From 2012.igem.org

Future Perspective

　　To date, we have built all our three devices and tested the function and regulation of each biobrick. However, our aim is far more than just making a toy in the laboratory. We aim to create a product that can be widely applied in clinical and other areas.

　　First, we will amalgamate the three devices, namely, the Fatty Acid Degradation, the Cellulose Synthesis, and the Colonization, into one whole system. Since there are tens of genes and regulation elements in all and their total length may exceed 30kb, a larger vector like λ phage rather than a plasmid may be adopted. It may also be a good choice to integrate the three devices into the chromosome.

　　Second, the Escherichia coli may be a good model for molecule cloning operations, but not suit for pharmacy since its possible risk in infection and diseases. We propose Lactobacillus as a better model because not only its safety has been well demonstrated in food industry, but also the yogurt made from the genetically modified Lactobacillus will possess the property of making you slim!

　　The function of the whole system in Escherichia coli or Lactobacillus will be tested both in vitro and in vivo to confirm the effectiveness of our project. The gut microbiota and E.coslim will be inoculated in a glass tube, through which plasma made from different kinds of food will flow. We will test the changes of the microbe community inoculated. Furthermore, a gut microbiota transplantation experiment on mice may also be conducted for further confirmation.

　　Our product will be finally packaged into two capsules. Capsule A is E.coslim, which is able to influent the human body's absorption to high energy contained nutrients, regulate the gut microbiota and make you slimmer day by day. And Capsule B is xylose, which can induce the Death Device in E.coslim and avoid people from malnutrition after taking in E.coslim for a long enough time.

　　Last but not least, we not only create a new microbe that can make people slim, but also provide tools to sense the fatty acid, the glucose and the xylose in other circumstances. So the new biobricks we submit may be applied in a variety of areas, such as the degradation of waste oil, urine sugar test for diabetes patients, safety control of genetic engineering, and so on. We are looking forward the day when E.coslim is truly applied in people's life, in clinical and more widely in other areas beyond our imagination.