Team:Lethbridge HS
THE PROBLEM
In the coming years, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are expected to become one of the greatest threats to human health. Although antibiotics are credited with improving the health of millions of people since their inception, the overuse of prescription antibiotics has triggered an evolutionary arms race between humans and pathogens. We propose to use the CRISPR Cas13a system as a precursor rapid detection and specific targeting system capable of modular design. Furthermore, we propose to also use this system as a potential therapeutic, removing the need for broad spectrum antibiotics as a whole. We hope to enable physicians to improve the accuracy of their diagnosis and assist more people in their recovery from bacterial infection. We also aim to confirm that our design criteria is specific to pathogens and will not harm the consumer or cause and residual effects, either as a therapeutic or as a diagnostic tool.