Team:UT Dallas/immunobot intro

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Introduction

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of increasingly prevalent disorders that afflict parts of the human gastrointestinal tract and results in significant tissue damage. IBD manifests primarily as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. These disorders both have ambiguous disease etiology, which complicates a timely diagnosis. Generally considered autoimmune disorders, treatment often involves anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive medications and surgical intervention. However, these have temporary success and mainly work to alleviate symptoms and maintain remission. Thus, IBD remains without a cure.

Wound healing involves a complex series of biochemical events that progress in distinct stages: inflammation, proliferation and remodeling. Tissue repair takes place during the proliferative and remodeling stages during which a balance of collagen production and degradation is maintained. However, repair of IBD-damaged tissue is particularly difficult since these are chronic wounds locked in a prolonged inflammatory state that can result in further damage as collagen degradation overwhelms production. In 2009, Stanford developed a two-component probiotic that regulates the activity of lymphocytes involved in inflammation. To build on their work, we developed a means to localize tissue repair following control of inflammation. As a human gut symbiont, we selected an E. coli chassis for its well-characterized machinery and the vast supply of E.coli-compatible tools available in the Registry.

"Immunobots" are composite sensor-taxis devices that interpret wound signals to identify tissue damage and migrate towards damage sites, such as those resulting from IBD. Immunobots can work with another device that facilitates tissue repair, which takes an important step towards achieving a more durable treatment for IBD.

References:

Baumgart, Daniel C C. (2007). Inflammatory bowel disease: clinical aspects and established and evolving therapies. The Lancet. 369(9573): 1641-57 (doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60751-X)
Midwood, K.S. et. al. (2004). "Tissue repair and the dynamics of the extracellular matrix". The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology 36 (6): 1031–1037.
Stanford iGEM 2009 (https://2009.igem.org/Team:Stanford/)