Tau Kapea once was on the way to becoming a Wallaby, now he is back in black and on the way to represent New Zealand. He could of been facing the NZ schoolboys this year but now he is one. The centre started against Fiji on the back of a massive y...

Title: Communique A generic platform for designing genes with selective activity in microbial communities

Description: Microbiomes include networks of microorganisms that share genetic information via horizontal gene transfer. Most bacteria in nature are organized in such interconnected communities; thus the ability to engineer microbiomes constitutes an important frontier for the field of synthetic biology. Effective engineering of microbiomes heavily relies on selectivity: the ability to make the desired changes (e.g. introducing new functions) to certain species but not others. Selectivity is also critical from a biosafety perspective as the introduction of genes into unwanted hosts can cause large ecological impacts. We have developed the first computational tool to selectively engineer microbiomes, along with experimental means to evaluate it. By addressing the main biophysical processes related to gene activity and expression, our software designs microbiome- specific plasmids that are expressed optimally in certain microorganisms while having impaired expression in others. Our tool can be applied to any plasmid and microbiome.

Wiki

tau phosphorylation

Title: sTAUbility - an innovative approach to increase the genetic stability of heterologous genes

Abstract: A key challenge in the field of synthetic biology is genomic instability of introduced genes. Once a gene is inserted into a host organism, it can cause an additional metabolic load, significantly reducing host fitness. Mutations that damage the introduced gene are therefore likely to be selected for, diminishing its expression. These mutations could render synthetic-biology products obsolete and require constant maintenance. We propose interlocking a target gene to the N-terminus of an essential gene in the host's genome, under the same promoter. This way, mutations on the target gene are likely to affect the expression of the essential gene, leading to mutated host mortality. We are developing a software called sTAUbility, that would match the best-fitting essential gene and linker to a given target gene, based on bioinformatic models and novel approaches for measuring stability. Furthermore, sTAUbility optimizes the combined construct for efficient gene expression and increased stability.

Wiki | Project Promotion

Abstract: With the help of Phillip, a somewhat frustrated lab worker, you will get to know the problem of genomic stability in the world of synthetic biology and how it affects the work of each of us. We provide a solution using sophisticated software that we developed based on bio-informatic tools and experimental data. Our solution will improve the stability of any given target gene over time. As we helped Phillip, we can help you!

Wiki Link: https://2020.igem.org/Team:TAU_Israel

Credits:
Script and Editing: TAU Israel Team
Animation: Ruzi Buber
English Narration: Quentin James
Music: Our Inspiring Corporate by Redafs.com, Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Other links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/igemtau/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IgemTau
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/igem_tau/
Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/igem-tau
Wix: staubility.com