International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) is an independent, nonprofit organization that hosts an annual, worldwide synthetic biology competition, the iGEM Jamboree. Teams from all over the world push the boundaries of synthetic biology by designing, testing, building, and measuring a system of their own design using interchangeable biological parts and standard molecular biology techniques. We are UCSC's 2022 iGEM team.
Building a diverse team means building an environment of inclusivity. We have two international students from Brazil and China, three first-generation college students, and a wide array of cultural backgrounds and academic interests represented within our team of 15 undergraduates. This allowed us to begin cultivating a space to produce project ideas from various perspectives and experiences. Our team’s diversity enabled us to have a more complex understanding of the issues within our local and global community and helped us brainstorm potential solutions. We believe that healthcare is a human right. This is what inspired our mission to pursue a project using the resources and privileges we have to make a global human impact among resource-constrained communities.
Diabetes mellitus affects roughly 1 in 10 people globally. Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) comprises around 90 percent of all diabetes cases and is primarily a result of insulin resistance. Moreover, the burden of diabetes is disproportionately borne by lower-income groups, and even more so in countries that do not have medical infrastructure equipped to offer adequate treatment.
Chronic complications associated with T2D include heart failure, kidney disease, lower-limb amputations, blindness, and neuropathy. Of all associated complications, 50 to 85 percent are preventable by treatment and medication. Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1 RA), such as Exendin-4 (Ex-4), are one of the leading forms of T2D treatment but can cost upwards of $800 a month in the U.S. Increasing access to effective diabetes treatments can broadly improve human health and particularly benefit communities suffering from the inequitable distribution of diabetes therapeutics. This is what inspired our project: Helo.
We propose that Ex-4 can be naturally produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), commonly known as baker's yeast, as a functional and cost-effective pharmaceutical treatment. As S. cerevisiae is Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), we hypothesize that bioencapsulated S. cerevisiae containing Ex-4 can be administered orally to bypass degradation in the stomach and avoid the need for subcutaneous injections. Our goal is to produce a cost-effective T2D therapeutic that can be propagated in as little as one square meter and distributed for local communities to grow.
Your kind donations during Giving Day will help us turn our project ideas into reality by helping cover expenses, including lab supplies for our research, student stipends, and expenses related to travel, so that we can present our project at the 2022 iGEM Jamboree. We would greatly appreciate your support!