BYU iGem: Genetically Engineered Wastewater Reclamation

$61
Raised of $3,600 Goal
2%
Ended on 10/20/14
Campaign Ended
  • $61
    pledged
  • 2%
    funded
  • Finished
    on 10/20/14

About This Project

While efficient, there are still many issues facing wastewater reclamation, such as antibiotics and excess nitrates. Additionally, there are bacteriophage, or viruses specific towards a particular bacterial host, killing bacteria helpful to the reclamation process. We are engineering helpful bacteria in wastewater to equip them with the tools to better address these issues.

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What is the context of this research?

Using the native sludge bacteria Nitrosospira multiformis and Nitrosomonas eutropha as chassis we inserted genes to produce erythromycin esterase B and β-lactamase to breakdown azythromycin and penicillin. We also inserted nirS, norB, norC, and nosZ from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 to convert nitrates into nitrogen gas, as well as genes to produce dispersin, amylase, and AHL-lactonase to inhibit the biofilm formation which blocks helpful bacteria from functioning fully. To increase bacteriophage resistance, prophage in the Nitrosospira and Nitrosomonas genomes were identified and used to build a guide RNA region for a Type II CRISPR system. These improvements will help reduce antibiotic resistance, increase water reclamation, prevent algal blooms, and allow more biomass to be harvested.

What is the significance of this project?

Wastewater facilities face challenges in effectively processing waste including residual antibiotics, excess nitrates, biofilm buildup and low survival rates of microbes essential to biodegradation. Our work will provide more effective solutions to handling these issues.

What are the goals of the project?

1. Improve bacteriophage resistance 1000-fold in E. coli and characterize the CRISPR system allowing for this increased resistance. This will be the first time this particular CRISPR is being characterized.
2. Introduce denitrification genes into E. coli to convert ammonia into nitrogen gas. This will allows us to remove excess nitrates from sewage effluent and prevent eutrophication.
3. Introduce genes into E. coli to degrade two of the most common classes of antibiotics found in wastewater.
4. Test efficacy of genes that degrade biofilms that we have introduced into E. coli.
5. Test genes that will eliminate our modified bacteria if they leave the wastewater (acts as a control).
6. Present our research at the international iGem jamboree!

Budget

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We are raising funds to help our whole team be able to attend the iGEM international jamboree in Boston, MA and present our research to our peers from around the world. The remainder of our funds we raise will go to allowing us to continue our research after the jamboree and test our biological machines to see how well they perform the tasks they have been engineered to address.

Meet the Team

BYU iGem
BYU iGem

Team Bio

We are a team of scientists from around the nation attending Brigham Young University. We all have aims of going into several fields, whether it be to go on to become a MD/Ph.D, a chemical engineer, continue on with research in synthetical biology, and much, much more!

This project is special to us because it gives us an opportunity to give back to the community using the research skills, along with other skills, we have each developed. As well, it has been exciting for each of us to be able to develop, plan, and carry out this project all on our own!

Lab Notes

Nothing posted yet.

Additional Information


Above is a picture of flocks of multiformis (x40 magnification), the wastewater bacteria we are cloning the genes into to improve the efficacy of the wastewater treatment process.

Above is a picture of some of our engineered E. coli that we inserted one of the biofilm degrading genes into. And on this plate was one of the colonies that we were able to successfully mutate so that a particular enzyme would no longer be able to break apart that gene!




Above is a wastewater treatment plant in Park City, UT where we learned more about the issues we are addressing and collected sewage and biofilm samples that we will be able to test our modified bacteria on.

Project Backers

  • 3Backers
  • 2%Funded
  • $61Total Donations
  • $20.33Average Donation
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