Synthetic biology is a relatively new approach to genetic research where the focus is to build a simple genetic system with known processes and test it in a biological setting. This is in contrast to the reductionist approach where a complex pre-existing biological system is analyzed in an attempt to discover the purpose of each of the parts. In this IPRO, a very simple genetic system is being designed, built, and tested in a biological setting. Previous semesters have already accomplished such in bacteria. This semester's focus will be on building the system designed last semester and inserting it into an eukaryotic organism; the zebrafish. The main purpose of this IPRO is to advance the knowledge of biological systems and their manipulation. This is being done through the design and creation of a simple, but novel, genetic circuit, and the introduction of this circuit into an organism to observe its properties in vivo. In order to accomplish this goal, we have split up into 4 different sub-teams: Fish, Math Modeling, Futures and Design, and ConstructionDeliverables for IPRO 302: Synthetic Biology: Engineering a Novel Organism for the Spring 2007 semeste
