Team:TU Eindhoven/Project/Synergene/Scenario2

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Synergene

Oil Eating Bacteria Arrays

‘Good morning mister Adams,’ doctor Rossi said. ‘I took a look at your blood test results of last week and everything seems fine. You are perfectly healthy,’ said the doctor with a forced smile on his face. ‘The problems you are having are a result of diabetes type 2. I will refer you to the room next door for an injection and I will see you next month for a follow up appointment.’

Doctor Rossi knew that in fifteen minutes, Mr. Adams would stand in front of the hospital. Just one single injection and he was ‘cured’ for the rest of his life. He was able to continue with his eating habits and the diabetes type 2 didn’t influence the rest of his normal life style. Back in Mr. Adams’ younger days, people diagnosed with diabetes type 2 had to take daily doses of insulin. Day after day, week after week, year after year. On top of that you had to adapt you’re eating habits and lifestyle. You were forced to live in a healthier way. ‘As you should’, doctor Rossi always said, ‘the way you’re living is destroying you. Diabetes 2 is only one of many damages you do to your own body.’

Those were the old days. Then those weird scientists came up with their genetically modified animals.

These ‘animals’ as he called them were actually bacteria which were able to produce synthetic insulin. In the beginning it was not possible to inject these bacteria in the human body because of the immune system. The bacteria were instantly attacked and killed by the immune system without the possibility to function properly. Until 5 years ago, when the solution, or problem if one asked doctor Rossi, was found.

About 5 years ago they were able to coat bacteria with DNA to prevent them being attacked and killed by the immune system of the human body. Due to this improvement it was made possible to introduce these insulin producing bacteria into the human body. These bacteria had a feedback system which triggered them to produce insulin. Every time the glucose levels reached a certain threshold the bacteria started producing insulin again.

The response of the bacteria was too slow to fulfill the amount of insulin that was needed with some of the more extreme patients. This problem was solved just a year ago. The coating of the bacteria was modified in such a way that they were not only invisible for the immune system but also able to communicate with their surroundings and recruit their other bacterial friends to join in the production of insulin. This improvement solved the flaw of the feedback system. These bacteria could now serve as a replacement for the Islets of Langerhans, which originally had the function to produce insulin. It had been a revolution in modern science and even doctor Rossi was tremendously excited during that time. Nowadays, he had many patients like Mr. Adams, too many in his opinion.

After a couple days the symptoms of Mr. Adams would disappear, never to return again. He would go to the follow up appointment at the hospital were doctor Rossi would tell him that everything was fine and worked properly. “Another guy weighing in at 200kg without the intention to make a difference. Saved by the benefits of technology and not his change in lifestyle. What a wonderful world we are living in,” doctor Rossi muttered to himself.

