Team:BGU Israel/Achivements

It was extremely important to us to leave a mark in our human practice activities; therefore we wanted to learn about relevant patients, and provide a comprehensive solution that might apply in the future.

• Our Bedouin Campaign was a main part of our HP strategy and built on 3 steps:

1. Learning about the Bedouin community; understanding why the Bedouin sector suffers more from diabetes comparing to other sectors in Israel. In our research we first focused on similar features of the Bedouins to other indigenous people around the world. Features like rapid urbanization process and shifting from traditional to modern life style. Secondly, we pointed out some features that are unique for the Bedouin culture and religion practices.
2. Mapping Barriers - after understanding the complexity of the Bedouin society and culture, we looked deeper and mapped the factors which prevented the Bedouins from taking action, and sometimes even refuse to accept the insulin conventional treatment. We came out with one clear answer - lack of awareness, both for ways to prevent diabetes, and for its implications.
3. Taking action to save life- we have produced 2 big events for the Bedouin community: "Metabolic Ambassadors"- Diabetes Seminar for 40 medical Bedouin students and a "Healthy Cooking Workshop & Early Detection Glucose Tests for Bedouins Spouses" that hosted more than 25 Bedouin women. Both events set goal to raise awareness and motivation for taking action and save life. We also believe that these events will set the ground for our Inner Doctor solution. When we presented our project, after providing knowledge about diabetes, people were much more open-minded to accept our approach.

We couldn't make it without Dr. Abu-Rabia, the first Bedouin doctor in the Negev who helped us build and adjust our events within the community, according to their needs. We worked hard to involve partners in our process, like the Israeli Diabetes Association (IDA) and local clinics, to ensure the continuity of our accomplishment after the iGEM competition ends

• Another major achievement was our success of establishing 8 scholarships for Bedouin students who will volunteer in diabetes clinics, and 1 scholarship for a Bedouin student who will participate in opening, for the first time, a branch of the Israeli Diabetes Association in the Bedouin sector. Dr. Abu-Rabia defined this news "no less than a revolution".


• We also produced an expert's panel on Innovation 2014 Day, under the title: The Metabolic Syndrome - Could Synthetic Biology Provide a Breakthrough Solution? We were over-booked and attracted a diverse audience from the public and business sectors, and of course, doctors and students. All panel speakers came voluntarily and willingly in view of the importance of the subject.


• We set numerous meetings, presented the iGEM competition and our project, consulted and discussed our treatment with a variety of stakeholders and opinion-makers: university leaders, public figures, doctors, CEOs and more. Among them were the Israeli Minister of Health; Mayor of Be'er-Sheva; Ben-Gurion University President; Metabolic Syndrome experts; CEO of IDA and CEO of Trigger Foresight (Deloitte).
  Every meeting added a different piece to the puzzle - patient profiles, law and regulation, the business aspect and more – to a whole picture.

Intelligent Medication:

• The system’s parts have been designed and synthesized.
  
• All the systems parts have been assembled into CT26 eGFP cell line.
  
• We developed a software that automatically designs scRNA constructs for specific mRNA dependent RNAi.
  
• Our results indicate an early proof of concept - reduced eGFP expression in CT26 GFP expressing cells by using scRNA.

Artificial Exercise:

• The system’s parts have been designed and synthesized
  
• TMRM dye assay was achieved in order to perform a semi-quantitative analysis of mitochondria present in HepG2 cells.

Aspiration Shift:

• The system’s parts have been designed and synthesized.
  
• We produced a comprehensive mathematical model of the circuit

Biobricks:

The following biobricks were designed, characterized, and we currently work on sending them to the registry:

• Bba_K1458002 - UCP1 (Uncoupling protein 1)
  
• Bba_K1458003 – Heat Shock Protein70 promoter (HSP70)
  
• Bba_K1458004 - Human AdipoQ
• Bba_K1458005 – Human DsbA-L (GSTK1)