Team:Utah State

Drug resistant bacteria are the cause of over 100,000 deaths per year in the United States. This problem continues to worsen due to the constant evolution of bacteria, a consequence of overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are found in all multi-cellular organisms. They are often unique to each organism and serve very specific purposes depending on what that organism needs to endure in its environment. These AMPs vary greatly in size, toxicity, and mode of action. Because of this, many of these AMPs hold promise as new antibiotics to target bacteria pathogenic to humans. The Utah State University 2013 iGEM team’s goal is to produce selected AMPs with E. coli using the biobrick system. This will allow for various AMPs to easily be produced and tested.