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Team:NTU-Singapore
From 2009.igem.org
Welcome to NTU@iGEM '09
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This is Esplanade!
Hello iGEM.
Welcome to the official Nanyang Technological University project wiki for iGEM '09.
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About our project
Atherosclerosis is a growing healthcare concern, affecting millions of people worldwide every year. Conventional medical regimens only treat the symptoms, but do not provide a means for prevention or cure! The NTU iGEM ’09 team is proud to announce that we are working on a proposed alternative treatment for this disease.
This year, we will be working on an in vivo approach to visualize and degrade atherosclerotic plaque.
Our system, pLaqUe Out!, ideally in a T-helper cell chassis, can be introduced into the bloodstream. It will be activated by a symptom that is typical of plaque buildup. Upon activation, our system will release a cholesterol degrading enzyme, a novel reporter protein and a vasodilator.
- The sensing construct triggers the system in response to falling nitric oxide concentrations.
- The cholesterol degrading enzyme breaks down the plaque.
- The reporter protein, with its unique fluorescent property, allows the plaque site to be visualized in vivo.
- Finally, the vasodilator will simultaneously dilate the blood vessels for better flow, as well as switch off the extended activity of our system.
For now, E. coli is used as a model organism to test our system.
Check out our accomplishments!
We've made three working parts! We had lots of fun doing it too!
Human Practices Advance
We will be looking into DIYbio, a branch of hobbyist biology that aims to make biotechnology open and accessible to amateur biologists!
We researched intensively on the origins and scope of DIYbio, debated its merits and demerits, conducted a public survey & interviewed the top names in DIYbio.
Read more here!
About the team
This marks the second year NTU-Singapore is taking part in this competition. The team consists of 8 undergraduates, guided by 7 instructors and 3 advisors.
See you at the Jamboree!
Our top sponsors
We would like to sincerely thank our Gold sponsors, Genentech Singapore and Johnson & Johnson Singapore for their invaluable contribution to the team!
You can see the complete list of sponsors here.
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