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Team:UCSF/Future Applications
From 2009.igem.org
VISION: Example of a possible application
In the previous sections we have shown you that we can steer cells to new targets, control their speed and attach a payload. Here we describe our vision of what we could do with these engineered cells in the future.
One target for our cells could be carcinoid tumors:
- these tumors are located in the gut and lungs and are often malignant
- they are small and therefore hard to find
- they secrete high levels of serotonin - a neuroactive hormone detected by Gi-coupled GPCR
Our approach could be used to engineer a cellular robot that:
- detects serotonin and can chemotax to carcinoid tumors
- delivers imaging reagents (to aid in surgical removal)
or
- delivers targeted chemotherapeutic drugs to kill tumor
