Difference between revisions of "Team:IIT Madras"

 
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<h2 align="center"><font size="5" color="green"><b>Simulating Evolution</b></font><br></br><font size="3" color="green">to</font></h2>
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<h2 align="center"><font size="5" color="green"><b>Tackle Antibiotic Resistance</b></font></h2>
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<h2>The Problem</h2>
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<p>Hello! We're the iGEM 2015 team from IIT Madras, India. Welcome to our wiki page. We are trying to develop a system that can tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance. Read on to learn more!</p>
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<p>Our iGEM project aims to tackle the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance by leveraging
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<br>
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the power of natural selection under selective pressure. It is known that higher exposure
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<p> Antimicrobial agents like antibiotics and other drugs have served us well for over 70 years. However, they have been used so widely and for so long that the microbes that were supposed to be killed by the antibiotics have adapted to them! Antimicrobial resistance is a serious issue today, and could grow to become even worse in the future. A WHO report in April 2014 states that:</p>
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to antibiotics leads to the resistance against that antibiotic in bacterial populations.</p>
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<p>Anti microbial peptides are small protein molecules that have been shown to have anti-microbial
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<p class="highlightBox">"this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country. Antibiotic resistance—when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work in people who need them to treat infections—is now a major threat to public health."</p>
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activity. They are also also known to exhibit lower tendency to develop antibiotic resistance.
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Recently, However, it has also been reported that a prolonged exposure to anti-microbial peptides
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could also lead to the emergence of resistance in bacteria</p>
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<p></p>
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<p>Our iGEM project aims to tackle the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance by leveraging the power of evolution and natural selection under selective pressure, and synthetic biology.
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<h2>Our Solution</h2>
 
  
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<p>Here, we come up with a solution to this problem. We will synthesize a bacterial system that:</p>
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<br>
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<li> Senses the cell density of pathogenic bacteria</li>
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<figcaption>This xkcd comic depicts the "evolution" of bacteria as observed by a Biologist <br> like in the game Pokémon.
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<li> Our system releases anti-microbial peptides which kill pathogens, when it has sensed high cell density</li>
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<a href="https://xkcd.com/1147/"> <i>Link to comic webpage</i></a></figcaption>
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<li> As the population goes down we release a peptide that neutralizes the activity of anti-microbial
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peptides, resulting into a stress free environment.The stress-free environment would be favourable to  
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the wild type compared to the mutants which have developed antibiotic resistance</li>
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<p>Consequentially this will lead to a population of predominantly wild type bacteria. Again, as the
 
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population of wild type goes up, the same cycle of steps 1-3 is repeated. After few cycles, the pathogens
 
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should be eliminated.</p>
 
  
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<p>The system we propose will use an anti microbial peptide Alyteserin, which has bactericidal
 
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effects. Alyteserin has a lethal effect on gram negative bacteria.[Ref. 2] We have designed a
 
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novel short peptide sequence(which shall be called NAly from herein). Molecular Dynamics
 
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simulations of Alyteserin and NAly have been performed under various conditions and conformations,
 
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and we have found that the two peptides interact favourably.</p>
 
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<p>The pathogen of interest, which has to be a gram negative bacterium in this case was chosen to
 
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be E.Coli. We chose E.Coli for its ease of availability in a laboratory setting, but Alyteserin
 
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is a broad antimicrobial peptide and is effective against a wide range of gram negative bacteria
 
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including E.Coli and Salmonella Typhi.</p>
 
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<p>We chose the carrier of the AMP to be Lactococcus Lactis, for several reasons. L.lactis is a
 
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gram positive bacterium. This ensures that the AMP would not have lethal effects on L. lactis
 
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itself. Also, L.lactis is a non-pathogenic bacteria, and will not elicit an inflammatory response
 
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from the human immune system. Developing the genetic circuit for timed release of AMP and its
 
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inhibitory molecule inside L.lactis will provide more scope in the future for developement of a robust
 
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drug delivery system. </p>
 
  
 
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{{Team:IIT_Madras_Footer_Final}}

Latest revision as of 22:58, 18 September 2015

Hello! We're the iGEM 2015 team from IIT Madras, India. Welcome to our wiki page. We are trying to develop a system that can tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance. Read on to learn more!


Antimicrobial agents like antibiotics and other drugs have served us well for over 70 years. However, they have been used so widely and for so long that the microbes that were supposed to be killed by the antibiotics have adapted to them! Antimicrobial resistance is a serious issue today, and could grow to become even worse in the future. A WHO report in April 2014 states that:

"this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country. Antibiotic resistance—when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work in people who need them to treat infections—is now a major threat to public health."

Our iGEM project aims to tackle the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance by leveraging the power of evolution and natural selection under selective pressure, and synthetic biology.




This xkcd comic depicts the "evolution" of bacteria as observed by a Biologist
like in the game Pokémon. Link to comic webpage

About Us

We are a team of undergraduates from the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras in iGEM 2015

Follow us on

Location

Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras Sardar Patel Road, Chennai
Pincode : 600036

Contact Us

Email: igemiitm2015@gmail.com
Tel: +04422574128