Biosafety
2021_NYCU_Taipei aimed to create a live biotherapeutic product (LBP) working in the human body. To turn this idea into practice, we put the following two aspects of biosafety into consideration, Biosafety in vivo and Biosafety in the environment.
Biosafety in vivo
To create a live biotherapeutic product (LBP), we designed an engineered E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) to achieve this goal. EcN is the most extensively studied non-pathogenic commensal E. coli strain [1], so we adapted this bacteria to make sure that our product is edible and safe.
The LBP we made secretes Nattokinase in the human intestine. Nattokinase is a safe enzyme which can break down the thrombosis in blood vessels. Though safe enough Nattokinase is, it still needs to be adjusted for fear of unexpected results. Hence, we designed an optogenetic system for precisely NK releasing and a chemical-induced kill switch system for bacteria killing.
Biosafety in the environment
Although our chemical-induced kill switch system can clean up our LBP in the human body, LBP is still possible to be released in the environment by excretion or improper drug disposal, which may lead to antibiotics resistance gene polluting the environment. Consequently, a temperature-induced kill switch is created for killing our LBP in the environment.
There are lots of functions in our EcN. However, the more gene inserted into the plasmid, the more burden the bacteria would have to carry. To solve this problem, we successfully condensed the chemical-induced and temperature-induced system into one, with lesser components but functional still. Visit our Design page to get detailed information!
Biosafety in vivo
To create a live biotherapeutic product (LBP), we designed an engineered E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) to achieve this goal. EcN is the most extensively studied non-pathogenic commensal E. coli strain [1], so we adapted this bacteria to make sure that our product is edible and safe.
The LBP we made secretes Nattokinase in the human intestine. Nattokinase is a safe enzyme which can break down the thrombosis in blood vessels. Though safe enough Nattokinase is, it still needs to be adjusted for fear of unexpected results. Hence, we designed an optogenetic system for precisely NK releasing and a chemical-induced kill switch system for bacteria killing.
Biosafety in the environment
Although our chemical-induced kill switch system can clean up our LBP in the human body, LBP is still possible to be released in the environment by excretion or improper drug disposal, which may lead to antibiotics resistance gene polluting the environment. Consequently, a temperature-induced kill switch is created for killing our LBP in the environment.
There are lots of functions in our EcN. However, the more gene inserted into the plasmid, the more burden the bacteria would have to carry. To solve this problem, we successfully condensed the chemical-induced and temperature-induced system into one, with lesser components but functional still. Visit our Design page to get detailed information!
