Contribution

Introduction

The pillar of the HESTIA project’s contribution to the iGEM community and the future teams was the introduction of the genetic code for the Green Lacewing silk consensus protein domain [AS] into the iGEM biobrick registry. Other contributions such as material characterisation techniques are equally listed below.

Silk Protein Domain

The central element of our protein coating is the hydrophobic silk biofilm, consisting of a recombinant protein consensus sequence, the [AS] domain, derived from the green lacewing species Mallada signata. Silk proteins are versatile materials with a grand variety of types excelling in different functions. Our choice for the type of silk protein was both pragmatic and featured a desire to innovate. The literature affirmed the hydrophobicity and the ability to resist mechanical stress of a biofilm produced from the recombinant silk protein, yet it was never used in conjunction with another material. We developed the mSA-silk-CBD recombinant protein, to functionalise the silk proteins further by allowing binding to cellulose with the CBD and to any modular protein through the standardised biotinylation process. We are more than honoured to share this new design with the iGEM community.

Click here to read more about our parts

Compendium of Silk Proteins

Building upon the theme of silk, we collaborated with the iGEM teams of UCPH and Vienna, who were also working with silk proteins for various purposes. In order to promote the relevance of silk proteins, but to also centralise the generated data, as the three teams decided to create a shared compendium of data for the various silk proteins we were working with. Through this compendium of silk proteins, future iGEM teams will be able to have easy and comprehensive access to the various applications of silk for synthetic biology purposes.

Click here to read more about our collaboration and to see the silk compendium

Thermal Conductivity Model with COMSOL

We have created a COMSOL model of a simple 3D house to simulate the heat flow from the house to the outside for given environmental parameters and a given thickness of the insulation material. We consider our Modeling page to be an adequate guide to explain the process and to provide the equations and the assumptions we have used to create this model. With this guide, any future iGEM team working on construction or insulation materials will be able to model the heat flow of a given setup.

Click here to read more about our models

MUN Focus Group Documents

We have organised an MUN inspired focus group for our Human Practices and Education & Communications work as a method of both stakeholder consultation and science communication for iGEM. The simplified Study Guide and the Rules of Procedures reflect the decisions we made to best adapt this format for iGEM purposes, and any future iGEM team wishing to use this format can use our documentation as a source of inspiration.

Click here to read more about the MUN Focus Group

Macroporous Cellulose Aerogel Protocols

We have developed two easy-to-apply protocols for easily fabricating macroporous cellulose aerogels. With a baseline of a cellulose dissolution in a NaOH, Thiourea and water solution, the protocols explore the two ways for the drying of the gels: Critical Point Drying and Freeze Drying (Lyophilisation). Any future iGEM team interested in sustainable and biodegradable insulation, soaking tests and water/oil separation can use these protocols to produce macroporous cellulose aerogels depending on the resources at their hands.

Click here to see our protocols

Example Page for the Code

To improve the re-usability of the wiki code and structure, we wrote an example page explaining the code and certain structures. The Example Page contains both basic instructions for text editing but also the source code of certain structures, such as the Human Practices Abstract modules.

Click here for a guide of the wiki code