Download Christopher Brunson

iGEM Brainstorming




Oil spills can release up to 1.5 million tons of
crude oil into the ocean
Current efforts include use of detergents,
mechanical clean up, and organisms such as
bacteria
Some denser oils such as PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) are harder to clean up
Cost billions of dollars in damage to the
economy and to the wildlife



Engineer bacteria or yeast to clean up the oil
spill
Current microorganisms used in clean up do
not convert the crude oil to anything useful
Should engineer bacteria to convert the crude
oil into more useful alkanes, hydrogen gas, or
other petroleum derived products



Bacteria naturally produce surfactants
Find a naturally occurring gene that would
allow the bacteria to produce hydrogen gas,
natural gas, or more bio-friendly alkanes
from the oil spill
Crude oil also contains about 10% sulfur, so
bacteria that thrive on sulfur would be ideal




Hemophilia and von Willebrand’s Disease
result from imperfections in the clotting
cascade
Mutated genes that produce Factor VIII, IX,
and von Willebrand’s Factor
Heritable inability to coagulate efficiently/at
all
Patients often bleed for extended periods of
time





Current treatment consists of injections of
the relative clotting factors
Can be human, recombinant, or porcine
Patients often produce antibodies to the
porcine clotting factors
Treatment can cost hundreds of dollars a year
Anticoagulants are also a problem as they
induce continued bleeding




Engineer bacteria or yeast to produce the
relative clotting factors (VIII, IX, von
Willebrand)
Take gene from humans using colony PCR
and insert into vectors
Factors can either be produced in sizable
quantities in vitro, or bacteria can be
administered when injury occurs in vivo
If applied to the affected area, immune
markers would have to be removed from the
bacteria.