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Team:Todai-Tokyo
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THEME
"Prevention of lifestyle diseases using synthetic living systems"
Lifestyle diseases, diseases caused by unhealthy living habits, comprise one of the major problems in modern society, especially as they may lead to fatal heart problems or even cancer. However, preventing or curing these diseases is extremely difficult at present.
Our team, Todai-Tokyo, has been tackling treatment of lifestyle diseases such as hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, circadian rhythm dysfunction, and bad smoking habits by using synthetic living systems, utilizing their ability to incorporate complex logic functions and dispensability of external control once in operation. To do this, we aim to create the following: cells that ingest cholesterol to decrease blood cholesterol levels, healthy low calorie breads, a system in which periodic gen e expression is controlled, and bacteria that encourage smokers to quit smoking, respectively.
By applying similar synthetic biology methodologies to these, prevention of numerous lifestyle-related diseases may become reality, serving as a first step towards their eradication.
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1."Imagine there's no smoker"
A large part of the world is bitter towards the act of smoking. However, many people like smoking or cannot quit. You might be one of such person. As a solution, what if a noxious smell is emitted from your mouth if you smoke by braking the "non-smoking promise"?? Your breath will stink and all the people around you: professors, friends, family members, and even your boy/girl friend will leave you. You will have not choice but to live in isolation.... We are growing E.coli that express an enzyme that reacts to Dioxine and catalyzes the production of a smelly substance.
>>in detail
A large part of the world is bitter towards the act of smoking. However, many people like smoking or cannot quit. You might be one of such person. As a solution, what if a noxious smell is emitted from your mouth if you smoke by braking the "non-smoking promise"?? Your breath will stink and all the people around you: professors, friends, family members, and even your boy/girl friend will leave you. You will have not choice but to live in isolation.... We are growing E.coli that express an enzyme that reacts to Dioxine and catalyzes the production of a smelly substance.
>>in detail
2."DON'T BEAR OFF, EAT WHAT YOU WANT!"
Yes, everybody wants to eat what they want. Many like beaf steak, fried chicken, pork cutlets, hot dogs, hamburgers, fatty foods, and so on. One only has to imagine such foods to start drooling with saliva. However, eating too much fatty food can be dangerous for the body. It is very unhealthy. Such foods (that we like? or does the food like us? I wonder) contain a lot of LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol can be the cause of many diseases. In the end, we eat what we want! So, one of our projects will make this desire come true. We here suggest a new way to prevent one of the diseases LDL cholesterol causes. Arteriosclerosis is caused by LDL cholesterols. So, we are growing S.cerevisiae which express LDL cholesterol receptor and inhibits the absorption of LDLcholesterol in the blood vessel.
>>in detail
Yes, everybody wants to eat what they want. Many like beaf steak, fried chicken, pork cutlets, hot dogs, hamburgers, fatty foods, and so on. One only has to imagine such foods to start drooling with saliva. However, eating too much fatty food can be dangerous for the body. It is very unhealthy. Such foods (that we like? or does the food like us? I wonder) contain a lot of LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol can be the cause of many diseases. In the end, we eat what we want! So, one of our projects will make this desire come true. We here suggest a new way to prevent one of the diseases LDL cholesterol causes. Arteriosclerosis is caused by LDL cholesterols. So, we are growing S.cerevisiae which express LDL cholesterol receptor and inhibits the absorption of LDLcholesterol in the blood vessel.
>>in detail
3."Nothing's gonna stop me from sleeping!?"
You may need to get up early in the morning everyday. Perhaps you may be suffering from sleeping disorders. You sometimes oversleep and sometimes get up too early. Normal alarm clocks are, as we all know, outside of your body, so you can stop the alarm easily and then you continue with your good dreams...you may be in the middle of consuming a delicious chocolate bar or you may be in the process of winning the lottery...however, you get up only to realize that you have overslept. But what if the alarm clock was in your body? Try your luck in stopping this one! Our project is to create such a bioclock, able to be used inside the human body. We will produce E.coli that oscillates by expressing GFP cyclically. The oscillation is induced by UV light and stops at the pre-programmed time. >>in detail
You may need to get up early in the morning everyday. Perhaps you may be suffering from sleeping disorders. You sometimes oversleep and sometimes get up too early. Normal alarm clocks are, as we all know, outside of your body, so you can stop the alarm easily and then you continue with your good dreams...you may be in the middle of consuming a delicious chocolate bar or you may be in the process of winning the lottery...however, you get up only to realize that you have overslept. But what if the alarm clock was in your body? Try your luck in stopping this one! Our project is to create such a bioclock, able to be used inside the human body. We will produce E.coli that oscillates by expressing GFP cyclically. The oscillation is induced by UV light and stops at the pre-programmed time. >>in detail
4."If they have no bread,let them eat bread without sugar"
In Contrast to when Marie Antoinette said these words, the price of bread is not a major problem in the modern world. Bread can be eaten pretty much whenever people want to. Many people all over the world like bread (of course including us Japanese). However, making bread requires sugar,and sugar may cause the fearful disease "diabetes!"...So, we will be all happier if we can eat bread without the worry of diabetes. We are making food containing additional nutrition. Without adding sugar, bread becomes sweet with the help of enzymes.
>>in detail
In Contrast to when Marie Antoinette said these words, the price of bread is not a major problem in the modern world. Bread can be eaten pretty much whenever people want to. Many people all over the world like bread (of course including us Japanese). However, making bread requires sugar,and sugar may cause the fearful disease "diabetes!"...So, we will be all happier if we can eat bread without the worry of diabetes. We are making food containing additional nutrition. Without adding sugar, bread becomes sweet with the help of enzymes.
>>in detail
