Team:BGU Israel/Project1

From 2014.igem.org

Western modern lifestyle brought us a lot of wonderful innovations, but also many problems. Today, about 25% of the adult world suffers from the Metabolic Syndrome. This syndrome is a cluster of medical conditions, including: abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, Insulin resistance, high blood triglycerides and more. These medical conditions are interconnected and are a result of complex metabolic pathways, meaning most traditional drugs used to treat them have undesired side effects. We intend to utilize synthetic biology in order to develop novel strategies for the treatment of metabolic syndrome.

Realizing the complexity of the Metabolic Syndrome, we envisioned the need for multiple treatments. Our Inner Doctor combines four novel strategies, offering treatments based on synthetic biology, with each strategy addresses a different aspect of the metabolic syndrome. Our Intelligence Medication decreases insulin resistance in a tissue specific manner; Aspiration Shift reduces non-adipose fat accumulation; Artificial Exercise will increase the energy expenditure of the body; The Hormone Workshop will have an overall positive metabolic influence.