DTU iGEM team 2011 - 2

Project Description

We have investigated a novel type of RNA regulation based on the chitobiose system, where the inhibition caused by a small RNA is relieved by another small RNA called trap-RNA. We explore the possibility of using the system to uniquely target and repress any gene of interest, potentially providing unprecedented specificity and control of gene silencing. Furthermore we constructed araBAD promoters with varying promoter activities using synthetic promoter libraries.

The DTU-Denmark 2 team is designing a novel standardized assembly system, called "Plug 'n' Play with DNA", where any biological parts can be gathered without use of restriction enzymes and ligases.

Our goal is to create a new assembly standard of biological parts in the form of pre-produced PCR-products, which can be directly mixed with a vector. This will make synthetic biology faster and assembly of an expression vector possible within a few hours.

We have created a library of standardized biological parts for mammalian cells and Aspergillus nidulans ready to plug 'n' play. The simple and easy use of this new assembly system has been demonstrated by developing a reporter system for mammalian cell lines as well as for A. nidulans. This novel assembly system represents an improvement of the conventional Standard Assembly of BioBricks, which has its limits when creating eukaryotic biobricks. 

Read more about the team and the project in their wiki at the iGEM homepage.

The Team

Julie Rank
MSc Student in Biotechnology, DTU Systems Biology

Role in the team: The glue

Jaide Vold Korgaard Jensen
MSc Student in Biotechnology, DTU Systems Biology

Role in the team: Writer of to-do lists

Elisa Wangsgaard Andresen
MSc Student in Biotechnology, DTU Systems Biology

Role in the team: Wiki and fungi expert

Anne Mathilde Lund
MSc Student in Biotechnology, DTU Systems Biology

Role in the team: The designer

Maja Skovbjerg Knudsen
MSc Student in Biotechnology, DTU Systems Biology

Role in the team: The newcomer