SLIDE 1
NRP-UEA Norwich
SLIDE 2 Becky Spanner
Biological Sciences with a year in Industry 3rd Year
Beth Williams
Biological Sciences 3rd Year
Michael Brown
Natural Sciences 1st Year
Matt Batchelor
Molecular Biology and Genetics 3rd Year
Lucy Clark
Biochemistry 3rd Year
Shaima’a Hamarsheh
Molecular Biology and Genetics 3rd Year
Divya Thankachan
Microbiology 3rd Year
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Antibiotic resistance is a massive problem The search for new antibiotics is more important
than ever
We focused on finding novel antimycins from soil
bacteria
Despite certain challenges, we produced various
biosensors to screen soil for this group of antibiotics.
SLIDE 4
If solutions are not found,
routine operations and simple diseases could soon become deadly.
Resistance to
antibiotics is growing at an alarmingly fast rate.
SLIDE 5
Antibiotics, used as piscicides, insecticides and
fungicides.
Tailoring enzymes Anti-cancer
properties
NEMATOCIDES!?
SLIDE 6 It is the most highly expressed of the AntA
regulator genes
antGp is the specific target of the sigma factor
AntA.
SLIDE 7 neo should confer kanamycin resistance to AntA-
producing bacteria.
Test by function, not sequence. More cost effective and efficient.
SLIDE 8 Identify actinomycetes using an AntA target promoter
(antGp) to control three reporters:
- neomycin resistance gene
- RFP (red fluorescent protein)
- GUS (providing β-glucoronidase activity)
Produced and trialled where possible. Used soil samples to produce a library of actinomycete
strains, to test the biosensors.
GUS selectivity: using the blue halo
SLIDE 9 The laboratory on
floor two focused on cloning and characterising the team’s biobricks.
Three new biobricks;
biobrick from the registry, one containing the biosensor neo, and
SLIDE 10 The 3 biobricks made and characterised on Floor 2. We also designed two other biobricks that are yet to be
characterized.
SLIDE 11
SLIDE 12 Adapted the project:
- decided to use non-lethal selection reporters like
RFP and GUS
- as well as trying to optimise the neo-construct.
AntA is only produced briefly during the
lifecycle of actinomycetes.
AntA Expressed
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SLIDE 14
Large number and variety of soil samples Observe the distribution of bacteria Opportunity to test out reporter on
unknown bacteria
SLIDE 15 E.coli and other soft bugs
replicate using binary fission:
SLIDE 16
SLIDE 17 Used to test the antifungal
properties of a bacteria
Challenge the colony using a
Candida albicans overlay
Any zone of clearing around
the colony suggests the presence of an antifungal.
16S sequence successes.
Creamy substance – C.albicans
SLIDE 18 300+ Spore Stocks in our
strain library!
Bioassays demonstrating
antifungal properties
16S results showing
Streptomyces sp.
..HOMO SAPIEN DNA!?
SLIDE 19
100 Flasks 50 litres of SFM
Media
2000+ Plates!
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POTENTIAL ANTIMYCIN PRODUCERS
Laboratory Analysis
Variable Clusters
˃ New Tailoring Enzymes
Unique Natural Antimycins
LABS
Clinical Trials
Engineer synthetic antimycins/antibiotics
Sequencing
HEALTHCARE
STRAIN LIBRARY CONSTRUCTS
˃ Against C.albicans ˃ Extract Antimycin ˃ HPLC against known standards ˃ LC-MS on isolated compound ˃ Novel Antimycin?
SLIDE 21 Invaluable experience in a laboratory Brand new set of skills Taste of ‘real’ research:
- Starting something unknown
- Overcoming challenges
- Adapting the project to the needs at the time
SLIDE 22
SLIDE 23
Community building
in the city centre
We had a stall with
literature, posters and hands-on activities for all ages.
SLIDE 24 UEA’s 50th Anniversary Festival Spoke to a range of people,
from children to alumni
Making science
and research accessible to the general public
SLIDE 25
Eastern Daily Press (EDP)
article and press release
Society of General
Microbiology Podcast
Social Media Outreach Mentions on BBC
Radio 4 and BBC Radio Norfolk
SLIDE 26
Talk to local secondary school students at UEA. Students as Partners Summit at the Higher
Education Academy
Summer Student Afternoon at UEA Young Synthetic Biology Conference at
Wellcome Trust and UCL.
SLIDE 27 Our Initiatives:
Soil Collections from around the world! The Outreach Resource Library
Other Initiatives:
Bricks of Knowledge Video
Standard Protocol for iGEM Registry
SLIDE 28 To UEA for the use of
their labs and the provision of funding and expertise
To all of these companies for support, funding
and for making our project possible
To everyone who sent
us soil and was so helpful to us!
SLIDE 29 And an extra special thanks to:
- Matthew Hutchings
- Richard Bowater
- Kay Yeoman
- Ryan Seipke
- John Munnoch
- Ben Pinchbeck
For all their help and advice throughout this
project…it couldn’t have happened without them!
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