Streptococcus pneumoniae is responsible for approximately 1.6 million deaths every year mostly in developing countries where vaccination is unaffordable. To provide an affordable solution to combat pneumococcal diseases, we are engineering an E. coli "Pneumosensor", that will work inside an in vitro diagnostic device. Through this cheaper and easier diagnosis method, people can prepare themselves better against the transmission and adversity of S. Pneumoniae.

Pneumosensor has a rewired comCDE signal transduction pathway native to S. pneumoniae that detects autoinducer molecules released specifically by S. pneumoniae. It is also equipped with a new promoter for the specific and tight regulation of target gene expression in E. coli. In addition, the team is documenting and characterizing existing CR-TA riboregulators for post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Our work will help other iGEM teams more effectively incorporate this tuning tool into their project design.