Team:MIT

From 2014.igem.org

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Revision as of 23:31, 16 October 2014

Improving the Diagnosis and Treatment of

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE


Neurodegenerative disease	Sixth leading cause of death in the US	Current diagnostics and therapeutics are ineffective

Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, affecting more than 5 million Americans and resulting in the deaths of 500,000 people every year (Alzheimer's Association). Though one in three seniors dies with this disease (Alzheimer's Association), it currently has no cure, and existing diagnosis methods are unreliable. MIT iGEM 2014 is working to change this. We set out to devise a way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease using biological rather than psychological tests and to invent a dynamic treatment mechanism that would capitalize on recent findings about the molecular pathology of the disease. Using the principles of synthetic biology, we designed a system that detects molecular biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (neurotoxic beta-amyloid plaques and specific changes in miRNA levles) and alters the levels of key enzymes in response (BACE1 and BACE2, involved in beta-amyloid production and degradation, respectively). In the future, a system like ours could provide a solution for patients suffering from the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease and alleviate the

DETECTION → TREATMENT → DELIVERY

DETECTION
Native beta-amyloid receptor	Engineered B-cell receptor	miRNA sensors for Alzheimer’s state

TREATMENT	DELIVERY

Regulating beta-amyloid production and degradation	Delivering our circuit

Retrieved from "http://2014.igem.org/Team:MIT"

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-<tr><td><br><p align=left>Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory loss, behavioral problems…  There is currently no cure for this disease, and existing diagnosis methods leave much to be desired.  MIT iGEM 2014 has set out to change this.  By detecting molecular biomarkers for AD, such as miRNAs and neurotoxic beta-amyloid plaques, and by regulating the production of beta-amyloid plaques, MIT iGEM hopes to create a dynamic solution for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.  Looking ahead, … delivery.</p></td></tr>
+<tr><td><br><p style="font-size:15px" align=left><b>Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death</b> in the United States, affecting more than 5 million Americans and resulting in the deaths of 500,000 people every year (Alzheimer's Association).  Though one in three seniors dies with this disease (Alzheimer's Association), it currently has no cure, and existing diagnosis methods are unreliable.  <b>MIT iGEM 2014 is working to change this.</b>  We set out to devise a way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease using biological rather than psychological tests and to invent a dynamic treatment mechanism that would capitalize on recent findings about the molecular pathology of the disease.  Using the principles of synthetic biology, we designed a system that <b>detects molecular biomarkers</b> for Alzheimer's disease (neurotoxic beta-amyloid plaques and specific changes in miRNA levles) and <b>alters the levels of key enzymes</b> in response (BACE1 and BACE2, involved in beta-amyloid production and degradation, respectively).  In the future, a system like ours could provide a solution for patients suffering from the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease and alleviate the
 <tr><td><br><h3 style="font-size:35px" align=center><u>DETECTION   →   TREATMENT   →   DELIVERY</u></h3></td></tr>
 <tr><td><br></td></tr>