Team:OUC-China/Implementation
Overview
Our project is committed to building a portable platform for the detection of antibiotics. In the conception and research stage of the project, we envisioned our application scenarios. Pharmaceutical enterprises, farms and scientific research institutions are our target users, and the portable antibiotic detection device will bring convenience to them. As a whole cell sensor, we also consider biosafety, and we have a double guarantee, both physical and nutritional deficiencies play an important role. However, as a whole cell biosensor, our system also faces some challenges, and this is where we can improve!
1.Target users and usage scenarios
During the whole project, we carried out research. Finally, we decided that our target audience is mainly the following three groups.
1.1 Pharmaceutical companies that produce antibiotic drugs
Pharmaceutical companies that produce antibiotics will be fined if they treat industrial wastewater to meet discharge standards before dumping it into municipal sewers. Usually, pharmaceutical companies need to entrust third-party organizations or hire professional and technical personnel at their own expense to ensure that the sewage discharged continues to meet the standards. Our products will be able to achieve real-time monitoring of sewage discharged by pharmaceutical enterprises, which is greatly convenient for pharmaceutical enterprises.
So we decided to use synthetic biology to design a whole-cell biosensor to detect antibiotics in the environment. Our concept is greatly inspired by cell-free biosensors[5], but due to the other advantages the WCB(whole-cell biosensor) has like it is Cheap, better identification of some pollutants, good stability, and easy to achieve high-throughput automation. We ended up doing a WCB.
1.2 the farm
It is common for livestock or aquatic products to be raised with antibiotics mixed into feed to treat or prevent bacterial diseases. According to our survey, the current government supervision in this area is mainly about meat quality testing of farmed animals, and the environmental pollution problem is often ignored, but the environmental pollution problem cannot be ignored. Portable, inexpensive, unstaffed water antibiotic detection devices can help farms voluntarily and within their means monitor antibiotic levels in their effluent to protect natural waters from pollution.
1.3 Scientific research institutions
Concentrations of antibiotics in environmental water are important for institutions that study the distribution or toxicology of environmental pollutants, for example by helping researchers determine which body of water is more valuable to study. Rapid detection devices can provide researchers with rapid prediction, and if the target water area is remote, it is difficult to collect and transport water samples, portable hardware devices make field detection possible.
2.Safety considerations
2.1 On the physical level
The idea for our final product is to fix engineered bacteria on a membrane that the bacteria cannot penetrate to the outside world, which prevents engineered bacteria from escaping to the outside world
2.2 Nutritional deficiency type
We use a tyrosine-deficient strain, and when the engineered bacteria escape into the environment, they die because of a lack of tyrosine in the environment, and that makes them safer
3.Possible challenges
Because we are building a whole cell biosensor, there are also some challenges related to it. For example, when fixing our whole cell sensor, the process of fixing bacteria will affect our bacteria, resulting in slow growth and even death. We also consulted professors in relevant directions and got some suggestions, such as first cultivating cells in high concentration nutrient solution and then making dry powder, which is conducive to the recovery of bacteria. The challenges we face are also our direction!