Vitamin D is found in fish, eggs, fortified milk and cod liver oil.
Sunlight contributes to Vitamin D production because the human skin can synthesize Vitamin D3 when exposed to UVB rays from the Sun. Vitamin D is essential for maintaining normal blood levels of both calcium and phosphorous. The absorption of calcium due to Vitamin D strengthens bones to prevent diseases that cause skeletal deformities such as Rickets and muscular/skeletal degradation such as Osteomalacia.
The diseases that Vitamin D deficiency cause affect children and older people mostly. The lack of Vitamin D leads to other complications.
The proposed design has the potential to be used as a simple and efficient diagnostic test.
PROOF OF CONCEPT DESIGN
In the presence of 25(OH)D3 in blood, the co-transcription factor and promoter for the CYP21B1 are activated. When the promoter is activated, it expresses the enzyme that causes a chemical change to to the active form of Vitamin D. This active form, 1-25-DiHydroxyVitamin D3, is created in the kidney.
If the promoter is activated, then it will express the enzyme that chemically changes to the active form of vitamin D in the kidney.
New Natural Part: Why are you using this part? How did you find this part? What database/ resources did you use? What primers will you use to isolate it and turn it into a BioBrick?
Key Pre-existing Part: If you didn't need to use a new natural part, describe one important pre-existing BioBrick from the parts registry.org that you will use. Why are you using it? Describe how well-documented the part is. Do you trust it?
FUTURE VISION:
D-Vitameter:
Ideally this would be a device that would benefit from the proposed technology. This compact and portable device would allow patients to get a reading of their ability to produce Vitamin D by just using one drop of blood. The basic components of this small device would be an enclosed box with a small polycarbonate window. The device will allow to introduce a sample in a microscope slide and shine a UV light to detect presence of 25(OH).
Illustration of D-Vitameter.
TESTING
Measurement
To measure the function of our design, we would collect a drop of blood into a vial that contains our modified E. Coli. The reading of GFP presence will be collected using absorption spectroscopy techniques.
Expected Observations
When 25(OH)D3 is present, ideally there would be a 100% GFP concentration
Tuning Our System
HUMAN PRACTICES
•The meter is practical because the blood sample is relatively small and can be extracted at any time. Normal tests for Vitamin D deficiency require laboratory procedures and time.
•The meter will be user friendly and structured similarly to our current glucose meters.
•Normal Levels of Vitamin D may slightly vary with each individual; the meter is not more than a medical tool to indicate deficiency, and it cannot replace a doctor.
•This meter will be targetting children and elders in particular because thos age groups are most prone to deficiency. For kids, pricking fingers for small bloods samples won't be ideal if it's a routine
OUR TEAM
Carolina Tostado Senior Biomedical Engineering, SBHSE, I am interested in learning the general concepts of synthetic biology and its applications, I will be graduating this semester! http://openwetware.org/wiki/User:Carolina_Tostado
Robbia Hendrix Senior in Biochemistry.
Alex Medawar Junior in Biomedical Engineering, SBHSE.
