Team:GreatBay United/Background
Background
This project draws inspiration from the importance of bacterial endotoxin detection and limulus reagent, and plans to develop a brand-new efficient and accurate bacterial endotoxin detection method to meet the market demand for bacterial endotoxin detection.
Bacterial Endotoxins
At present, bacterial endotoxin infection has become a major problem in the medical industry. The main chemical component of bacterial endotoxin is lipopolysaccharide. The harmfulness of gram-negative bacterial infection mainly comes from the endotoxin released by it. After bacterial endotoxin enters the body, it can successively induce the production and release of inflammatory mediators such as cytokines and adhesion molecules, causing damage to endothelial cells and changes in barrier function, leading to systemic inflammatory response syndrome and sepsis. Severe cases can lead to hypotension, toxic shock, meningitis, diffuse intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multiple organ failure (MOF), and even death.
Limulus Amebocyte Lysate
Now there is an efficient and convenient way to detect the presence of bacterial endotoxins - LAL (horseshoe crab reagent detection). From the moment it was discovered, horseshoe crab reagent has been widely used in various fields where bacteria may need to be detected. The demand for horseshoe crab reagents has been increasing over time. Every drug licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must be tested for LAL. Horseshoe crab reagent is extracted from the blood of horseshoe crab, and the increase in the demand for horseshoe crab reagent undoubtedly means that the demand for horseshoe crab blood increases. Therefore, horseshoe crab blood plays a pivotal role in the modern biological industry. Its value will be irreplaceable for a period of time. Once horseshoe crab disappears, it will have a huge impact on the modern biological-related industry.
Situation of Horseshoe crab
Unfortunately, the survival situation of the existing horseshoe crab is not good. On the one hand, environmental pollution problems have led to fewer and fewer viable environments for horseshoe crab. On the other hand, even though horseshoe crab has become a protected animal, people still hunt it illegally, and the demand for horseshoe crab reagents has only increased. In order to meet the domestic market demand, about 10 million horseshoe crabs need to be produced every year. Based on this demand, China consumes 100,000 pairs of horseshoe crabs per year. In the United States, although horseshoe crabs used for biomedical purposes will eventually be shipped back to the sea, they may still face death after being sent back. It is estimated that 50,000 horseshoe crabs die every year after being transported back to the beach.
Other solution?
In sharp contrast to the widespread concern of the problem and the huge demand for testing is the lack of related testing technologies. At present, the scientific community's understanding of how to artificially duplicate Limulus blood to detect bacterial endotoxin is not yet complete. Although there are relatively perfect Limulus reagent substitutes on the market, the current bacterial endotoxin detection methods such as the recombinant c factor method all require an incubation time in hours and are not yet mature, which poses a threat to drug safety and requires a long testing time. At the same time, recombinant c factor reagents rely on specific temperature preservation and need to be operated in the laboratory, which is limited by the use of the site. If we can develop efficient, fast, and accurate artificial Limulus reagents to make up for the technical gap in the bacterial endotoxin detection industry, it can not only reduce the probability of people dying from bacterial endotoxin infection but also provide a simple and quantitative verification method for subsequent endotoxin treatment. It also saves the future of an endangered species and has far-reaching significance.
