Nanocillus - 'cause spore is more!
Abstract
The treatment of diseases while avoiding systemic side effects is still a major obstacle in modern medicine. After administration, conventional drugs are distributed throughout the whole body thus affecting both, diseased and healthy cells. Current strategies on targeted drug delivery are mainly based on the applications of antibody-drug conjugates or nanoparticles. However, both approaches revealed considerable challenges in their application due to short half-life and expensive production, respectively. We develop a novel platform for targeted drug delivery by implementing highly specific nanobodies directed against surface markers of affected cells. The combination with an enzymatic functionality facilitates the local activation of prodrugs, thus preventing unnecessary side effects by systemic drug dispersal. By engineering the spores of probiotic Bacillus subtilis, a member of the human microbiome, we establish a low-cost carrier for well-tolerated treatment.
Wiki
https://2016.igem.org/Team:Freiburg
Achievements
- Gold Medal
Meet The Team
Primary PI
Secondary PI
Instructors
Student Members
- Christian Massute
- Christina Soon
- Danja Steinberg
- Katharina Ostmann
- Kevin Kieselmann
- Lucy Wong
- Nathalie Wagner - Student Leader
- Niklas Vesper
- Syed Mohsin Ali
- Vivien Jesenofsky
- Wladislaw Stroukov
- Yannic Raymond Schäfer
- Zaid Ur Rehman