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Team:INSA Toulouse/contenu/lab practice/notebook/calendar/getting started
From 2013.igem.org
Calendar
Getting started
September 2012 - December 2012:
- Team selection by Gilles Truan.
IGEM explanation, purpose definition, funding scheme.
Brainstorming period, all ideas were welcomed!
Once a week a meeting to discuss the new ideas and present different publications or iGEM projects.
Among the different ideas we had, some were studied with greater attention, carrying out bibliographical studies to evaluate the feasibility of the project.
Following is a list of the projects at the end of December:
- A biological calculator: the idea is to associate different logic gates in order to construct an organism able to perform mathematical operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
- A biological clock: the idea is to associate an oscillator and a counter to enable the cells to measure time.
- A De novo protein synthesis bacteria: the idea is to construct an organism capable of creating protein with no genetic material.
- A chameleon bacterium: the idea is to design a bacterium able to detect the color of the support and to product pigment of the same color, like a real chameleon.
- A happy bacteria: the idea is here to design an organism able to detect and regulate the level of serotonin, an hormone regulating well-being and happiness in humans.
- A anti cholesterol bacteria: here the idea is to detect and degrade cholesterol LDL in blood.
January 2013 – May 2013:
- After lengthy discussions, the team agreed on the fact that the implementation of a regulatory system was at the basis of most of our ideas. We therefore eliminated some ideas like the biological clock and the chameleon bacterium.
During the month of April, we decided to leave the project concerning a bacteria able to regulate serotonin and cholesterol. Our knowledge in medicine was too low to be aware of the consequences that such organism could have.
The biological calculator came naturally as the most original idea even if some iGEM teams had had already tried to build this calculator! We first wanted to create a decimal calculator but, we had to face different issues: how to create the carry? And how to make a system sensitive enough to be precise? We then switched to a binary calculator. Bibliographical studies then focused on biological gates. E. calculus was almost born!
Sponsoring search. Our iGEM budget was estimated around 60 k€ (80k$)!!
