Team:UIUC Illinois/project-overview

From 2012e.igem.org

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         <h2 class="title">Executive Summary</h2>
         <h2 class="title">Executive Summary</h2>
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         <h>The Company </h>
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         <b><h>The Company </h></b>
<p>Illinois Synth was formed in January 2012 to develop, market, and license products intended to further the progress of synthetic biology. Our founding team is comprised of nine University of Illinois undergraduate students from a variety of backgrounds including bioengineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, agricultural engineering and chemical engineering. Brought together initially by the desire to work with synthetic biology in the context of the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition, we are now in the process of commercializing our research. </p></br>
<p>Illinois Synth was formed in January 2012 to develop, market, and license products intended to further the progress of synthetic biology. Our founding team is comprised of nine University of Illinois undergraduate students from a variety of backgrounds including bioengineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, agricultural engineering and chemical engineering. Brought together initially by the desire to work with synthetic biology in the context of the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition, we are now in the process of commercializing our research. </p></br>
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<h>The Market</h>
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<b><h>The Market</h></b>
<p>Ever since the discovery of restriction enzymes in 1978, a new era of synthetic biology was ushered in, an era in which scientific discovery would meet engineering, and promised the ability to eventually control and modulate gene expression. Illinois Synth has a deep confidence not only in the growth of synthetic biology as an industry, but in the growing demand for technologies that will allow the modulation of gene expression in RNA. Such tools currently take the form of RNA recognition motifs, K Homology proteins, and CCCH Zinc Finger proteins that in many cases do not exhibit sequence specific binding, or are unable to be programmed to recognize specific, desired ssRNA sequences. With regard to the use of an in vivo enzymatic cascade to produce piceatannol, our analysis has shown that such a method would be faster, more efficient, and lower cost than chemical synthesis of the compound, which is the only current mode or production. </p></br>
<p>Ever since the discovery of restriction enzymes in 1978, a new era of synthetic biology was ushered in, an era in which scientific discovery would meet engineering, and promised the ability to eventually control and modulate gene expression. Illinois Synth has a deep confidence not only in the growth of synthetic biology as an industry, but in the growing demand for technologies that will allow the modulation of gene expression in RNA. Such tools currently take the form of RNA recognition motifs, K Homology proteins, and CCCH Zinc Finger proteins that in many cases do not exhibit sequence specific binding, or are unable to be programmed to recognize specific, desired ssRNA sequences. With regard to the use of an in vivo enzymatic cascade to produce piceatannol, our analysis has shown that such a method would be faster, more efficient, and lower cost than chemical synthesis of the compound, which is the only current mode or production. </p></br>
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</p></br>
</p></br>
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<h>The Products</h>
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<b><h>The Products</h></b>
<p>The two product lines being developed by Illinois Synth are as follows:</br>
<p>The two product lines being developed by Illinois Synth are as follows:</br>
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<h>Value Proposition </h>
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<b><h>Value Proposition </h></b>
<p>Our GEM Toolkit will provide an extremely novel, and efficient way to regulate and modulate gene expression in ssRNA. We expect such a toolkit to provide a high degree of utility to researchers interested in varying gene expression levels. Additionally, we believe IOPiC will provide a low cost, biological alternative to achieve the production of piceatannol without involving expensive chemical processes. </p>
<p>Our GEM Toolkit will provide an extremely novel, and efficient way to regulate and modulate gene expression in ssRNA. We expect such a toolkit to provide a high degree of utility to researchers interested in varying gene expression levels. Additionally, we believe IOPiC will provide a low cost, biological alternative to achieve the production of piceatannol without involving expensive chemical processes. </p>

Revision as of 16:35, 22 October 2012

Header

The Problem

YOU HAVE 960 PIXELS WIDTH TO PLAY WITH FOR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO EMBED! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas metus nulla, commodo a sodales sed, dignissim pretium nunc. Nam et lacus neque. Sed volutpat ante id mauris laoreet vestibulum. Nam blandit felis non neque cursus aliquet. Morbi vel enim dignissim massa dignissim commodo vitae quis tellus. Nunc non mollis nulla. Sed consectetur elit id mi consectetur bibendum. Ut enim massa, sodales tempor convallis et, iaculis ac massa. Etiam suscipit nisl eget lorem pellentesque quis iaculis mi mattis. Aliquam sit amet purus lectus. Maecenas tempor ornare sollicitudin.

Our Solution

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GEM Toolkit

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IOPiC

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Executive Summary

The Company

Illinois Synth was formed in January 2012 to develop, market, and license products intended to further the progress of synthetic biology. Our founding team is comprised of nine University of Illinois undergraduate students from a variety of backgrounds including bioengineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, agricultural engineering and chemical engineering. Brought together initially by the desire to work with synthetic biology in the context of the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition, we are now in the process of commercializing our research.


The Market

Ever since the discovery of restriction enzymes in 1978, a new era of synthetic biology was ushered in, an era in which scientific discovery would meet engineering, and promised the ability to eventually control and modulate gene expression. Illinois Synth has a deep confidence not only in the growth of synthetic biology as an industry, but in the growing demand for technologies that will allow the modulation of gene expression in RNA. Such tools currently take the form of RNA recognition motifs, K Homology proteins, and CCCH Zinc Finger proteins that in many cases do not exhibit sequence specific binding, or are unable to be programmed to recognize specific, desired ssRNA sequences. With regard to the use of an in vivo enzymatic cascade to produce piceatannol, our analysis has shown that such a method would be faster, more efficient, and lower cost than chemical synthesis of the compound, which is the only current mode or production.


Competitive Analysis

Our competitive analysis was broken into two components:
• Analysis of alternative RNA-binding proteins
• Analysis of alternative ways to produce piceatannol

Analysis of alternative ways to bind to RNA yielded protein domains that are not as site specific as the PUF domain (8 nucleotide sequence specificity), and/or are uncustomizable whereas PUF can be programmed to recognize a desired ssRNA sequence while being tethered to a functional domain such as an endonuclease. Chemical synthesis is the only current mode of production of piceatannol, and has proven to be expensive due to the inefficiency of the (insert) chemical process. Tocris Bioscience, in particular, has a base rate of $19/mg of piceatannol. Additionally, instead of competing directly with large pharmaceutical companies to produce piceatannol at a low cost, we intend to license our technology to companies interested in using our RNA scaffold.


The Products

The two product lines being developed by Illinois Synth are as follows:
• Gene Expression Modulator (GEM) Toolkit
• In Vivo Optimized Piceatannol Cascade (IOPiC)


Value Proposition

Our GEM Toolkit will provide an extremely novel, and efficient way to regulate and modulate gene expression in ssRNA. We expect such a toolkit to provide a high degree of utility to researchers interested in varying gene expression levels. Additionally, we believe IOPiC will provide a low cost, biological alternative to achieve the production of piceatannol without involving expensive chemical processes.

Elevator Pitch

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Slide Deck

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