Team:TP CC-SanDiego/Mentors

From 2014hs.igem.org

{ iGEM San Diego

STATISTICS
Statistics that are quite relevant to the nature of this experiment

Toxicity of aflatoxin is 10 times that of hydrocyanic acid and 68 times of arsenic.

This disease is the third-leading cause of cancer death globally according to WHO (2008), with about 550,000–600,000 new cases each year.

This disease is the third-leading cause of cancer death globally according to WHO (2008), with about 550,000–600,000 new cases each year
ENGINEERING
E. Coli Capable of Extracelluar Secretion of Mycotoxin Detoxifying Enzymes
Microfungi that produce harmful mycotoxins flourish on improperly-stored nuts, grains, meat, and dairy. They especially thrive in developing countries, where the lack of advanced food storage and mycotoxin exposure causes 40% of the diseases. To lessen the problem, our team engineered E. coli strains using synthetic biology tools to produce chimeric mycotoxin-degrading fungal enzymes, Aflatoxin-Detoxifizyme (ADTZ) and Zearalenone Hydrolase (ZHD101), which are designed to be secreted to extra-cellular space by fusing with secretion signal peptides from alpha-amylase and beta-lactamase. In this study, we have successfully generated synthetic genetic materials to produce four chimeric mycotoxin-detoxifying enzymes. The levels of extracellular secretion is also characterized and analyzed. The project will allow a mass production of detoxification enzymes in cost effective way, preventing the squandering of harvested crops, and limiting mycotoxin-related diseases. Increased access to these proteins will have an immense commercial, industrial, agricultural, and health impact.

Team Members

Spencer Scott

Spencer is an enigmatic third year PhD student at the Hasty Lab of UCSD. When Spencer isn't making decisions unbecoming of a role model you'll find him training for triathlons or playing beach volleyball. Just kidding, you will actually find him in the Hasty Lab working on quorum sensing genetic circuits for microfluidic devices, or sitting at his computer uploading photos to Instagram updating his lab notebook. Spencer was on the 2011 Berkeley iGEM team and is happy to be back in a different role and spreading his love for Synthetic Biology.

John DeFriel

Simply put, John is the Most Interesting Man in the World. Alternatively put, he used to be a helicopter snowboarding instructor. If that hasn't convinced you, John got his BA in Rhetoric when he was 20, then lived in a truck for 2 years at the bottom of Mt. Baker where he recorded snowfall for avalanche studies while flirting with the idea of becoming a professional snowboarder. Instead, he decided getting a BS in Chemical Engineering in 3 years was a more fitting challenge. John was on the 2011 Wisconsin-Madison iGem team and remembers seeing Spencer in a checkered inspector hat and thinking "What a doofus!"

Daniel Jacobsen

As enigmatic as Spencer likes to think he is, no one is shrouded in mystery quite like Dan. This unassuming brainchild uses all his powers for good, just like his heroes Batman and Superman. And by using his powers for good, I mean he uses his photographic memory to recount every movie quote and piece of trivia of every action flick ever to liven every conversation. Say every one more time. "Every". A man of the North, Dan was born and raised in the mid-west, or the flyover states as we here in San Diego like to say. He is still adjusting to the blinding light that seems to be quite pandemic here in southern California.

Nick Csicsery

Jacy Humphries

Leo Baumgart

Garrett Graham

Chang-Ho Baek, Ph.D

Molly Holman, J.D, Ph.D

Brinn Belyea

Woo Yong Lee, Ph.D