Team:UC Davis

From 2009.igem.org

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varieties of
varieties of
food contain gluten. This inspired us to imagine an alternative
food contain gluten. This inspired us to imagine an alternative
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treatment base on a probiotic organism
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treatment based on a probiotic organism
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that could
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that can
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survive and take residence in the stomach where it would secrete an
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survive and take residence in the stomach, where it would secrete an
enzyme that
enzyme that
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can degrade gliadin.</big></span><big style="font-weight: bold;"><span
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will degrade gliadin.</big></span><big style="font-weight: bold;"><span
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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Then the design
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Then the design

Revision as of 21:57, 20 October 2009

Homepage_UCdavis

     

              It is estimated that about one in every 133 Americans suffer from an autoimmune disorder called Celiac Disease (14, 11). Celiac Disease is a condition where the small intestines of an affected individual cannot properly digest gliadin, a protein present in gluten. When consumed, gliadin induces immune system responses, whose side-effects are, but not limited to abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea and vomiting (14). Currently, the only accepted treatment for this disorder is adhering to a gluten-free diet (14, 12). This can be very difficult as great varieties of food contain gluten. This inspired us to imagine an alternative treatment based on a probiotic organism that can survive and take residence in the stomach, where it would secrete an enzyme that will degrade gliadin.
           Then the design elements of this organism should be able to satisfy at least two main criteria. First, it should be able to survive ONLY in the stomach and, secondly, secrete an enzyme that can degrade gliadin. We envision that these parts would not only be useful for our purpose probiotic, but could be useful to number of other projects.

           We have decided to focus our summer project on building two key elements required for our “dream bug”. Therefore, our project has been split into two tasks:
                1. Produce an inducible secretion system
                2. Construct a biological pH sensor limiting this secretion system to the stomach

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       


      UC Davis iGEM team is sponsored by:
     
Special thanks to Suzy Fenton,Wayne Fenton, Jeanne Joe-Fenton and Wayne Fenton Jr.
Also we thank Charles H. Halsted for reviewing our material regarding celiac disease.