Southern Connecticut State University
Brainstorming
- Chemical Synthesis
- Project using a GC chassis
- Mycobacterium smegmatis
- Rhodococcus
- Focus on CRISPR
Improve a chemical synthesis for vitamin production
Novel synthesis of costly drug
Tuberculosis detection/treatment
Environmental remediation
Selection
After researching each topic and several rounds of discussion we decided to pursue a project involving Tuberculosis. Our team wanted to add more GC rich parts to the iGEM repository and a project focusing on Tuberculosis would allow us to do so while tackling a global problem.
Project Description
It has been shown that different diseases cause the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the body. This seems to be true of Tuberculosis especially due to its infection site being the lungs. We want to produce a Mycobacterium smegmatis based VOC sensor activated by Tuberculosis specific compounds.
Our goals
Our final product should be a simple breath test device that accurately reports infection within several hours and does not require a laboratory environment to use. It should be storable in non-refrigerated conditions and have a simple indicator most likely color change.