Team:Edinburgh
Can SynBio reduce drug overdose?
Thousands die each year from drugs that are contaminated with dangerous cutting agents or other more potent drugs. In addition, there has been a rise in accidental overdoses from users not knowing the purity of the drugs they consume.
As students living in Edinburgh, a city sometimes dubbed "the drug capital of Europe", this problem is very close to our hearts. Fear of controversy and misunderstanding is no excuse for turning a blind eye to the many in dire need of help, and we believe that we possess the necessary resources, skills and desire to confront this problem in a responsible and thoughtful manner. Still, the question remains: can Synbio make a difference?
Yes. Our work has shown this is possible.
We are creating a cell-free, paper-based biosensor that can provide users with a better understanding of the composition of their drugs. Our biosensor will detect lethal contaminants and give a quantitative analysis of purity, red-lighting dangerously high purity levels and providing valuable information to users that could potentially save their lives .
Multiple tests will be integrated into one easy to use, portable and cheap biosensor. This summer we will focus on the development of three tests: Heroin Purity, PMA detection and DNP detection in Diet Pills.
