Welcome to Dundee's 2014 wiki!
Howdy partner,
10, 000 people in the UK live with an autosomal recessive disease known as Cystic Fibrosis and 1 in 25 people carry one of the faulty genetic mutations. But this disease isn't just localized to the UK; it is found Worldwide.
Cystic Fibrosis causes excessive mucus to build up in the lungs, which provides a perfect environment for bacteria to grow. When bacteria infect the lung, they stimulate an immune response, which causes inflammation, tissue damage, and ultimately respiratory failure in these people. The only treatment at this point is a lung transplant.
Currently, people have to cough up mucus (called sputum) from the lungs and travel to a clinic to hand it in. The sputum is then used for bacterial identification and takes between 72hours and 2 weeks. Patients are typically put on a course of antibiotics until the infection is identified, at which point they are put on specific antibiotics.
Dundee iGEM team wanted to create a device which could identify infection within a shorter time frame, identify specific respiratory pathogens, and could be used outwith the clinic, so that patients did not have to travel great distances. This 'remote monitoring device' will be faster, more convenient for the patient and allow reduced use of antibiotics by specifying which respiratory pathogens are causing the infection in the patients' lungs.
Please feel free to have a look around town. We have the School where you can learn about why we chose to do our project, and what we did. Then vist the Library and read about our experience during the project. Then to end the day head down to the Saloon to meet the team!
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