PART1: Our work is good and responsible for the world
Investigate on a “Bigger Picture” Issue
On World IBD Day, we were impressed by the beautiful purple buildings
from all over the country which directed our attention to IBD, a global intestinal disease.
By reviewing the literature, we learned that IBD was first found in western developed countries,
and its incidence and prevalence in those countries are at a high level.
In recent years, according to research findings, the incidence and prevalence of IBD
have been consistently growing in developing countries in Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa.
As revealed by a recent study, China would have over 1.5 million cases of IBD by 2025[1].
[1] Kaplan,Gilaad G.“The Global Burden of IBD: from 2015 to 2025.” Nature Reviews.Gastroenterology &Hepatology,vol.12, no.12, 2015, pp.720–727.
Investigation results show that IBD is an immune system disease,
and it mainly involves factors that include the environment of the patient, infection, genetic susceptibility
and abnormal activation of the immune response.
The goal in treating IBD is to reduce inflammation-induced remission (eliminating symptoms)
and maintain remission (for relapse prevention).
The current treatment methods mainly involve medication, dietary therapy and surgical treatment.
However, these above treatments still have various defects:
At present, the main drugs used for treating IBD are
aminosalicylate, corticosteroids, immunosuppressors and biological agents,
but some of these drugs may have great side effects, and most can only act in inflammation control.
In Western countries, the SCD diet is a common recommendation in the public in managing IBD,
but it still lacks scientific rigor to support its efficacy.
In addition, it is impossible to use enteral nutrition for the long term:
without solid food, the cost of enteral nutrition and social inconvenience make it hard to proceed.
In severe cases, patients are treated with surgery, but the benefits of surgery are often temporary.
Also, there is a frequent risk of recurrence. In conclusion, finding new avenues to treat IBD is quite imminent.
Propose the Overall Idea of Our Project
Realizing the great challenges of IBD, we sought to find new solutions for this global problem.
Professor Wenjie Guo, one of our advisors, has much experience in the treatment of IBD.
Therefore, we interviewed him to get some help and guidance for the overall idea of the project.
Prof. Guo told us that IBD is also known as “green cancer”.
Although it can be temporarily controlled or relieved,
no clear etiology or curative treatment is found for treatments like drugs or surgery.
Based on the long-term practice, the experiments conducted in his lab
found that polyphosphate had curative effects for IBD due to its inflammatory-related biological function.
These words attracted our attention, so we carried out our preliminary investigation.
Polyphosphate(polyP), an inorganic material, has received more and more attention in recent years.
According to existing researches, long-chain polyP is involved in biological processes
such as regulation of gene expression and DNA uptake in microorganisms,
and biological processes such as mitochondrial metabolism, cell calcification and blood coagulation in mammals.
PolyP is also an indispensable energy source in organisms, including soluble and insoluble classifications.
However, long-chain polyP is difficult to synthesize due to its length.
Chemically synthesized polyP is relatively short-chain, unstable in nature,
and the production process is not environmentally friendly.
Thus, it deserves a try to explore a new method of biologically synthesizing long-chain polyP,
which is promising to be developed as a novel IBD therapy.
We hope to provide a new solution to the global IBD problem and promote well-being for mankind
through technologies in synthetic biology.
And we believe that our idea of new applications of long-chain polyP
and the success of engineering will make the world a better place.
Focus on Ethics and Safety
Since our project has something to do with disease,
ethical and safety concerns were put into the first place in our project.
On Aug.6, 2021, we signed the 2021 Intestinal Program Reference Manual
with six teams including BUCT, SZU-China, SUSTech-China, NJMU-China, HZAU-China, and BNUZ-China.
The agreement includes several sections, of which we are responsible for writing the ethical and safety section.
The ethics in synthetic biology research has become a part that researchers need to pay special attention to.
Intestinal-related projects often involve genetic modification of engineered bacteria,
which is not unrelated to the public ethics of previously popular genetically modified products,
and also includes the ethics of bacterial factory in vivo.
Therefore, our team has compiled relevant Chinese and foreign laws and policies,
iGEM official regulations and practical cases of previous projects for the ethics of animal experiments,
the public ethics of genetically modified products and the ethics of the introduction of engineered bacteria into the body,
hoping to provide references for subsequent iGEM participating teams.
