IGEM:Stanford/2009/Meetings/6/29/09

Progress
 * Context: specific disease targeted for therapy (IBD)
 * Mechanism: designed as a therapeutic probiotic
 * Project details fleshed out at the systems, device, and parts level
 * Identification of first- and second-order problems
 * Five plasmids designed:

primers sequenced for 10 genes

specific gene sequences identified

First-order problems

Extent of imbalance between Tregs and Th17 cells in IBD Predicting the degree of change our device will enact on Th17:Treg ratio Decide on ideal chassis; current possibilities: Nissile 1917, Bactoblood, CFB
 * Systems level

Background noise disrupting functionality of Trp operon (in vivo challenge) [trp] for which the immuosuppression device must be functional Engineer protease binding space for plasmid containing IL-6/signal peptide
 * Device/Parts level

Second-order problems

An embedded off/kill mechanism Sustainability of our therapy population, esp. with regard to competition with microbiota already inhabiting the gut Determine the extent to which Berkeley’s modifications apply to our device
 * System level

Soxr protein sensitivity to NO Terminator efficiencies
 * Device/Parts level

IL-6 export and cleavage, functionality compared to hIL-6
 * Parts level

Tasks to be completed in upcoming week


 * Design a dynamic illustration of our machine, to be posted on the wiki
 * Address first-order problems
 * Organize lab space
 * Update the wiki—build infrastructure for experimental log
 * Send out sequences to be constructed