Partnership Summary
Micropollutants are small, harmful, and prevalent. The common usage of drugs like painkillers, anti-inflammatories and other chemicals like organic dyes leads to an increased concentration of these compounds in wastewater. In addition to medication (e.g. diclofenac), micropollutants derive from pesticides, industry chemicals and much more. To date, wastewater treatment plants cannot filter out these compounds efficiently. This causes rising concentrations of environmentally harmful substances in the waters around treatment plants, directly resulting in increased mortality of zebra mussels and acid burns on cornea of trout. As a result, many fish species have become extinct, with many more to be impacted if no intervention occurs.
But three iGEM teams are focused on solving this problem by utilizing laccases. We are from Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, and Stuttgart and all of us see these micropollutants as a huge problem impacting our planet. In this Partnership webpage you can find a comparison of our three projects and useful literature recommendations or expert excerpts from interviews we’ve conducted. We would be glad if we inspire you to improve our projects in future endeavors and help you with our advice.
To get a good entry into the field of wastewater treatment the picture explains the current steps of a typical wastewater treatment in Germany. Most of these steps are the same in different countries, which you can see in our comparison of the wastewater meetings with other countries. Just hover your mouse over each tank and discover the structure of sewage treatment plants.
Issue | Darmstadt | Kaiserslautern | Stuttgart |
---|---|---|---|
Used Enzymes | Laccase: CotA of Bacillus subtilis and CueO of Escherichia coli
Esterase: EreB of Escherichia coli |
Synthesized: Botrytis aclada laccase (BaLac) and unknown mutated marine laccase (MarLac)
Control: Trametes versicolor laccase |
Laccases of Trametes versicolor and Streptomyces cyaneus |
Model Organism | Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli |
Green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Escherichia coli as comparison |
Pichia pastoris and Escherichia coli |
Special Technique | Immobilization of the enzymes in the matrix of the Bacillus subtilis biofilm |
Laccase secretion and filtration before access to wastewater |
Immobilization of the enzymes in a silica foam |
Tested Substrates | Laccases:
ABTS, Diclofenac
EreB: Erythromycin, Azithromycin |
ABTS, Diclofenac |
ABTS, Diclofenac, Carbamazepine
|
Genetic Engineering | Construct Assembly: Gibson Assembly
Genomic Integration: Homologous Recombination |
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: MoClo
Escherichia coli: ordered/ synthesized plasmid |
1) Gibson Assembly
2) Restriction digestion |
Fun Facts | Overgrad team with 81% undergrad students |
Only team of RLP |
13 German potatoes and one Egyptian |
Partnership Timeline
What should I put in here?
Meeting No. 1 05/25/2020
Introductions between Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern, general discussion about project details and possible collaboration ideas (HPLC, Colorimetric test, exchange enzymes produced, etc).
Meeting No. 2 Confidence
Meeting between Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern to discuss questions on collaboration with iGEM Ambassador Carolina. Documentation requirements, communication and exchange of data, what qualifies as a partnership vs a collaboration.
Meeting No. 3 05/25/2020
Darmstadt and Kaiserslautern have initial meeting, introductions and learn about each other’s projects. Talk about COVID-19 hurdles, possible collaboration options, and current projects from other teams (Dusseldorf postcards, Marburg meetups, etc).
Meeting No. 4 Consistency
First meeting with all three groups, introductions and project summary, collaboration ideas, discussion of current COVID-19 hurdles and iGEM activities, also discuss livestream collaboration with all teams.
Subtitle Conversion
Darmstadt and Kaiserslautern plan their livestream (LINK), discuss logistics of the segments and technical requirements, attended multiple meetings.
Subtitle Conversion
Updated current status of lab work, exchanged programing tips, discussed wiki planning and expert interview collaborations.
Subtitle Conversion
Confirm laccase wiki idea as collaboration, discuss possible page ideas and navigation, determine which group will create wiki framework, and best ways to meet partnership criteria.
Subtitle Conversion
Discuss the laccase wiki project, determine page setup and organization, assign task responsibilities and create google docs for each corresponding page.
Subtitle Conversion
Finalized wiki homepage text, confirmed layout of wiki pages and assigned tasks for each group.
Test Conversion
Expert exchange discussion about current and upcoming interviews with experts (ie. Nordman, Schlosser, Sané), discussed questions exchanged between groups for each expert. (LINK TO EXPERTS)
Present at meeting:
Phillip (Darmstadt)
Rosi (Darmstadt)
Linda (Kaiserslautern)
Meeting No. 1 05/25/2020
Deciding on the name of the group (The Three Oxiteers!), confirmed style of methods page and organization, assigned tasks for the literature page and methods section to each group, Darmstadt will provide a preview of the site template
Meeting No. 1 05/25/2020
Deciding on the name of the group (The Three Oxiteers!), confirmed style of methods page and organization, assigned tasks for the literature page and methods section to each group, Darmstadt will provide a preview of the site template.
Meeting No. 1 05/25/2020
Reviewed the current structure of the wiki online, discussed image and chart final choices, small corrections to current texts, expert link verifications for each team and literature page.
Meeting No. 1 05/25/2020
Confirmed layout of all pages, finalize Main and Methods pages for upload and confirm grammar check, verify final plan for literature and expert page, confirm citation style.
Meeting No. 1 05/25/2020
Last meeting before wiki freeze. Discussed important aspects of our partnership page and finalized the design.