Team:KUAS Korea/Description

Description

POO-robiotics

Why is Knowing Gut Environment Important?

The environment of a gut is a promising field of study, in which it can mirror the health status of an individual.

In aspects of Obesity, recent studies found out diversity in gut flora differs between obese people and lean people. Obese people tend to have less diversity in gut bacteria and showed an increase in ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes bacteria. This ratio results in a different pattern when a specific disease occurs. Furthermore, based on the fact that lymphatic tissue in intestine holds the largest pool of immune cells in human body, gut microbiota protects the host from infection and increase the epithelial barrier. Especially in case of babies, babies who fed breast milk had more gut bacteria diversity than formula fed babies. In addition, gut microbiota shows immune-regulative role in autoimmune diseases such as EAE, inflammatory diseases such as RA(Rheumatoid Arthritis), IBD(Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and Type I diabetes. The distribution of various gut micro bacterium may also influence the brain network. Signals originated from endocrine, neurocrine, and inflammation-related ones made by the gut microbiota can affect the brain. Also in reverse, many types of research proved that brain could regulate microbial composition and function via endocrine and neural interactions. A 2011 study in mice found out the gut microbe ratio had an impact on anxiety, depression, stress and cognition ability.

With the stool showing our current health state, we could use this as a great tool to analyze our health. Our project introduces a more simple and efficient disease detector applying this significant indicator.

Using Microbe as a Disease-detecting Machine

Since gut microbe is one of the crucial indicators of health, turning it into a detecting machine would be a significant approach. Synthetic biological modification helped us to insert needed genetic circuit for the index molecule detection and signal expression.

What is Colon Cancer?

Colorectal cancer is cancer that occurs in the colon and rectum. Types of colorectal cancer include Adenocarcinomas, Carcinoid tumors, Gastrointestinal stromal tumors(GISTs), Lymphomas, and Sarcomas, but 95% of colorectal cancer is adenocarcinomas. Around 90% of colorectal cancers are diagnosed above age 50, and it is more likely to occur in people who eat a Westernized diet. According to the American Society of Cancer, in the United States in 2017, there were 95,520 people with colon cancer and 39,910 people with rectal cancer. Of these, 50,260 people, which is clearly more than a half, are expected to die. In addition, deaths related to cancer in the United States are third in women and second in men.

Heme group As a Screening Index

We chose a heme group as POO-robiotic’s screening index for a colon cancer. The primary condition for an adequate index is whether the presence of index can always ensure the positiveness of the disease.

Blood vessels in larger colorectal polyps or cancers are often fragile and easily damaged by the passage of stool. The damaged vessels usually bleed into the colon, but only rarely is there enough bleeding for blood to be seen in the stool.

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