Team:Chiba

Welcome to Chiba wiki!!

      We returned to iGem after an absence of three years. You never know how much we missed iGEM! The summer was super hot in Japan this year, but our heart are burning hot- way hotter than Japanese summer.

Abstract

       In nature, there exists a variety of magnetotactic bacteria. Interestingly, it was recently reported that non-magnetotactic cells such as yeast can be also magnetized to some extent. Encouraged by this, we set the goal to transform E. coli into those that are attracted by magnets. By magnetizing E. coli, the cell harvesting process will be much simpler and more economical than the conventional processes such as centrifugation and filtration. To this end, we are conducting three itemized projects. (1) modification of iron transportation network to import as much Fe ions as possible in E. coli, (2) sequestering/ storing iron into human ferritin, and (3) converting cytosolic space from reducing to oxidizing in order to elevate Fe(II)/ Fe(III) ratio within. Because all such manipulations significantly impact the physiology of the host cell, we are establishing the BioBrick platform that enables the temporal knockdown of multiple genes using recently control technology such as CRISPRi.

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