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Ray Cats Proposal: Difference between revisions
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So, what sort of notice do we need to put on a nuclear waste dump to warn future generations for twelve thousand years? According to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Interference_Task_Force Wikipedia: Human Interference Task Force ]] part of the answer may be "Ray Cats". (see also [http://mentalfloss.com/article/27476/ray-cats-artificial-moons-and-atomic-priesthood-how-government-plans-protect-our Ray Cats article]) | So, what sort of notice do we need to put on a nuclear waste dump to warn future generations for twelve thousand years? According to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Interference_Task_Force Wikipedia: Human Interference Task Force ]] part of the answer may be "Ray Cats". (see also [http://mentalfloss.com/article/27476/ray-cats-artificial-moons-and-atomic-priesthood-how-government-plans-protect-our Ray Cats article]) | ||
The "Ray Cats" idea was originally written in german [[http://www.semiotik.tu-berlin.de/menue/zeitschrift_fuer_semiotik/zs-hefte/bd_6_hft_3/ | The "Ray Cats" idea was originally written in german [[http://www.semiotik.tu-berlin.de/menue/zeitschrift_fuer_semiotik/zs-hefte/bd_6_hft_3/ Lebende Detektoren und komplementäre Zeichen: Katzen, Augen und Sirenen]], but sadly I don't speak german and I haven't yet found a copy of the paper. | ||
So, "Ray Cats" should glow in response to radiation, becoming biological radiation sensors. | So, "Ray Cats" should glow in response to radiation, becoming biological radiation sensors. | ||
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(2) Since Toxplasma is likely to require a lab above BSL1 we should look at doing initial work in an alternative host, such as an E.coli K-12 strain. | (2) Since Toxplasma is likely to require a lab above BSL1 we should look at doing initial work in an alternative host, such as an E.coli K-12 strain. | ||
(3) So as a starting point we could put a radiation detecting molecule into K-12 with some output signal, such as a split-gfp reporter. | |||
(4) As a first step, we could put the split-gfp alone into a plasmid and transform that into our K-12 as a negative control (as we do not expect it to glow). Such a plasmid could be a useful general first step for other work, and may represent an improvement on previous work. It may also be covered under self-cloning exceptions. | |||