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 	       <div class="Jasper">
 	       	   <span>Oil Eating Bacteria Arrays</span>
-	       	<p class="para">It didn’t even make the evening news this time. An oil tanker travelling from Hormuz to Virginia had collided with a rift and of course, he and his unit had been called to deal with the damages. They were a special firemen unit, specialized in the cleaning of oil. He understood how the responsibility of cleaning flammable fluids could be a fireman’s job, but it still felt weird to climb onto the red boat. “Firemen don’t belong far at sea”, his younger self would’ve said, “There are no fires in the sea”. He sighed while lifting the crates onto the ship. Nowadays, a moderate oil spill was as impactful as the fires he put out on other days: they didn’t even make the evening news. <br><br>
+	       	<p class="para">‘Good morning mister Adams,’ doctor Rossi said. ‘I took a look at your blood test results of last week and everything seems fine. You are perfectly healthy,’ said the doctor with a forced smile on his face. ‘The problems you are having are a result of diabetes type 2. I will refer you to the room next door for an injection and I will see you next month for a follow up appointment.’
-That was thanks to the contents of the crates he carried. A faded, yellow biohazard sticker hinted at the many re-uses the crates had seen. Funny how that yellow sticker didn’t frighten him anymore, he remarked. It wasn’t before long that he and his men had loaded all the crates on the boat and they set out to where the oil tanker hit rock bottom.<br><br>
+<br><br>
-A unit had been there before them. The oil drifted on the water, a huge and sticky darkness. Around the oil tanker barriers had been placed to keep the oil from spreading. Their job required them to come close to those barriers, so they steered their red ship towards them. Once arrived, he climbed on them and unscrewed the screen inside the barrier.  That used screen he would pass to a colleague, while another handed him a fresh screen from one of the crates. He always thought they smelled unpleasant. They also had to wear gloves and protective clothing, in order to remain from touching the array on top of the screen. That array was full of genetically modified bacteria, or “oil munchers” as he and his unit preferred to call them. “They eat oil and poop oxygen. It’s like reverse greenhouse effect!” His friend Bob always said. He doubted Bob was completely correct in that, but it was a neat way of explaining it. The oil munchers ate the oil for about 12 hours and then they died, so the screen was useless after that time. <br><br>
+ Doctor Rossi knew that in fifteen minutes, Mr. Adams would stand in front of the hospital. Just one single injection and he was ‘cured’ for the rest of his life. He was able to continue with his eating habits and the diabetes type 2 didn’t influence the rest of his normal life style. Back in Mr. Adams’ younger days, people diagnosed with diabetes type 2 had to take daily doses of insulin. Day after day, week after week, year after year. On top of that you had to adapt you’re eating habits and lifestyle. You were forced to live in a healthier way. ‘As you should’, doctor Rossi always said, ‘the way you’re living is destroying you. Diabetes 2 is only one of many damages you do to your own body.’
-It was his unit’s job to extract the ‘empty’ screens and put in the new ones. Then they would transport the empty screens to the lab, where those people in white coats would wash the dead munchers off and fill them up with new ones. It wasn’t what his younger self expected to do as a fireman. <br><br>
+<br><br>
-De barriers with oil muncher screens did a good job cleaning away most of the oil, but it didn’t get rid of everything. He was reminded of that on the way back to shore. The red boat encountered an smaller oil slick. Nothing to be done once the oil somehow passes the barriers: it was forbidden to release lose oil munchers into the sea. They had to be stuck on those screens, otherwise they’d risk disrupting the environmental balance. Well, that wasn’t completely true. Some claimed bacterial waste and huge amounts of mutated living munchers were the cause of disappearing fish kinds. He himself believed that partly true, but at the same time he believed that whatever trouble the munchers caused, it wasn’t as severe as the consequences of an untreated oil spill. <br><br>
+Those were the old days. Then those weird scientists came up with their genetically modified animals.
-A screeching bird not far away reminded him of that. It sat on top of the slick, trying to fly away, but the stricky goo on his wings restrained him. Whatever imbalance the oil munchers caused, he was happy that those sights became rarer and rarer. Even though his younger self might’ve thought differently, being part of an oil specialized firemen unit felt like an honor. He liked his job.
+<br><br>
+These ‘animals’ as he called them were actually bacteria which were able to produce synthetic insulin.
+In the beginning it was not possible to inject these bacteria in the human body because of the immune system. The bacteria were instantly attacked and killed by the immune system without the possibility to function properly. Until 5 years ago, when the solution, or problem if one asked doctor Rossi, was found.
+<br><br>
+About 5 years ago they were able to coat bacteria with DNA to prevent them being attacked and killed by the immune system of the human body. Due to this improvement it was made possible to introduce these insulin producing bacteria into the human body. These bacteria had a feedback system which triggered them to produce insulin. Every time the glucose levels reached a certain threshold the bacteria started producing insulin again.
+<br><br>
+The response of the bacteria was too slow to fulfill the amount of insulin that was needed with some of the more extreme patients. This problem was solved just a year ago. The coating of the bacteria was modified in such a way that they were not only invisible for the immune system but also able to communicate with their surroundings and recruit their other bacterial friends to join in the production of insulin. This improvement solved the flaw of the feedback system. These bacteria could now serve as a replacement for the Islets of Langerhans, which originally had the function to produce insulin. It had been a revolution in modern science and even doctor Rossi was tremendously excited during that time. Nowadays, he had many patients like Mr. Adams, too many in his opinion.
+<br><br>
+After a couple days the symptoms of Mr. Adams would disappear, never to return again. He would go to the follow up appointment at the hospital were doctor Rossi would tell him that everything was fine and worked properly. “Another guy weighing in at 200kg without the intention to make a difference. Saved by the benefits of technology and not his change in lifestyle. What a wonderful world we are living in,” doctor Rossi muttered to himself.
    </p>