Team:Aalto-Helsinki
HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE RELY ON THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS DAILY
Hundreds of millions of people who rely on therapeutic proteins daily to manage their diseases (Herkert et al., 2019). The demand for therapeutic proteins is only increasing as it has been estimated that within the next 10 years over 50% of medicines developed will be biopharmaceuticals, including therapeutic proteins (Jozala et al., 2016).
1 OUT OF 4 OF THESE PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD THEIR MEDICATION
As the population is aging, the prevalence of many diseases is increasing. At the same time, the price of medication is also increasing, leaving people into insufferable situations.
WE FOUND A SOLUTION IN VIBRIO NATRIEGENS
Inspired by the possibilities that the fastest growing organism known, Vibrio natriegens offers (Weinstock et al., 2016), our team Aalto-Helsinki is determined to take on the challenge of improving the bacterium’s protein expression and secretion.
Our iGEM project aims to tackle the challenges of recombinant protein production by improving the next-generation synthetic biology chassis organism Vibrio natriegens. Hence the name of our project VibXPresso - Vibrio natriegens with Xtreme PRotein Expression and Secretion Optimization. Read more about our project in Project Description page!
References:
Herkert, D., Vijayakumar, P., Luo, J., Schwartz, J. I., Rabin, T. L., DeFilippo, E., & Lipska, K. J. (2019). Cost-related insulin underuse among patients with diabetes. JAMA internal medicine, 179(1), 112-114.
Jozala, A. F., Geraldes, D. C., Tundisi, L. L., Feitosa, V. D. A., Breyer, C. A., Cardoso, S. L., ... & Oliveira, M. A. D. (2016). Biopharmaceuticals from microorganisms: from production to purification. Brazilian journal of microbiology, 47, 51-63.
Weinstock, M. T., Hesek, E. D., Wilson, C. M., & Gibson, D. G. (2016). Vibrio natriegens as a fast-growing host for molecular biology. Nature methods, 13(10), 849.
