Team:MIT
B. Syruptilis :
A Probiotic Treatment for Maple Syrup Urine Disease:
Everyone constantly consumes food to obtain the nutrition we need to sustain our bodies.
For many of us, at least one of the following are staples in our diet: milk, soy, eggs, chicken, beef, fish, wheat, rice, and beans, among many other foods.
But for some people, eating any of those things would be fatal. This is due to a condition called Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD), which derives its name from the sweet-smelling urine and sweat of those who have the disease.
What is Maple Syrup Urine Disease?
Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD) is a genetic condition that prevents the body from breaking down branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs): leucine, isoleucine, and valine.
This causes a harmful buildup of BCAAs and their alpha keto acids in the bloodstream, causing poor feeding, weakness, loss of muscle tone, brain damage, and eventually death.
The current treatment involves careful dietary management, reducing the amount of BCAAs consumed while maintaining adequate nutrition. Dialysis, tube feeding, and hemofiltration are needed in severe cases.
But what if there was a way to manage MSUD without lifetime dietary management?
Could MSUD patients live their life more freely, without invasive treatments?
Introducing B. syruptilis
So what’s the deal with B. syruptilis?
Before each meal, an MSUD patient ingests a probiotic pill containing bacteria that are engineered with special BCAA-breakdown properties.
The bacteria (B. subtilis) are ingested in the form of spores, and once they reach the comfortable environment within the small intestines, they germinate into active cells.
There, they absorb BCAAs from the patient’s gut and break them down into their normal metabolites.
As a result, the patient can safely consume BCAAs without extensive dietary management and invasive treatments.
Pretty 
right?
