2013: Iron Coli
This year, our project focuses on diseases that are subsequent to an iron overload such as hemochromatosis and thalassemia. Nowadays, iron overload is mainly treated by bloodlettings for hemochromatosic patients but this treatment cannot be extended to thalassemic patients who suffer from anaemia. The aim of our project is to prevent the intestinal absorption of iron by engineering Escherichia coli to produce siderophores, chelators of iron. This strategy acts directly at the source. We engineer Escherichia coli using the Ferric Uptake Regulation (FUR) couple to an inverter system, in order to produce these siderophores in presence of iron. To reduce the patient's iron absorption, our bacteria is encapsulated in a pill. Once it arrives in the duodenum, our bacteria will produce the siderophore at their full potential and chelate the iron.
For more infos, visit our WIKI and/or look at our POSTER.
Rewards
Gold Medal
Best Human Practices Award, Europe, Overgrad
Advance to World Championship
The 2013 iGEM competition
In 2013, 234 team from 33 countries participated in a two-tiered competition. Regional Jamborees were held in October and only 81 teams advanced to the World Championship Jamboree that was held on the Massachussets Institute of Technology Campus in Cambridge, MA, USA from 1st to 4th of November 2013. Full infos and results are available on the iGEM 2013 website.
