We believe our biggest contribution to the iGEM community lies in our software and hardware efforts. Our software tool, Generative Personalized Spider Silk (GPSS), not only provides non-technical users with the ability to customize spider silk protein materials to their preferences, it is also a significant tool for technical users like researchers and scientists. Our hardware, FLEXS, allows future iGEM teams, especially biomanufacturing projects, have advanced bioreactor-like capabilities in small scale cell cultures to optimize fermentation conditions.

The Generative Personalized Spider Silk (GPSS) platform significantly contributes to synthetic biology, particularly for teams and researchers focused on spider silk protein design. By enabling the generation of customizable amino acid sequences with specific mechanical properties, GPSS addresses a critical challenge in the manipulation and optimization of spider silk proteins. Its true impact lies in simplifying the sequence design process and allowing researchers to easily tailor the properties of spider silk to meet diverse application needs, significantly advancing the study and use of this unique biomaterial.

The platform's most valuable contribution is in providing a method that can be more easily approached by future teams working on spider silk-related projects. By facilitating the fine-tuning of the material's properties, GPSS accelerates the research process and enhances the potential for innovation in spider silk protein engineering. Its user-friendly interface and sequence-generation capabilities allow researchers to focus on the critical aspects of their work, offering a streamlined pathway to novel discoveries. This platform paves the way for future breakthroughs in understanding and optimizing spider silk, driving advancements in synthetic biology and biomaterial science.

To learn more, visit our software page.

In this project, we contributed a hardware design, Flexible Extension Sensor System(FLEXS), that enables future teams to perform real-time experimental parameter measurements, such as temperature and pH, using the microcontroller development board APP-All MCU 2023 sponsored by MicroChip Technology Corp. This system is particularly useful for early-stage cell cultures conducted in small-volume shake flasks, often used to cultivate microorganisms like E. coli for recombinant spider silk protein production. Traditionally, measuring parameters in shake flask cultures requires manual data collection, a labor-intensive process prone to human error, and increases the risk of contamination. This new hardware platform automates data collection and integrates sensors directly into the flask setup, streamlining the process and enabling continuous monitoring of critical parameters.

The APP-All MCU 2023 board is designed to be a flexible and multi-functional development platform, ideal for applications requiring embedded systems, such as smart home devices and industrial automation. For this project, we leveraged its adaptability by incorporating various sensors to monitor the environmental conditions of the cell cultures in real time. The data collected from these sensors is directly input into a computer for subsequent analysis, enabling researchers to visualize trends, optimize experimental conditions, and make data-driven decisions more efficiently. This automation reduces the need for constant manual oversight and minimizes contamination risks, as fewer interventions are required during the culturing process.

By simplifying the measurement process and providing a standardized approach to data collection, this system offers an efficient and user-friendly way to conduct shake flask experiments. It allows for more accurate and reproducible results, contributing to a better understanding of optimal growth conditions for the bacterial hosts. Ultimately, this hardware solution enables researchers to focus on optimizing key variables that affect the production of recombinant spider silk proteins, paving the way for more streamlined synthetic biology experiments.

To learn more, visit our hardware page.