Context & Problem

In 2014, Imperial College developed a bacterial cellulose modification system.

We have resolved several of the project’s legacy issues and introduced innovative improvements to advance their original work.

By overcoming the limitations of unmodified bacterial cellulose, our modifications have greatly enhanced the value and effectiveness of the system.

Our solution

   We have developed a modular decoupling system that enhances the binding between proteins and cellulose. It consists of a base material (BC), a scaffold (curlisfiber-spytag), and tagged proteins (spycather - protein of interest).

  This system overcomes the compatibility issues between proteins and cellulose, enabling proteins that typically don't bind with cellulose to do so.Each component can be independently upgraded in the future, providing more functional cellulose materials.

Entrepreneurship

Traditional adhesive bandages have several shortcomings, such as being non-degradable, difficult to sterilize, and slow to promote healing.

By using bacterial cellulose functionalized with antimicrobial peptides, we have developed a biodegradable bacterial cellulose adhesive bandage to effectively address these challenges.

Al Safety

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is highly regarded in synthetic biology for its potential.

However, through social experiments conducted by our team, we found that existing AI regulations are still imperfect, raising significant concerns.

To address this issue, we developed an AI safety guideline specifically for the iGEM community, ensuring a more secure and comprehensive framework.