We chose to integrate our whole project with an ethical approach because of the importance of ethics, especially in the health thematic. We provided a demonstration of the application of ethics on an engineering project by asking three main ethical questions. These led to three reflections nourished by impacting exchanges with different stakeholders of allergy detection and specialists. These meetings helped us plainly understand the allergy context. Since allergies are a little-explored subject in iGEM and we are not experts in every discipline that was required in this project, we consulted specialists at each step of our journey. This reasoning was summed up in our Integrated Human Practices in a creative and illustrated form with the aim to make our approach available to future iGEM teams. For the same purpose, a summary of every interview can be found in the IHP section to share the accumulated knowledge with the iGEM community.

For more details, check out our Integrated Human Practices page.

Modeling was a central tool for designing our allergies detection system. When mixing all species together, IgE first complexes with DARPins and allergens displayed on the surface of our strains, which are then able to aggregate. Following this reasoning, we first constructed a complexation model to quantify the potential of aggregation at the molecular level for a broad range of concentrations of each species. We used this model to determine the concentrations of each strain and the expression levels of DARPin and allergen proteins for optimal detection of a broad range of allergens. We then constructed an aggregation model to simulate and optimize the aggregation dynamics at the level of our experimental setup. This model helped us to determine the role of several parameters (e.g. agitation) to aggregate efficiently our strains. With models provided as open source, future teams can reuse our dual-stage modeling approach to model cellular aggregation.

For more details, check out our Model pages.

We developed a project that met 5 main sustainable development goals established by the United Nations: "Good health and Well-being" as our project deal with custom-made medicine and a strong education commitment raising awareness about health, “Decent work and Economic growth” by implementing a new business in our city, industry, “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure” as sobriety, resilience and innovation are crucial features for us, “Responsible Consumption and Production that we plainly follow during the organization of the French Meet-up and intend to apply for our future start-up, and finally, “Partnership for the Goals” by collaborating with international and local experts and partners.

For more details, check out our Sustainability page.

Our aim with this project is to help patients discover their allergy as early as possible. We would therefore create a company specialized in detection of Immunoglobulins E, responsible for allergies. The firm would collect blood samples sent by allergists who want to diagnose one or several allergies. It would then perform the test using high-throughput technologies and send the results back to the allergist so they can analyze them and make a diagnosis. The firm will diversify its activities through the years to develop medicine for desensitization of the patients to allergies and conduct research on other immune diseases. Find detail in our wiki on the pages Implementation and Supporting Entrepreneurship.

We have been nominated for the Best Supporting entrepreneurship project among the 5 best teams.

For more details, check out our Supporting Entrepreneurship page.