Medical Applications of Synthetic Biology - Samantha Simpson
Project Proposal
My project will be on medical applications of mechanisms that allow E. Coli to sense differences in a biological environment. I will reference Anderson's paper on utilizing quorum-sensing and hypoxia-responsive genes coupled with invasin from Yersinia tuberculosis to invade cancer-causing cells. Coupled with Critchley's work, which describes a bacterial system that invades eukaryotic cells and delivers proteins coded for in the bacteria's genome, one could possibly create 'search and destroy' E.coli that can locate, invade, and kill tumor cells. Garmory's paper also highlights the possibility of using bacteria as a drug-delivering system, specifically vaccine vectors. Kobayashi describes cells that produce a protective biofilm layer after exposure to DNA-damaging agents. Ro engineers yeast to create an anti-malarial drug that can be created at a lower cost than the previous standard production process. These papers, and others that have a focus on direct medical applications such as novel cancer therapies, vaccination technology, biological protection, and the creation of new medicines, will be referenced to create a cohesive overview of applications of synthetic biology to the medical field.
Partial Bibliography
Anderson JC, et al. (2006) Environmentally controlled invasion of cancer cells by engineered bacteria. J. of Molecular Biology 355:619-27.
Critchley RJ, et al. (2004) Potential therapeutic applications of recombinant, invasive E. coli. Gene therapy 11:1224-33.
Garmory HS, et al. (2003) The use of live attenuated bacteria as a delivery system for heterologous antigens. J. of Drug Targeting 11:471-79.
Kobayashi H, et al. (2004) Programmable cells: Interfacing natural and engineered gene networks. PNAS 101:8414-19.
Ro, et al. (2006) Production of the antimalarial drug precursor artemisinic acid in engineered yeast. Nature 440:940-43.
