overview
Acne is one of the most common skin diseases worldwide, and current treatment methods can alleviate symptoms but still have issues such as drug resistance and side effects. We plan to use engineered bacteria patches on the skin and design a specific release and action mechanism to achieve targeted elimination of pathogenic bacteria, which can provide a safer and more effective treatment method for the world.
Provide a treatment method (in response to NO secretion antimicrobial peptide therapy)
Acne is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects hair follicles and sebaceous glands, and the levels of nitric oxide (NO) significantly increase in the inflamed areas of the skin and nearby. We plan to improve the sensitivity of NO sensors through the NO molecular mechanism. We plan to optimize the NO sensor and use T7RNAP as an amplifier to dynamically respond to changes in inflammation and automatically secrete antimicrobial peptides for treatment.
Provide a bacterial automatic cultivation machine
The machine, based on modern biotechnology and automation control concepts, can achieve real-time monitoring of cell growth during the experimental process and timely adjust the parameters required for cell culture, keeping the temperature, pH value, light intensity, and nutrient conditions within the optimal range. It solves the problems of long cell culture cycles and labor consumption in synthetic biology to a certain extent, improves the time utilization of researchers, and reduces future experimental work. The machine can also provide real-time feedback on the detected cell status to the display end and generate growth curves, providing convenience for subsequent data analysis of the project. At the same time, the machine's cloud platform can selectively share cell culture data, realizing resource sharing in the iGEM community. A data sharing platform that can run for a long time and update cell growth data regularly will contribute to the sustainable development of the iGEM community. Other teams can replicate this multifunctional microbial automatic culture machine through the experimental part numbers, installation instructions, and open-source code shared by our team. We also hope to receive more suggestions from other teams during the sharing process, and we will continuously update and improve the product based on the modification suggestions provided by other teams in the iGEM community.
Provide a platform for acne communication
The website can conduct symptom questionnaire tests, image recognition tests, and psychological impact tests, in order to provide personalized treatment recommendations to users. At the same time, users can write down their unresolved problems in the message module on the webpage, and professional doctors will provide detailed answers to relevant questions. In addition, the website will also push the latest related scientific research information and popular science articles.
Due to rules, we cannot link directly to our dermatology testing platform, but you can access it manually via this link
Provide a platform for screening antimicrobial peptides after modeling
Antimicrobial peptides are our main method for treating acne, and it is crucial to find suitable and effective antimicrobial peptides in wet laboratory experiments. This is also an urgent problem faced by all biologists. Our modeling aims to propose a multi-stage model integration pipeline (MMEP) using artificial intelligence technology, consisting of classification, sorting, and regression modules. This approach can efficiently identify antimicrobial peptides that meet our requirements while ensuring a high level of accuracy. Experimental results show that our method achieves an accuracy rate of 94.8% in identifying antimicrobial peptides and accurately predicts the corresponding minimum inhibitory concentration. To extend its benefits to a wider audience, we have developed a user-friendly website that allows biologists without programming backgrounds to quickly grasp and experience this method.
Provide a safety specification manual
The manual provides guidance for laboratory staff on safe operations, including proper use of laboratory equipment, precautions for experimental procedures, and wearing of safety protective equipment. It also helps with laboratory access management, maintenance and upkeep of laboratory equipment, and disposal of laboratory waste. By studying the manual, accidents in experiments can be prevented and damage to experimental equipment and materials can be reduced.
Host the Conference of China iGEMer Community
After the Chinese government relaxed COVID-19 policies, the iGEM team from Hainan University actively contacted the CCiC Executive Committee and promoted the complete resumption of the the Conference of China iGEMer Community offline. This conference attracted more than a thousand synthetic biology enthusiasts, and the fact proves that offline meetings can facilitate more efficient communication and cooperation compared to online meetings. We are also very grateful to nearly 100 iGEM teams in China for actively participating in this conference and presenting many high-quality insights.
