Collaborations

If you would like to collaborate just contact us via Twitter @imperialigem

Helpers at SB6

The BioBricks Foundation Synthetic Biology Conference Series (SBx.0 Conference) is the world’s foremost professional meeting in the field of synthetic biology. The BioBricks Foundation is the proud organizer of the conference series and this year Imperial had the honour of hosting the conference. SB6 ran 9th-11th July 2013. We were helpers at the conference, working behind the scenes to help delegates and in collaboration with the event organisers we ensured everything ran smoothly.

We were also lucky enough to see some great talks, and enjoyed networking amongst the synbio community! The buzz of SB6.0 gave us a boost and the inspiration for our iGEM project.

Presented at the YSB1.0 meeting

We presented at the very first Young Synthetic Biologists meeting at the Wellcome Trust. YSB1.0 was designed as an extension of the UK iGEM team meetup that has been organised in previous years. We had a great time and loved sharing our ideas, networking and having fun with the rest of the UK iGEM community. As an additional bonus, Randy Rettberg, one of the co-founders and current president of the iGEM foundation gave us an inspirational talk.

SPS High School iGEM team

Yale: PLA-degradation

UCL:Beta-Amyloid Degradation Model

Introduction

This is another degradation model we designed to help UCL 2013 iGEM team with their Beta-Amyloid Degradation Assays. Beta-Amyloid is known as the component of Amyloids Plaque in association with Alzheimer's disease (AD), in which the target of UCL iGEM this year. Matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) was discovered to be able to degrade Beta-Amyloid that can be potentially used to cure Alzheimer's disease. The model provides information about how efficient is MMP-9 enzyme to degrade Beta-Amyloids base on the assays from UCL team.

Description

Objective

The Mathematical model is based on MATLAB extension Simbiology, it will predict how long will take to degrade a certain concentration of Beta-Amyloid by a given amount of MMP-9 enzyme. The simulation results can help UCL iGEM team to modify their assays in order to achieve better experimental results. The model can also be used to provide a preliminary prediction of degrading Amyloid Plaque in vivo.

Degradation Assays of UCL 2013 iGEM team

The details of the assays are here. There are three different substrates which are soluble aggregated β-amyloid (Aβ),aggregated β-amyloid (Aβ) fibrils 1-40 and aggregated β-amyloid (Aβ) fibrils 1-42. Here is the table that defines the initial concentrations of all substrates and the enzyme from the assays.

Species	Concentration	Units
soluble Aβ	25	uM
Aβ fibrils 1-40	200	uM
Aβ fibrils 1-42	100	uM
MMP-9	0.2	uM

Methods

The Model

Explanation

Equations

We choose simple Michalis-Menten mechanism for Beta-Amyloid degradation. The ODEs for all substrate are:

The Km values here are for each substrate correspondingly whereas Kcat values are for MMP-9 in each assay.

Assumption

Although Matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) is a well characterised enzyme, there is no clear kinetic data for degrading soluble Beta-Amyloids and its fibrils.

Results

Reference

NRP-UEA_Norwich

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		iGEMHS Team: Saint Paul's
		Presented at the Young Synthetic Biologists meeting
		We were helpers at SB6
		We transformed and sent for sequencing BioBrick parts BBa_C0061 and BBa_C0062 from our 2013 parts distribution. We were prepared to send the physical DNA to the team, however this became unnecessary since following our transformation advice the team was successful in obtaining the DNA from their own distribution.
		We contributed comments and suggestions to the teams characterisation survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M6SVLZ6
		We responded to the NRP_UEA-Norwich iGEM team request for soil samples.
		Gave B. subtilis promoter advice to the Chicago iGEM team. Our Sponsors 125px