IISER Tripuati's Students Wins Gold at iGEM Global Competition
IISER Tirupati students researchers team is awarded for their remarkable work in developing a probiotic treatment to fight Colon Cancer Cells. Their research includes injecting responding bacteria to cancer cells.
A student researcher team of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research - IISER Tirupati has claimed that their research can provide a solution to cure Colon Cancer using pro-biotic therapy for activating the immune system in the body. The research won the gold at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) global competition which was held at Boston, USA.
The gold medal to this research was conferred for the remarkable work in Genetically Engineered Machine for which International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) stands for.
Bhavesh Kumar Tripathy, a researcher of the project stated that the research shows the way to fight cancer cells by inserting bacteria with chemical molecules in the body. This pro-biotic therapy will increase the immune power of the body to fight cancer.
He added that pro-biotic therapy can be used for commercial healthcare purposes after a year or two. He added that their research has only substantiated the cure of Colon Cancer. The commercial use of the research findings in medical treatments can be done only after practical exposure of the therapy.
There were 15 members in the research group who has won the gold medal. The researchers informed that it is just a solution level and has not tested on animals yet. The names of the most prominent researchers of the project are Amartya Paul, Megha Maria Jacob, Bhabesh Kumar Tripathy, Uttara Khatri, Mrugank Dake besides the mentors of the project who are, Basuthkar Jagadeeshwara Rao (The Professor of Biology and Dean), Raju Mukherjee (The Assistant Professor of Biology) including other students.
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Explaining the methodology of pro-biotic technology, a researcher, Megha Maria Jacob informed that, every cancerous cell carries a specific marker which is true in the case of Colon Cancer as well. The main objective of probiotic therapy is developing bacteria capable of recognising and binding to the cancer cells.
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She further informed that rich lactate environment is the feature of every cancer cell. The bacteria should be designed in such a way so that it senses those lactates and respond to it. The bacteria shall spear the drug molecules which are designed to increase immunity against cancer cells for the clearance of tumour.
The commercialisation of the pro-biotic technique can be proved as a life-saving strategy against the global fight against Cancer.