https://video.igem.org/videos/watch/e5494c65-0d4e-4c7c-acd4-e2e854af9a79 Title: A Dual Approach to PFAS Detection: Transcriptomic and Cell-Free Biosensors for Environmental Monitoring Description: PFAS are persistent “forever chemicals” that contaminate water and soil and pose health risks. Current detection methods are costly and inaccessible, so we aim to engineer a low-cost biosensor with a visible fluorescent signal. We pursued two approaches. In the cell-based approach, we exposed E. coli BL21(DE3) to two PFOA concentrations at three time points and profiled transcriptome-wide changes. Genes including glpA, gadE, cadA, and cadB were significantly up-regulated across all six conditions, making them promoter candidates. In the cell-free approach, we mutated the maltose-binding protein to enhance FRET signals and PFAS specificity. Using LigandMPNN, AlphaFold3, Gromacs, and OpenMM, they generated and validated over 50 mutant structures. A final mutant increased docking scores by 2.7 to 3.4 kcal/mol and was analyzed with FPMOD to simulate a FRET sensor environment. The results provide promoter shortlists for cloning and validation, plus protein targets, advancing a field-deployable PFOA biosensor for testing. Wiki | Official Page Thu, 29 Oct 2026 21:21:36 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://video.igem.org https://video.igem.org/client/assets/images/icons/icon-1500x1500.png https://video.igem.org/videos/watch/e5494c65-0d4e-4c7c-acd4-e2e854af9a79 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://video.igem.org/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.