In 2019, an estimated 1.2 million people died from antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.1 Antibiotic-resistant germs are an ever growing problem.
“A post-antibiotic era – in which common infections and minor injuries can kill – far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st Century.” 2
There are different approaches to the problem:
Education of patients and doctors so that fewer antibiotics are prescribed
Environmental and animal welfare legislation to reduce the prophylactic use of antibiotics
Research into new antibiotics bacteria are not yet resistant against
Research into better and faster diagnostic methods
All strategies together will hopefully lead to the goal at some point. Nowadays antibiograms are used to detect those pathogens and depend on bacterial growth, stalling the diagnosis. So we are in need of a rapid and accurate point-of-care diagnostic method detecting antibiotic resistances.
Our solution
At iGEM Hamburg, we developed rapid point-of-care diagnostic method for antibiotic resistant bacteria. Introducing Sensing Pathogens and Emerging Antibiotic Resistances (SPEAR), we employ split ribozymes to detect resistances. In presence of resistance gene mRNA, our split ribozyme assembles and fuses a reporter gene mRNA by excising itself from its precursors. Translation-based regulation enables rapid detection, vastly accelerating diagnosis. With the help of a simplified model, we were able to represent the dynamics of our system and compare promoter strengths. Furthermore, we created a model that could describe an exemplary final system of our idea. This allows us to estimate the required strengths and quantities of all involved compartments and species for use in the laboratory.
Our Vision
SPEAR will serve as a simple, inexpensive and rapid method to detect a wide variety of pathogen RNA in any laboratory or doctor’s office. Faster pathogen detection should allow antibacterial therapies to be used in a more sustainable way. We reached out to experts and stakeholders during all phases of our project and implemented their constructive ideas.
