Difference between revisions of "Team:BGIC-Union"

DESCRIPTION

Cancer is one of the most deadly diseases in the world. Cancer accounts for more than 8.8 million deaths in 2015. Lung cancer, one of the top five cancers, took away 1.69 million lives in 2015. Although medicine and cancer treatments have been highly developed overtime, it is still difficult to diagnose and cure lung cancer in its early stage, particularly for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Our main task is to construct a test paper that contains a powerful biosensor capable of detecting any DNA sequence. The biosensor, which is composed by dcas9 and T7 polymerase coupled system, can act like a smart automatic switch. When the test paper detects a particular DNA sequence, it then releases a visible signal. For diagnosing NSCLC cancer, we will use our biosensor to detect the fusion gene EML4-ALK, which is thought to have huge connections with lung cancer. The formation of this protein has to do with the alteration that occurred in the chromosomes. The alteration means one small piece of chromosome mysteriously going to the tail of another chromosome. If we are able to use our dcas9 and T7 polymerase coupled system to find EML4-ALK effectively and identify it at an early stage, then we will be creating a faster and safer cancer diagnostic process and immensely help people in pain with NSCLC cancer or even other types of cancers.