IGEM:Caltech/2007: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Caltech_igem_2007.jpg|right|250px]]The Caltech iGEM 2007 team is composed of four undergraduates from Caltech and one undergraduate from MIT. Team members are current juniors and seniors in biology, chemistry, chemical engineering, and biological engineering. The team was advised by three graduate students and three faculty mentors. | [[Image:Caltech_igem_2007.jpg|right|250px]]The Caltech iGEM 2007 team is composed of four undergraduates from Caltech and one undergraduate from MIT. Team members are current juniors and seniors in biology, chemistry, chemical engineering, and biological engineering. The team was advised by three graduate students and three faculty mentors. | ||
Our project | Our project attacks the following problem: can we one engineer viruses to selectively kill and/or integrate into specific subpopulations of target cells, based on their RNA or protein expression profiles? This addresses an important issue in gene therapy, where viruses engineered for fine target discrimination would selectively kill only those cells over- or under-expressing specific disease or cancer associated genes. An even more ambitious goal would be to <i>rewire</i> target cells, by integrating a small gene cassette which would modify the target cell's expression profile, possibly fixing a disease state. | ||
This is clearly an ambitious goal, so we brainstormed a simple model of this problem suitable for undergraduates working over a summer. The bacteriophage λ is a classic, well studied virus capable of infecting E. coli, another classic model genetic sytem. We therefore seek to engineer a λ strain targeted to lyse specific subpopulations of ''E. coli'' based on their transcriptional profiles. Together, λ and E. coli provide a tractable genetic system for this larger problem, while hopefully providing lessons applicable to more ambitious, future projects. | |||
Briefly, our project relies on controlling key viral developmental processes in a target-cell specific manner. In our design, the engineered viruses are capable of entering all cells. The viruses are engineered to lack the native copy of a key developmental gene, while containing a second, regulated, copy which is only expressed when the virus infects specific target cells. Thus, viruses infecting non-target cells stall early in their development and are quickly destroyed by the host. Viruses infecting target cells, however, manage to express these essential genes and successfully complete their infection cycle. | Briefly, our project relies on controlling key viral developmental processes in a target-cell specific manner. In our design, the engineered viruses are capable of entering all cells. The viruses are engineered to lack the native copy of a key developmental gene, while containing a second, regulated, copy which is only expressed when the virus infects specific target cells. Thus, viruses infecting non-target cells stall early in their development and are quickly destroyed by the host. Viruses infecting target cells, however, manage to express these essential genes and successfully complete their infection cycle. |
Revision as of 12:25, 26 October 2007
The Caltech iGEM 2007 team is composed of four undergraduates from Caltech and one undergraduate from MIT. Team members are current juniors and seniors in biology, chemistry, chemical engineering, and biological engineering. The team was advised by three graduate students and three faculty mentors.
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