Team:Stony Brook/HP/Silver

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Human Practices

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Insight on the application of a blood test using the GPC1 detection system

Our iGEM team members met with an internal medicine specialist, Bibi Zainul, MD., of Stony Brook Hospital, and discussed our project idea as well as its future applications. We spoke about the viability of using our yeast as a non-invasive early-detection tool by performing periodic blood tests on patients who are more susceptible to pancreatic cancer. She made us aware that the tools we would require to perform such a test, such as a centrifuge and UV lights, are not typically available in most private practice offices and only in some hospitals, which is a concern we would need to address in a future application of our project. She also offered us advice on how to move forward and redesign the application of our project. From her advice, we decided that it would be best to use our project as a lab test that a doctor could order and could be performed off-premises. This affects our project in the following ways:

• Despite going through an intermediate service, reproducible yeast could still be a cheap alternative to current methods of early detection. However, there is the concern that making the test through a third party could increase costs.
• Alternatively, we could optimize our test to make it more hospital-friendly, by selling our modified yeast sensors with a UV light and mini-centrifuge in a comprehensive kit that private practices and hospitals can purchase and have in their offices.