IGEM:Harvard/2010/Brainstorming: Difference between revisions
From OpenWetWare
Jump to navigationJump to search
PatrickBoyle (talk | contribs) |
|||
| (6 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
Things biology is good at: parallel processing, self-regeneration & fast multiplication, communication | Things biology is good at: parallel processing, self-regeneration & fast multiplication, communication | ||
=='''Meeting 1 April 10, 2010'''== | =='''Meeting 1: April 10, 2010'''== | ||
==Food or Energy== | |||
=== Food or Energy === | |||
*Allergen free foods - custom garden toolbox; bacteria to break down lactose; lettuce allergy; cilantro; eggplant enzyme; particular plants (plants are less cmoplex to figure out) | *Allergen free foods - custom garden toolbox; bacteria to break down lactose; lettuce allergy; cilantro; eggplant enzyme; particular plants (plants are less cmoplex to figure out) | ||
| Line 20: | Line 22: | ||
*GE foods toolkit (grow your own healthy food--flavor, color, not too robust b/c it can't get out into the environment, propose that each gene is coexpressed with a different pigment so you know that it is safe). | *GE foods toolkit (grow your own healthy food--flavor, color, not too robust b/c it can't get out into the environment, propose that each gene is coexpressed with a different pigment so you know that it is safe). | ||
==Environment== | ===Environment=== | ||
*[E. Chromi] | *[E. Chromi] | ||
| Line 30: | Line 32: | ||
*Organism that breaks down [something] (for removal of unwanted waste). | *Organism that breaks down [something] (for removal of unwanted waste). | ||
==Health or Medicine== | ===Health or Medicine=== | ||
*Invasin-based tumor-seeking bacteria. (what else could invasive bacteria do?) It would be cool just to do a proof of principle in designing bacteria that exclusively invade a certain tissue type (muscle, liver, etc), dying in the absense of some signal unique to that tissue. You can imagine the usefulness for medicine - it could be a vector for hyper-specific drug delivery, or could replace a lost function in the tissue (ie, producing insulin for diabetics, etc). Even just showing that we can target a bacterium to a specific tissue exclusively (Time permitting, two or three different tissues) would be a springboard for some pretty sweet grandiose claims about future applications, a la team Cambridge last year. | *Invasin-based tumor-seeking bacteria. (what else could invasive bacteria do?) It would be cool just to do a proof of principle in designing bacteria that exclusively invade a certain tissue type (muscle, liver, etc), dying in the absense of some signal unique to that tissue. You can imagine the usefulness for medicine - it could be a vector for hyper-specific drug delivery, or could replace a lost function in the tissue (ie, producing insulin for diabetics, etc). Even just showing that we can target a bacterium to a specific tissue exclusively (Time permitting, two or three different tissues) would be a springboard for some pretty sweet grandiose claims about future applications, a la team Cambridge last year. | ||
| Line 36: | Line 38: | ||
*Bacteria for weight loss, blood diagnostics | *Bacteria for weight loss, blood diagnostics | ||
==Manufacturing== | ===Manufacturing=== | ||
*Biofilms | *Biofilms | ||
| Line 46: | Line 48: | ||
*DNA/nano assembly | *DNA/nano assembly | ||
==New Application== | ===New Application=== | ||
*Robots that can smell, eat, give off signals in response to different environmenmtal stimuli | *Robots that can smell, eat, give off signals in response to different environmenmtal stimuli | ||
| Line 59: | Line 61: | ||
**Cons of Biological systems: | **Cons of Biological systems: | ||
==Foundation Advance== | ===Foundation Advance=== | ||
*Slime molds, or other types of multicellular fungi - not sure what we'd do with them, but they've got some very cool properties (reproduction, communication, algorithms). I remember reading something about algorithms governing where hyphae grow, and how that has been linked to traffic design...I'll see if I can find it again... | *Slime molds, or other types of multicellular fungi - not sure what we'd do with them, but they've got some very cool properties (reproduction, communication, algorithms). I remember reading something about algorithms governing where hyphae grow, and how that has been linked to traffic design...I'll see if I can find it again... | ||
*Sound responsive/mechano-responsive organisms - bacteria that react in different ways in response to loud noises, or high frequencies (screaming yeast?) | *Sound responsive/mechano-responsive organisms - bacteria that react in different ways in response to loud noises, or high frequencies (screaming yeast?) | ||
==Information Processing== | ===Information Processing=== | ||
*Parallel computing/bacterial computation | *Parallel computing/bacterial computation | ||
*electronic biosensors /smelling robots | *electronic biosensors /smelling robots | ||
| Line 71: | Line 73: | ||
*yeast memory | *yeast memory | ||
==Software Tool== | ===Software Tool=== | ||
*computer aided design | *computer aided design | ||
*games | *games | ||
| Line 78: | Line 80: | ||
=='''Meeting 2: April 24, 2010'''== | =='''Meeting 2: April 24, 2010'''== | ||
Ideas: Focus on food and | '''Ideas''': Focus on food and genetic fences | ||
4 main components: Educational;Control Device--> how to tightly control RNAi; kill switch; color/flavours/scents | |||
''4 main components'': Educational;Control Device--> how to tightly control RNAi; kill switch; color/flavours/scents | |||
Allergy Foods: peanut allergies, vegetable allergies, choclate (actually that many people aren't that allergic to the actual coco plant, but to other things present in the chocolate), nut allergies | ''Allergy Foods'': peanut allergies, vegetable allergies, choclate (actually that many people aren't that allergic to the actual coco plant, but to other things present in the chocolate), nut allergies | ||
*(Minimum)Central Goal: Showing inducible production of different products in agrobacteria | ''*(Minimum)Central Goal'': Showing inducible production of different products in agrobacteria | ||
*Safety: | *''Safety'': Genetic fences, color indicator (different colors identify different genes that are expressed) | ||
*Above and Beyond: Fully-equipped tool-kit(educational component) to grow at home | *''Above and Beyond'': Fully-equipped tool-kit(educational component) to grow at home | ||
*[Next Steps]: choose what allergy(ies) to target, find the genes involved | *[http://openwetware.org/wiki/IGEM:Harvard/2010/Brainstorming/food Next-Steps]: choose what allergy(ies) to target, find the genes involved | ||
Latest revision as of 07:45, 7 May 2010
Overall Ideas
Let's use biology in ways that make sense, aka lean on the strengths of biology to accomplish tasks better than would be done through other through.
