Description
Over 2 billion people worldwide in both MEDCs and LEDCs are affected by anaemia; mainly infants and pregnant women. Iron deficiency symptoms include lethargy, heart conditions, pale skin, reduced cognitive ability and even death. Additionally, many countries give out iron tablets prophylactically to pregnant women and children, whether they are anaemic or not (because anaemia is such an issue). Side effects of overdoses of iron are similarly harmful so to be able to home-test and know that iron supplements are not required would be extremely beneficial.
Our iGEM project is to create a home testing kit for detecting iron levels iron in saliva, to warn people with abnormal concentrations of this essential mineral. The kits will be in the form of slips of paper, which are cell-free systems. These include all the necessary cellular components in cell-free extracts and our genetic construct which are embedded into the paper and freeze dried. They are easily stored and distributed at a stable room temperature and when necessary can be activated by rehydration. The current method for measuring iron is a full blood count which is expensive, time consuming and often not available in less economically developed countries. Our test will be cheap and easy to use, making it a more efficient method of testing for iron.