SynBERC:Devices/Standards

At the May 22, 2007 meeting of the SynBERC devices working group, we discussed possible standards for measurement and characterization of standard biological parts.

Here are is a summary of the results of that meeting. Please discuss these standards.

Measurement controls

In order to facilitate comparison across characterization experiments from different labs, we generated the following list of measurement controls .

1. Fluorescent calibration beads
   • This control facilitates calibration across instruments and measurement technologies
   • Exact make and model to be determined
2. Reference part: <bbpart>BBa_I7101</bbpart> in pSB1A2
   • Whenever possible this construct should be included as a reference part in experiments. Results should be reported relative to this construct.

Operating conditions

In order to introduce more uniformity across characterization experiments from different labs, we generated the following list of defined operating conditions for parts and devices.

1. Strain: DH10B or TOP10 (very similar strains)
   • This strain needs to be sequenced by the chassis thrust
2. Vector: pSB1A3-P1010
   • This is a high copy vector with ampicillin resistance. It may not be practical if load effects are an issue.
3. Growth temperature: 37°C
4. Growth media: EZ Rich Defined Medium with 4% glycerol as the carbon source
   • Commercially available from Teknova catalog # M2105 EZ Rich Defined Medium kit
   • Additional information available at Neidhardt EZ Rich Defined
5. OD600nm = 0.2
   • Need to decide what spectrophotometer to use for this measurement
6. Fluorescent protein of choice: <bbpart>BBa_E0040</bbpart>
7. Second fluorescent protein: an RFP variant to be determined
8. Flask to culture volume?

To do

1. Determine the appropriate RFP variant
2. Select fluorescent calibration beads
3. Submit pSB1A2-I7101 to the Registry (RS)
4. Select a spectrophotometer