Team:USAFA/Engineering
Engineering Success
The USAFA iGEM team has worked diligently to achieve engineering success through the engineering design cycle in and out of the lab. Our efforts were inspired by the immense research the team has done on PFAS, to include its prevalence at many military bases and its hazards on human health. In fact, these military installations, including one local to USAFA, have run into the issue of costly and tedious methods to detect and degrade PFAS. The USAFA iGEM team imagined the immense benefits that would arise if they could generate a biologically synthetic solution, mitigating the prevalence of PFAS while cultivating a safer environment. Once the goal was set, the USAFA iGEM team has designed various experiments in search of potential methods of detection and degradation. These include observation of various dehalogenases, soil isolates, fungus isolates, winogradsky columns, and RFP detection methods, all of which served as potential solutions towards PFAS detection and degradation. We built each experiment by utilizing well-known techniques (plate streaking, microscopy and staining, fluoride ion probe, gel electrophoresis, etc.) and referencing scientific literature in order to test the intended goals for each observation source. WIth access to a laboratory, the USAFA iGEM team was able to test each experiment with its controls and various treatments to determine functionality and applicability to the project goals. Throughout the procedures, the team encountered numerous trial and error in which reiterations or revisions to tests were made in order to achieve the most reliant and relevant results. Overall, the team learned about various methods that can be used as approaches to the same goal, while also obtaining data that closely supports that the detection and degradation of PFAS is possible through these methods. Although the USAFA iGEM team’s results were not fully conclusive, the team plans to continue to conduct research and modify experimentation to seek solutions to the detection and degradation of PFAS.
Associated Parts
| Part | Usage | Purpose | Creation |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeHa1.2.0 | PFOA/S destruction | Express Dehalogenase 1 variant 2 | DeHa1 in a T7 expression block with flanking Biobrick prefix and suffix as well as VF2/VR sites |
| DeHa1.2.HisN | PFOA/S Destruction | Express Dehalogenase 1 with N terminal His tag | DeHa1 in a T7 expression block with flanking Biobrick prefix and suffix as well as VF2/VR sites |
| DeHa1.2.HisCl | PFOA/S destruction | Express Dehalogenase 1 with C terminal His tag | DeHa1 in a T& expression block with flanking Biobrick prefix and suffix as well as VF2/VR sites |