Difference between revisions of "Team:Harvard BioDesign"

Our team is engineering E. coli to bind to colon cancer cells through the use of their type I pili, which are hair-like appendages that have an adhesive domain. Naturally, the strains in E. coli that produce pili bind to alpha-D-mannose, which can cause urinary tract infections. However, our team is altering a non-harmful strain to produce pili using a modified Fim gene in order to localize the bacteria as a tool. For treatment of cancer, once the bacteria are localized on the cells, the next step is to make them capable of producing a concentrated toxin or to administer a therapeutic. Other potential applications for our E. coli include water pollution clean up through methods such as flocculation and targeting areas through GFP.