Wiki/2014.igem.org/Team:MIT/Survey

SURVEY

What does Mr. Joe Public think of our plan to diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease?

Our synthetic biology approach to diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease was built and developed around the idea of an administrable therapeutic for patients with the disease. In order to get our system into the patient’s brain, he/she must be willing to receive it in whatever manner necessary. Thus, one important consideration we had for our project was how it would be perceived in the public eye.

With this in mind, we designed and implemented a survey to help us obtain a satisfactory answer to this question. Our survey targeted members of the general public, and we sought to learn what people of varying backgrounds thought about our project. Specifically, we aimed to determine what method of delivery of our system was most agreeable to the majority of members of the general public.

The methods of delivery we were considering could all be categorised as either ex vivo or in vivo cell modification. Specific details about potential delivery mechanisms can be found here.