iGEM 2017
This is the first year the University of Nottingham has taken part in the iGEM competition.
The team is interdisciplinary comprising of biologists, engineers and computational scientists from around the University.
The team's project looked at transforming bacteria with a unique array of existing iGEM systems to produce a unique signal of secondary metabolites, initially using fluorescence as a proof of concept.
Eventually, using the system to produce a unique and random configuration of products, as their "key".
In order to produce this randomness, alteration of the activity/presence of promoters associated with these metabolites were applied using one of a few methods which were considered by the team.
The team worked over the summer months at the BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre (SBRC) at Nottingham with the final product being presented at the annual Giant Jamboree in Boston, USA in November 2017.
Read more about the project: KEY.COLI