We repurposed fermentation for creating nutrionally enhanced food

• We created an modified strain of E. coli that produces vitamin B2 to high levels, and built a vector for allowing Lactococcus, an endogenous micro-organism of idli, to produce the vitamin as well.
• We measured the overproduction of vitamin A by an engineered strain of S. cerevisiae, and showed that this does not significantly impair its growth. We demonstrated that backslopping of engineered strains is possible.
• We re-engineered the microbiome of traditional Indian dishes, and proved that an exogenous organism with high vitamin production can be introduced in idli.
• We proved the safety of our product by proving that no micro-organism survives cooking, bringing new opportunities to the GMO debate.

We designed a truly sustainable solution

• We found effective, easily acceptable solutions for manufacturing, distribution and conservation of microbial products,
• We designed and constructed a community-centric synthetic biology framework for nutrient-producing microbes,
• We shown that our manufacturing process is accessible even to people with minimal resources,
• We designed a device to detect vitamin B12 in food that is way cheaper than its analytical chemistry counterparts

We identified the needs of the target population and provided feasible solutions

• We got promising feedback from Indian people, researchers and officials, including the former Director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and founder of IGIB,
• We successfully defended our project in front of a citizen review commitee,
• We shown that rice is often the only resource people have, so our design will be an effective solution for them, as it can be manufactured with only rice water,
• We got a lot of citizen involvement and gathered more than fifty sale promises proving the high acceptance of our product by the community.