Team:SDU-Denmark/Tour60
From 2013.igem.org
The future
Through the looking-glass, and what we hope to find there
Marty McFly: “What about all that talk about screwing up future events? The space-time continuum?”
Dr. Emmett Brown: “Well, I figured, what the hell.”
We have shown that it is highly possible to make rubber by bacteria.
The stated goal of our project was to prove the concept - that it was indeed possible for E. coli produce rubber. Although not a part of the project, we have also considered the possibilities and challenges a continuation of our project would bring.
The next steps would be to optimize the bacterial rubber production. Then, if resources were available, a scale production could be tested. The bacteria would be cultivated in a big container, possibly underground to not take up arable land, and rubber synthesis would be induced. At the appropriate time - after bacteria die from rubber poisoning - rubber would be available to harvest, and the system would be ready to make a new batch.