IGEM:Stanford/2009/Groups/Team Feng: Difference between revisions
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(New page: *'''~~~~''': I know our topic is energy efficiency, but I was recently introduced to staph infections the other day - my mother is a nurse and she was telling me about it. Staph infections...) |
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*'''[[User:Robert Ovadia|Robert]] 18:22, 20 February 2009 (EST)''': I know our topic is energy efficiency, but I was recently introduced to staph infections the other day - my mother is a nurse and she was telling me about it. Staph infections are caused by the strain, Staphylococcus aureus - most commonly caught when people don't wash their hands.<br> | *'''[[User:Robert Ovadia|Robert]] 18:22, 20 February 2009 (EST)''': I know our topic is energy efficiency, but I was recently introduced to staph infections the other day - my mother is a nurse and she was telling me about it. Staph infections are caused by the strain, Staphylococcus aureus - most commonly caught when people don't wash their hands.<br>One might argue that the body's defense would be able to destroy them, such as neutrophils. However, the bacterium has an orangish pigment that has antioxidant properties (http://jem.rupress.org/cgi/content/full/202/2/209) thus protecting it from the oxidative species neutrophils use. In addition, some variants of staphylococcus are resistant to penicillin - it produces Beta-lactamase - making it difficult to target.<br>There are papers of phages (http://aac.asm.org/cgi/content/full/49/3/1220) that can target the strain, I wasn't able to find what kind of phages were used, but maybe we can engineer a phage to not only prevent the expression of the gene, but have the strain accomplish other useful functions (whatever that may be). I am not too sure how this will be more effective than current treatments, but what do you guys think? | ||
One might argue that the body's defense would be able to destroy them, such as neutrophils. However, the bacterium has an orangish pigment that has antioxidant properties (http://jem.rupress.org/cgi/content/full/202/2/209) thus protecting it from the oxidative species neutrophils use. In addition, some variants of staphylococcus are resistant to penicillin - it produces Beta-lactamase - making it difficult to target.<br> | |||
There are papers of phages (http://aac.asm.org/cgi/content/full/49/3/1220) that can target the strain, I wasn't able to find what kind of phages were used, but maybe we can engineer a phage to not only prevent the expression of the gene, but have the strain accomplish other useful functions (whatever that may be). I am not too sure how this will be more effective than current treatments, but what do you guys think? | |||
Revision as of 16:22, 20 February 2009
- Robert 18:22, 20 February 2009 (EST): I know our topic is energy efficiency, but I was recently introduced to staph infections the other day - my mother is a nurse and she was telling me about it. Staph infections are caused by the strain, Staphylococcus aureus - most commonly caught when people don't wash their hands.
One might argue that the body's defense would be able to destroy them, such as neutrophils. However, the bacterium has an orangish pigment that has antioxidant properties (http://jem.rupress.org/cgi/content/full/202/2/209) thus protecting it from the oxidative species neutrophils use. In addition, some variants of staphylococcus are resistant to penicillin - it produces Beta-lactamase - making it difficult to target.
There are papers of phages (http://aac.asm.org/cgi/content/full/49/3/1220) that can target the strain, I wasn't able to find what kind of phages were used, but maybe we can engineer a phage to not only prevent the expression of the gene, but have the strain accomplish other useful functions (whatever that may be). I am not too sure how this will be more effective than current treatments, but what do you guys think?
