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DeCaffi Personalized Caffeine Intake Management Scheme Based on Synthetic Biology 2021, iGEM UCAS-China

Background Introduction Our Photos Promotion Video

Have you ever had
such experiences?

You drink a cup of coffee during the daytime, but then toss and turn at night due to the euphoric effects of caffeine. The next morning, you have to get up with a tired body and plunge into a new day of work, dizzy and dazed. All of this may be simply because of the hundreds of milligrams of caffeine contained in the cup of coffee you ingested the day before, disrupting the rhythm of all your life.

Why is it caused?

From coffee to milk tea, from chocolate to cola, we live in a world full of caffeine. Nowadays, with the popularity of caffeinated beverages, more and more people are troubled by caffeine sensitivity. According to a survey done by our team, about twenty percent of respondents are facing caffeine sensitivity, and more than half of them have experienced anxiety and insomnia as a result of caffeine intake.

Serious Problems...

In addition to the most common insomnia, excessive caffeine intake may also cause many health problems, such as anxiety, heart palpitations, and muscle cramps, according to several available studies.
Many respondents believe that they are currently in dire need of a method that can help them manage their caffeine intake.

What can we do?

In order to help humans better manage caffeine intake, we designed our DeCaffi Project. Utilizing the conversion from caffeine to theacrine catalyzed by Cdh and CkTcS, we realized caffeine removal from customers' coffee. In view of the special liquid environment of hot coffee, we improved thermal stability of these enzymes through directed evolution and software PROSS. Using immobilized enzyme technology, we constructed a cell-free system that can quickly remove caffeine in our specially designed coffee cup, in which the sensor can monitor the changes of caffeine in real time. Additionally, considering convenience and user-friendliness, our software group has designed an App, which can collect data from coffee cups and bracelets, providing users with real-time caffeine intake suggestions.

The goal of our project is to build a comprehensive caffeine intake management system for our users based on the concept and method of synthetic biology, with the assistance of hardware and software, in order to help users achieve scientific caffeine intake management. We hope that all coffee lovers can enjoy a cup of decaffeinated coffee at night and fall into a good sleep.