Difference between revisions of "Team:Lethbridge HS"

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<h2> Project Description </h2>
 
<h2> Project Description </h2>
  
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<p>When our team started meeting, we had many great project ideas, such as taking on autoimmune disorders or treating fetal alcohol syndrome. We also considered bacterial fuel cells, terraforming bacteria, biofilm inhibitors, synthetic ivory production, among others. After a gladiator-style fight to the death, we narrowed it down to clotting blood. We asked ourselves who we wanted to help, what kind of wounds we wanted to treat, and how we could interact with our community. After discussing different wound sizes and how our project could be applied to each, we decided we would focus mainly on treating medium to large sized wounds. Then, we started designing a construct based around snake venom. Snake venoms are very effective at inducing blood clotting by skipping many steps of the clotting pathway and thereby greatly increasing the rate of blood clotting.Specifically, the Cerastes cerastes snake venom acts similar to thrombin in the blood clotting cascade, causing inactive fibrinogen to be converted into active fibrin monomers. Along with Factor XVIII, the fibrin monomers form a crosslink structure that  traps red blood cells, resulting in a blood clot.</p>
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<p>When our team started meeting, we had many great project ideas, such as taking on autoimmune disorders or treating fetal alcohol syndrome. We also considered bacterial fuel cells, terraforming bacteria, biofilm inhibitors, synthetic ivory production, among others. After a gladiator-style fight to the death, we narrowed it down to clotting blood. We asked ourselves who we wanted to help, what kind of wounds we wanted to treat, and how we could interact with our community. This year, we decided that we want to focus on the medical field, more specifically medical treatment in emergency situations. We recognized that in most emergency situations, excessive blood loss is a threat that could result in hypovolemic shock, anemia or even death. Preventing or reducing blood loss would greatly increase the chances of survival as well as speeding up the healing process. After discussing different wound sizes and how our project could be applied to each, we decided we would focus mainly on treating medium to large sized wounds. Then, we started designing a construct based around snake venom. Snake venoms are very effective at inducing blood clotting by skipping many steps of the clotting pathway and thereby greatly increasing the rate of blood clotting.Specifically, the Cerastes cerastes snake venom acts similar to thrombin in the blood clotting cascade, causing inactive fibrinogen to be converted into active fibrin monomers. Along with Factor XVIII, the fibrin monomers form a crosslink structure that  traps red blood cells, resulting in a blood clot.</p>
  
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<p>This year, we decided that we want to focus on the medical field, more specifically medical treatment in emergency situations. We recognized that in most emergency situations, excessive blood loss is a threat that could result in hypovolemic shock, anemia or even death. Preventing or reducing blood loss would greatly increase the chances of survival as well as speeding up the healing process. To accomplish this, we began to design a construct that would produce clotting factors that could be localized to a wound. </p>
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<p>For human practices we have been contacting professionals in relevant fields, so we can ensure that our project is applicable in real-world emergency situations. Another component of our human practices is the community outreach we have been conducting. For example, we have gone to schools in Southern Alberta to educate students with respect to our project and iGEM. In addition, we have devised a public survey, went door to door, and created a social media account to try and establish an amicable rapport with those affected by severe bleeding.</p>
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<p>This year, our iGEM team is focusing on minimizing blood loss from large lacerations. Although the blood clotting pathway is highly regulated, it is too slow to prevent excessive hemorrhage or even death in the cases of traumatic injury. We therefore wanted to reduce the time taken for a blood clot to form in order to minimize the blood loss experienced by patients. </p>
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<p>For human practices we have been contacting professionals in relevant fields, so we can ensure that our project is applicable in real-world emergency situations. Another component of our human practices is the community outreach we have been conducting. For example, we have gone to schools in Southern Alberta to educate students with respect to our project. In addition, we devised a public survey, went door to door, and created a social media account to try and establish an amicable rapport with those affected by severe bleeding.</p>
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<p>In the lab, we hope to successfully express our recombinant DNA in E.coli, and produce an effective solution for clotting blood. After that, we hope to develop a fast-acting and effective prototype that will be able to clot pressurized blood being pumped through a simulated wound. If this is accomplished, we’ll attempt to design a tool or delivery system to make sure that we apply the right amount of our system to the wound in order to get the best clot. In addition, we want to test whether or not the clotting factors can move through the body causing an embolism elsewhere. This is something we want to prevent, and need to test if our system can remain local in the wound.</p>
 