Things biology is good at: parallel processing, self-regeneration & fast multiplication, communication
Meeting 1: April 10, 2010
Food or Energy
- Allergen free foods - custom garden toolbox; bacteria to break down lactose; lettuce allergy; cilantro; eggplant enzyme; particular plants (plants are less cmoplex to figure out)
- Foods with alternate tastes (applications in diets/controlling caloric intake)
- Is taste powerful enough to make you feel "full"?
- Material conversion (to fuel)
- Inspired by the lovely aroma in the hall just now: organisms that produce cool smells...like fresh baked cookies, or flowers... Or maybe organisms that can cover up bad smells? Would work by emitting a neutralizing chemical or by absorbing the nasty one...I guess this could go in environment actually
- GE foods toolkit (grow your own healthy food--flavor, color, not too robust b/c it can't get out into the environment, propose that each gene is coexpressed with a different pigment so you know that it is safe).
Environment
- [E. Chromi]
Bacteria that absorb toxins in air (sulfur dioxide, etc) or water (?)to be used in quality testing applications
Something to detect toxin concentrations in air - wouldn't use e. coli because they need to grow in aqueous environments (or could it work through liquid/air interface or on plates?)
- Organism that breaks down [something] (for removal of unwanted waste).
Health or Medicine
- Invasin-based tumor-seeking bacteria. (what else could invasive bacteria do?) It would be cool just to do a proof of principle in designing bacteria that exclusively invade a certain tissue type (muscle, liver, etc), dying in the absense of some signal unique to that tissue. You can imagine the usefulness for medicine - it could be a vector for hyper-specific drug delivery, or could replace a lost function in the tissue (ie, producing insulin for diabetics, etc). Even just showing that we can target a bacterium to a specific tissue exclusively (Time permitting, two or three different tissues) would be a springboard for some pretty sweet grandiose claims about future applications, a la team Cambridge last year.
- Bacteria for weight loss, blood diagnostics
Manufacturing
- Biofilms
Different colors of bio-films depending on environmental stimulus (could create patterns)
- Light production (bioluminescence), organic lcd's wikipedia link
- DNA/nano assembly
New Application
- Robots that can smell, eat, give off signals in response to different environmenmtal stimuli
- All input/output based devices
- Connections between biological systems and electronic systems
- Pros of electronic systems:
- Cons of electronic systems:
- Pros of Biological systems:
- massive parallel computation possible
- Cons of Biological systems:
Foundation Advance
- Slime molds, or other types of multicellular fungi - not sure what we'd do with them, but they've got some very cool properties (reproduction, communication, algorithms). I remember reading something about algorithms governing where hyphae grow, and how that has been linked to traffic design...I'll see if I can find it again...
- Sound responsive/mechano-responsive organisms - bacteria that react in different ways in response to loud noises, or high frequencies (screaming yeast?)
Information Processing
- Parallel computing/bacterial computation
- electronic biosensors /smelling robots
- ccds
- code breaking
- yeast memory
Software Tool
- computer aided design
- games
- automation
Meeting 2: April 24, 2010
Ideas: Focus on food and genetic fences
4 main components: Educational;Control Device--> how to tightly control RNAi; kill switch; color/flavours/scents
Allergy Foods: peanut allergies, vegetable allergies, choclate (actually that many people aren't that allergic to the actual coco plant, but to other things present in the chocolate), nut allergies
*(Minimum)Central Goal: Showing inducible production of different products in agrobacteria
- Safety: Genetic fences, color indicator (different colors identify different genes that are expressed)
- Above and Beyond: Fully-equipped tool-kit(educational component) to grow at home
- Next-Steps: choose what allergy(ies) to target, find the genes involved
