Bronze Medal Criterion #3
Describe how and why you chose your iGEM project.
Please see the 2024 Medals Page for more information.
Our Inspirations
Bioluminescent bay, a dinoflagellate-rich sea surface, which have many tiny, microscopic critters. They emit a bluish-green neon glow whenever they are disturbed, including, for example, from a wave, boat, or kayak paddle. This sensitive activation mechanism led us to wonder if we could make a device that can react to pressure just like the Bioluminescent bay.
What Inspirations
Bioluminescent bay, a dinoflagellate-rich sea surface, which have many tiny, microscopic critters. They emit a bluish-green neon glow whenever they are disturbed, including, for example, from a wave, boat, or kayak paddle. This sensitive activation mechanism led us to wonder if we could make a device that can react to pressure just like the Bioluminescent bay.
What are we going to do
Inspired by that and by literature searching, Jilin-China is dedicated to develop a bio-analog electronic device based on a bio-pressure-sensitive material. We encapsulate engineered bacteria which are capable of producing luciferase and mechanical force potential gated channels (MscL) in a specialized matrix of sodium alginate-based hydrogels. With fluorescein in the substrate environment, the device exhibits fluoresce upon the application of pressure, which is subsequently transduced into electrical signals. Based on these mechanisms, a sensitive force-induced luminescent biomaterial was developed.
Our newly devised biomaterial can be used to simulate electronic touch screens, which have the features of sensitive and environmentally friendly, and can reduce electronic pollution, or to develop new heartbeat and blood pressure monitors for disease diagnoses that are more cost-effective and user-friendly.
References
[1] Li C, Schramma N, Wang Z, et al. Ultrasensitive and robust mechanoluminescent living composites. Sci Adv. 2023; 9(42)
[2] Maziyar Jalaal, Nico Schramma, Antoine Dode, et al. Stress-Induced Dinoflagellate Bioluminescence at the Single Cell Level. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2020; 125(2).
[3] Suárez-Delgado E, Orozco-Contreras M, Rangel-Yescas GE, et al. Activation-pathway transitions in human voltage-gated proton channels revealed by a non-canonical fluorescent amino acid. Elife. 2023; 12: e85836