<p>In the lab, we hope to successfully express our recombinant DNA in E.coli, and produce an effective solution for clotting blood. After that, we hope to develop a fast-acting and effective prototype that will be able to clot pressurized blood being pumped through a simulated wound. If this is accomplished, we’ll attempt to design a tool or delivery system to make sure that we apply the right amount of our system to the wound in order to get the best clot. In addition, we want to test whether or not the clotting factors can move through the body causing an embolism elsewhere. This is something we want to prevent, and need to test if our system can remain local in the wound.</p>

Revision as of 02:20, 1 July 2016

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Project Description

When our team started meeting, we had many great project ideas, such as taking on autoimmune disorders or treating fetal alcohol syndrome. We also considered bacterial fuel cells, terraforming bacteria, biofilm inhibitors, synthetic ivory production, among others. After a gladiator-style fight to the death, we narrowed it down to clotting blood. We asked ourselves who we wanted to help, what kind of wounds we wanted to treat, and how we could interact with our community. This year, we decided that we want to focus on the medical field, more specifically medical treatment in emergency situations. We recognized that in most emergency situations, excessive blood loss is a threat that could result in hypovolemic shock, anemia or even death. Preventing or reducing blood loss would greatly increase the chances of survival as well as speeding up the healing process. After discussing different wound sizes and how our project could be applied to each, we decided we would focus mainly on treating medium to large sized wounds. Then, we started designing a construct based around snake venom. Snake venoms are very effective at inducing blood clotting by skipping many steps of the clotting pathway and thereby greatly increasing the rate of blood clotting.Specifically, the Cerastes cerastes snake venom acts similar to thrombin in the blood clotting cascade, causing inactive fibrinogen to be converted into active fibrin monomers. Along with Factor XVIII, the fibrin monomers form a crosslink structure that traps red blood cells, resulting in a blood clot.

For human practices we have been contacting professionals in relevant fields, so we can ensure that our project is applicable in real-world emergency situations. Another component of our human practices is the community outreach we have been conducting. For example, we have gone to schools in Southern Alberta to educate students with respect to our project and iGEM. In addition, we have devised a public survey, went door to door, and created a social media account to try and establish an amicable rapport with those affected by severe bleeding.

In the lab, we hope to successfully express our recombinant DNA in E.coli, and produce an effective solution for clotting blood. After that, we hope to develop a fast-acting and effective prototype that will be able to clot pressurized blood being pumped through a simulated wound. If this is accomplished, we’ll attempt to design a tool or delivery system to make sure that we apply the right amount of our system to the wound in order to get the best clot. In addition, we want to test whether or not the clotting factors can move through the body causing an embolism elsewhere. This is something we want to prevent, and need to test if our system can remain local in the wound.

Our team hopes that our inexpensive and effective technology will be able to help military personnel, disaster victims, and other people affected with severe bleeding survive their ordeals, and have a better quality of life afterwards. In doing so, we will reduce strain on healthcare systems, simplify treatment of major bleeding for EMTs and doctors, and keep families together.

Before you start:

Please read the following pages:

Styling your wiki

You may style this page as you like or you can simply leave the style as it is. You can easily keep the styling and edit the content of these default wiki pages with your project information and completely fulfill the requirement to document your project.

While you may not win Best Wiki with this styling, your team is still eligible for all other awards. This default wiki meets the requirements, it improves navigability and ease of use for visitors, and you should not feel it is necessary to style beyond what has been provided.

Wiki template information

We have created these wiki template pages to help you get started and to help you think about how your team will be evaluated. You can find a list of all the pages tied to awards here at the Pages for awards link. You must edit these pages to be evaluated for medals and awards, but ultimately the design, layout, style and all other elements of your team wiki is up to you!

Editing your wiki

On this page you can document your project, introduce your team members, document your progress and share your iGEM experience with the rest of the world!

Click here to edit this page!

Tips

This wiki will be your team’s first interaction with the rest of the world, so here are a few tips to help you get started:

  • State your accomplishments! Tell people what you have achieved from the start.
  • Be clear about what you are doing and how you plan to do this.
  • You have a global audience! Consider the different backgrounds that your users come from.
  • Make sure information is easy to find; nothing should be more than 3 clicks away.
  • Avoid using very small fonts and low contrast colors; information should be easy to read.
  • Start documenting your project as early as possible; don’t leave anything to the last minute before the Wiki Freeze. For a complete list of deadlines visit the iGEM 2016 calendar
  • Have lots of fun!
Inspiration

You can also view other team wikis for inspiration! Here are some examples:

Uploading pictures and files

You can upload your pictures and files to the iGEM 2016 server. Remember to keep all your pictures and files within your team's namespace or at least include your team's name in the file name.
When you upload, set the "Destination Filename" to Team:YourOfficialTeamName/NameOfFile.jpg. (If you don't do this, someone else might upload a different file with the same "Destination Filename", and your file would be erased!)

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