Enzymatic Upcycling of PET Waste and Kitchen Waste to Supramolecular Phosphorescent Materials
"In Cinderella's story, the fairy godmother's magic had a time limit. At midnight, the fancy carriage turned back into a pumpkin. The beautiful dress became rags again. The 'midnight bell' shows us that good things don't last if they can't be sustained."
Our modern life feels like magic. With a tap on our phone, food arrives at our door. Beautiful products come in pretty packages. It feels wonderful, like Cinderella at the ball.
But the real 'midnight bell' is ringing now! When our shopping spree ends, the magic disappears. What's left is not a pumpkin. It's the mountains of trash we create every day. This is the harsh truth when the magic fades in our world.
The Weight of Reality: Our Waste Crisis
"After midnight, Cinderella didn't just face one pumpkin. She faced piles of party leftovers. This is what happens in our cities every day."
This is not magic. It won't disappear on its own. This is the real starting point for our project.
Becoming Today's Fairy Godmother: Our Sustainable Magic
Our project aims to be the real life fairy godmother. We don't face just one pumpkin. We face urgent plastic pollution and food waste problems.
Our 'magic' turns these environmental problems into valuable glowing materials.
Our Three Step "Magic" Process
Breaks down PET plastic. Turns it into PPA.
Turns food waste into β cyclodextrin.
PPA and β-CD join to make glowing materials.
We are making a sustainable 'new dress' for our city's Cinderella. One that won't disappear at midnight.
Why This "Magic" Is Great
Uses gentle enzyme reactions. No harsh chemicals needed.
Turns worthless trash into useful materials.
Uses both plastic and food waste together for the first time.
The Fairy Godmother's "Magic Book"
Every great magic needs rules. We created these rules. They are our standardized genetic parts.
These parts carry instructions to make special enzymes. Without them, microbes can't do their 'magic'.
This is like the fairy godmother's magic book. It defines what the magic can do. It's the blueprint for our miracles.
Our team has developed key functional components for an integrated bioprocessing approach that combines efficient cyclodextrin production with plastic degradation. We selected and engineered expression systems for two high-performance enzymes: β-cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (β-CGTase, BBa_25RWG8YC) for the cyclization reaction, and TurboPETase (BBa_25X9DRYP) for the degradation of PET plastic. Through plasmid construction and optimization of expression conditions, we systematically characterized the expression profiles and functional reliability of these foundational genetic parts. All validated plasmid constructs have been submitted as standardized BioBrick parts to the iGEM Registry (BBa_25UNQS1F, BBa_25GWNXEL), providing the global synthetic biology community with ready-to-use genetic tools to support subsequent strain engineering and application development.
Precise Measurement: The "Glass Slipper"
Like the prince used the glass slipper to find Cinderella, we need precise tools to measure our magic.
Our team developed a novel fluorescence method based on 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) for the highly efficient detection of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) activity. The principle of this method relies on the significant fluorescence enhancement upon the specific binding of ANS with cyclodextrins, endowing it with high sensitivity, a wide linear range, and excellent stability. It successfully overcomes the limitations of the traditional phenolphthalein method, such as pH sensitivity and poor reproducibility. Furthermore, the method demonstrates remarkable universality, enabling accurate and stable detection not only for β-cyclodextrin but also for α- and γ-cyclodextrin.
In addition, we established a cost-effective and straightforward workflow for screening and characterizing room-temperature phosphorescent materials by integrating ImageJ analysis. This approach successfully enabled the optimization of synthesis conditions for PPA-CD complexes. This combined strategy provides an accurate, reliable, and readily applicable technical solution for both enzyme activity detection and the development of phosphorescent materials.
The Ball Is Open to All: Building Inclusive Science
At the prince's ball, every young woman could enter the palace. We believe science should be open to everyone too.
Science should include everyone. Every group should have equal chances to participate. We focus on seven groups: international friends, older people, women in science, non STEM students, people with disabilities, students from poor areas, and Chinese minorities. We use the WHWR model to understand their challenges. Then we take action. We want to create a truly inclusive research environment. We hope to inspire more iGEM teams to include diversity and equality in their projects.
