Team:NCKU Tainan
OH MY GUT
A comprehensive solution for the accumulation of p-Cresol
Abstract
In the tiny island that is home to nearly 24 million people, Taiwan has a staggering amount of people suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). CKD has long been ranked as one of the top 10 causes of death in Taiwan and has an estimated prevalence of 11.9%, which accounts for more than 2.8 million people. The disease is also very costly, costing the government nearly 1.6 billion USD in treatment cost in 2016 alone.
Oh My Gut is a leading and innovative solution to the unsolved problem of p-Cresol accumulation which arises from CKD. Research has also proven that p-Cresol accumulation is associated with the further deterioration of CKD, the acquiring of cardiovascular disease and many other serious health complications. Hence, we provide two products, CreSolve and CreSense to help CKD patients achieve a better quality of life.
CreSolve is a living therapeutic drug which can be consumed in the form of a capsule and dosage of which will be based on doctor’s prescription. It consists of a type of engineered E. coli Nissle 1917 (an FDA approved probiotic) that is able to specifically target both p-Cresol producers and p-Cresol precursor. By reducing p-Cresol production, we are able to slow down p-Cresol accumulation.
CreSense is a blood p-Cresol quantification device that can measure the p-Cresol level in human blood plasma via blood separation and living bacteria bio-sensing techniques. CreSense is also highly customizable - by switching between different types of bio-sensing bacteria that specifically response to certain compounds, CreSense can become a multi-purpose quatification platform for a wide range of compounds and biomarkers.
▼ Scroll down to watch our introduction video.
