single event in the
history of iGEM and synthetic biology”, and this
year UCC will be entering the competition with
Ireland’s first ever team.
3. Russell working in the lab
Our Projects
Operation Hagfish:
Create cell “factories” that mass-produce a
biopolymer that is found naturally in the slime of
the hagfish. The exciting properties of this
biopolymer indicate that it will have many
potential applications in the food, medical
devices, and textile industries.
Biagnostics:
Development of a novel method for DNA-based
diagnostics using bacterial detection of target
DNA sequences from two different strains of the
Human Papillomavirus. We foresee applications
for this in healthcare settings in resource-poor,
developing countries.
4. Filaments and threads produced by our team from natural hagfish slime; Top, Left to Right: Natural Hagfish Slime; Filaments imaged at
20x and 100X magnification by UV microscopy; Bottom, Left to Right: Filaments imaged by atomic force microscopy; scanning electron
microscopy; a thread generated from hagfish slime
Operation Hagfish
Our first project involves the production of a new
polymer using filaments made naturally by the
hagfish.
The hagfish is a fish which lives at the bottom of
the ocean, and when agitated produces copious
amounts of slime to clog the gills of predators.
What’s interesting is that within the slime there are
long filaments, which have fascinating properties.
These filaments are 100x thinner than a human hair
and stronger than nylon, steel and possibly Kevlar.
The hagfish cannot be farmed, and we proposed to
synthesize the filament in bacteria to create this
biological material. This material will be
lightweight, strong and completely biodegradable.
We are currently inserting the DNA sequence into
a plasmid and for the proteins to be expressed in
E.coli. Since the filament is made of two proteins
we will be looking at various methods of obtaining
the final filament- ideally they will be co-
expressed, and we will be able to secrete it using a
secretory pathway.
We have acquired samples of the hagfish slime and
extracted the protein from it. So far we have
produced threads and films from the natural slime.
A suite of tests including, scanning electron
microscopy, powder x-ray diffraction, atomic force
microscopy, water contact angle tests were
completed in order to characterise the physical
characteristics of the protein at a molecular level.
5. Left: Cian, Leanne, Gavin, Ian and Timothy in the lab; Top-Middle: Colonies
Top-Right: Agarose Gel-loading; Bottom-Right: Dan and Ian on the board
Biagnostics
Our second project involves the production of a
DNA detector using a modified DNA plasmid.
Molecular diagnostics is a growing area of
diagnostics and analysing genetic material has now
become the norm for disease diagnosis and
treatment. Genetic abnormalities, cancer diagnosis
and detection of viral infections all rely on these new
methods of analysis as they are accurate, highly
reliable and reveal more information than traditional
tests.
Using genetically modified organisms to detect a
specific sequence of DNA overcomes many
obstacles in molecular biology. Firstly, no expensive
equipment is required. With just a few reagents and
the time it takes to grow cells overnight, a result can
be achieved. This avoids costly machines and
expensive chemicals required in current methods. In
addition, no special training is required to carry out
this test.
Where could we see Biagnostics? Applications
include, on the farm to test animal infections, GP
office to reduce time for tests and in medical
laboratories as a low cost diagnostic solution.
The model of our DNA detector is currently in the
design phase. Construction of our plasmid probe is
underway. The first DNA sequence to be detected
will belong to HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) 16,
which causes the majority of cervical cancer cases
worldwide. Screening for HPV infection, although
commonplace in Ireland, is not often carried out in
under-resourced countries where the infection is
most prevelant. Biagnostics HPV-16 detector could
be a solution to these populations as it is simple,
cheap and requires no specialist equipment.
The most exciting feature of Biagnostics is its ability
to be customised. Our DNA detector could easily be
modified to detect virtually any DNA sequence,
making it’s applications in diagnosis endless!
6. Our Team
Russell Banta
3rd Year
Chemistry
Cian Scannell
2nd Year
Mathematics
Cian O' Donnell
1st Year
Biochemistry
Patrick Xie
4th Year
Engineering
Shama Chilakwad
3rd Year
Genetics
Timothy O' Flynn
3rd Year
Genetics
Leanne O’ Sullivan
2nd Year
Biomed
Dan Collins
3rd Year
Genetics
Gavin King
3rd Year
Biochemistry
Ian McDermott
3rd Year
Biochemistry
Academic Mentors
Dr. Paul Young
Biochemistry & Cell Biology,
UCC
Prof. Tommie
McCarthy
Biochemistry & Cell Biology,
UCC
7. iGEM 2013 Teams from around the World
How can you help?
By being our sponsors! We have already raised €27,000 of our €50,000 target. The remaining €23,000 will go
towards attending the Jamboree held in M.I.T. We will be representing Ireland in the single largest synthetic
biology event.
Sponsorship level €10,000 €5,000 €2,000 €1,000
Logo on T-shirt ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Logo on banner ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Logo on iGEM wiki ✓ ✓ ✓
Main Logo on back of T-shirt ✓
Media coverage (Facebook, Twitter, Papers) ✓ ✓
Main logo on front of T-shirt ✓
Mentioned at the Boston Jamboree Presentation ✓
