Team:TU-Eindhoven/Project

From 2013.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)

Revision as of 07:54, 28 August 2013

Abstract

Our project presents an alternative solution to the use of heavy metals MRI contrast agents by focusing on CEST MRI. Within CEST imaging, proteins enclosing hydrogen atoms generate high quality images. We use Escherichia coli to create CEST proteins when the bacteria sense a hypoxic environment due to a promoter designed for this purpose, thus working as a production and delivery system for the CEST MRI contrast agent. Hypoxic regions are related to tumors, therefore our eventual goal is to use this device to target and image tumors in humans by injecting the bacteria into the bloodstream. A second application is tracking bacteria in bacterial infections studies. For the iGEM competition however, the proteins are only expressed ex-vivo: in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. We aim to achieve an efficient testing of the CEST properties of the proteins and confirm the promoter’s ability to express each protein.

Go to Top

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==Abstract==
-Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides the clinical and research field with high quality images of a patient’s body. Therefore, MRI has become an irreplaceable tool for detecting cancers. Nevertheless, it has the disadvantage of using heavy metals in {{:Team:TU-Eindhoven/Template:Tooltip | text=contrast agents | tooltip=Substance that can be distinguished from its surroundings on a MRI scan }}. Yet without heavy metals MRI would not be able to detect cancer or any other disease efficiently, or would it?
+Our project presents an alternative solution to the use of heavy metals MRI {{:Team:TU-Eindhoven/Template:Tooltip | text=contrast agents | tooltip=Substance that can be distinguished from its surroundings on a MRI scan }} by focusing on {{:Team:TU-Eindhoven/Template:Tooltip | text=CEST | tooltip=Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer }} MRI. Within CEST imaging, proteins enclosing hydrogen atoms generate high quality images. We use Escherichia coli to create CEST proteins when the bacteria sense a hypoxic environment due to a promoter designed for this purpose, thus working as a production and delivery system for the CEST MRI contrast agent. Hypoxic regions are related to tumors, therefore our eventual goal is to use this device to target and image tumors in humans by injecting the bacteria into the bloodstream. A second application is tracking bacteria in bacterial infections studies. For the iGEM competition however, the proteins are only expressed ex-vivo: in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. We aim to achieve an efficient testing of the CEST properties of the proteins and confirm the promoter’s ability to express each protein.
-Our project focuses on {{:Team:TU-Eindhoven/Template:Tooltip | text=CEST | tooltip=Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer }} MRI. Within CEST imaging, proteins enclosing hydrogen atoms can be used to generate images with the same quality as those produced with heavy metals. We use Escherichia coli K-12 to create CEST proteins when the bacteria sense a hypoxic environment, thus working as a production factory and delivery system. Based on the principle of our project, we propose two applications, tumor CEST MR Imaging and tracking of bacteria in bacterial infections studies.
 {{:Team:TU-Eindhoven/Template:BaseFooter}}
 {{:Team:TU-Eindhoven/Template:SetTitle | menu=project | page=Project Summary}}