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Team:UGA-Georgia
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[[Image:Edinburgh-MicroMaize.jpg|thumb|150px|right|A false-colour SEM of MicroMaize cells.]] | [[Image:Edinburgh-MicroMaize.jpg|thumb|150px|right|A false-colour SEM of MicroMaize cells.]] | ||
Revision as of 17:58, 30 July 2013
| You can write a background of your team here. Give us a background of your team, the members, etc. Or tell us more about something of your choosing. | |
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Tell us more about your project. Give us background. Use this as the abstract of your project. Be descriptive but concise (1-2 paragraphs) | File:UGA-Georgia team.png Your team picture |
| Team UGA-Georgia |
| Home | Team | Official Team Profile | Project | Parts Submitted to the Registry | Modeling | Notebook | Safety | Attributions |
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Welcome to the University of Georgia 2013 iGEM Team Wiki!
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Introduction: Global problems
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We have been investigating engineering bacteria to produce starch from the cellulose in waste biomass (that is agricultural waste, wood chippings, waste from paper production etc.). This starch could be:
- sold to the biofuels industry for conversion to ethanol
- used as feed for livestock
- used as a starch supplement in the human diet if needed.
This will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and free up agricultural land for the growth of food crops, ultimately putting less strain on ecosystems.
Secondary Objective: Solving vitamin A deficiency in the developing world
We have also been continuing the work of our 2007 team in engineering Escherichia coli to produce the vitamin A precursor β-carotene. Vitamin A is required for vision and a healthy immune system. 250,000-500,000 children in the developing world lose their vision each year, half of them dying within 12 months of this ([http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/vad/en/ WHO]).
Further Considerations
In the pursuit of our project, as well as the biological aspects, we:
- considered aspects of scale-up, including the ethical, legal and social implications of our potential final product, MicroMaize,
- programmed a new piece of software for use in metabolic modelling,
- developed and tested a number of new techniques to make the process of creating BioBricksTM that little bit easier,
- collaborated with the University of Guelph team, sharing carotenoid synthesis genes, flux modulators, and gram positive plasmids.
