It seems like this approach might generally be good for detecting specific biomolecules in the gut. Not sure about cancer detection. I'd imagine any probiotic engineered to sense a biomolecule and 'switch on' luciferase in response could be embedded in this pill. Fundamental biology, and finding or evolving new biosensors, is probably a big obstacle to expanding the range of molecules that can be detected, though.
Right! The recombinase-based system allows to expand the toolkit of biosensors to many other diseases. This technology is a proof-of-concept that would allow to validate new sensors in rodents and other small animal models, we believe this opens many new exciting opportunities to the whole GI/microbiome scientific community! Happy to discuss more on this!
Do you think a similar approach can be developed for the detection of other diseases? Like in cancer detection can something similar replace biopsy?
It seems like this approach might generally be good for detecting specific biomolecules in the gut. Not sure about cancer detection. I'd imagine any probiotic engineered to sense a biomolecule and 'switch on' luciferase in response could be embedded in this pill. Fundamental biology, and finding or evolving new biosensors, is probably a big obstacle to expanding the range of molecules that can be detected, though.
Right! The recombinase-based system allows to expand the toolkit of biosensors to many other diseases. This technology is a proof-of-concept that would allow to validate new sensors in rodents and other small animal models, we believe this opens many new exciting opportunities to the whole GI/microbiome scientific community! Happy to discuss more on this!