In recent years, statistics have shown a surge in the prevalence of high cholesterol, so we have developed a healthy and harmless engineered probiotic powder that targets the breakdown of cholesterol in food and produces low cholesterol food without altering the taste of the food. Our core concept is to advocate a drug-free form of diet for people with high cholesterol so that a wider group of people can eat healthily, and in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In food, the T7 promoter expresses a large number of transport enzymes, which transport cholesterol in food, and then cholesterol transport proteins can introduce cholesterol into the engineered bacteria. Oleic acid added from the outside can activate the oleic acid promoter, thereby initiating subsequent gene expression. The acyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) encoded by the ACS gene participates in the fatty acid acylation reaction during the anaerobic cholesterol degradation process, thereby promoting the anaerobic cholesterol degradation process. The ismA gene functions to convert cholesterol into fecal sterol, which the body cannot absorb. The GalU gene can increase the amount of EPS, an extracellular polysaccharide, in E. coli Rosetta. EPS can enhance the adsorption of cholesterol by E. coli, adsorb cholesterol to the surrounding E. coli, and reduce the cholesterol content in food. Therefore, through the above three genes, the cholesterol content in food can be effectively reduced.
Please see our project description for details：
https://2023.igem.wiki/thinker-shanghai/description

We conducted a detailed investigation into the current phenomenon of high cholesterol. After reviewing the data, we found that the phenomenon of high cholesterol is extremely serious in China. Then we investigated the main distribution of people with high cholesterol. Through our simultaneous offline and online surveys, We found that the phenomenon of high cholesterol has a general trend. Then we investigated people's demand for low-cholesterol foods and found that everyone's demand is still quite high, and the results of the questionnaire showed that people still quite recognized the country's legal genetically modified technology.
Details are shown in our business plan

We took our project to participate in an entrepreneurial competition. During the entrepreneurial competition, we continued to improve our business plan, and the laboratory was also simultaneously advancing product development. During the competition, our business continued to advance and was recognized by the teacher. At the same time, with our continuous efforts, we got in touch with the CEO of a hot pot company and successfully signed a letter of intent. We also expressed that we will continue to pay attention to our progress in the future.

We originally planned to make probiotic powder that can be put into the body to directly deal with high cholesterol in the body. However, after we checked the legal regulations in China, we found that genetically modified technology cannot be directly applied to the human body, so we changed our thinking and switched to Our idea for in vitro bacterial powder is to add it directly to food in the form of additives to reduce the cholesterol content in food. Our idea has also been confirmed by experts and laboratories.