Team:Waterloo

From 2010.igem.org

Superbugs, or antibiotic resistant microorganisms, are microbes that have become resistant to traditional treatments. These types of infections are difficult to diagnose, treat, and eradicate, making the healing process time consuming and resource intensive. The native quorum-sensing unit from S.aureus (the Agr system), will be introduced into a non-pathogenic strain of E.coli. The E.coli will then effectively have the ability to eavesdrop on the activity of the pathogenic organism and emit an indication of the magnitude of the infection in the form of RFP. Using sensitivity tuners the system can be designed such that the response will occur at an exact level, when the size of the population poses a threat to the host. Upon a positive result from a diagnosis, further tests could be done to specify whether MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus) or MSSA (Methicillin-sensitive S. aureus) are present.