Introducing iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020

Hello everyone! We are iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020, a team comprising of multi-disciplinary undergraduates from National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan. And it is our fifth-year joining iGEM.

This year we're going to design a pair of contact lenses called Eye kNOw for treating glaucoma. Glaucoma is an ocular disease that causes irreversible damage to the optic nerve, and this damage is usually caused by the high Intraocular Pressure (IOP) in the eyes. Affecting over 80 million people worldwide, glaucoma is now considered as the second leading cause of blindness and has been labeled "silent killer of eyes" due to the difficulty in diagnosis.

The outer ring of our modified contact lenses is filled with water, IPTG, L-arginine, and a compartment to contain our engineered bacteria, as well as an ion-exchange membrane that only allows water and ions to pass through. When IOP increases, it will pressurize the contact lenses, causing water outflow and the volume inside the contact lenses to decrease. This will increase the concentration of IPTG in the contact lenses, and induce our bacteria to produce nitric oxide synthase to convert L-arginine into nitric oxide to lower the IOP.

Moreover, we also design Eye screen, a portable ultrasound device for the screening and tracking of one's IOP. As it uses ultrasound to detect IOP, the measurement would be non-invasive, and we reduce many components to minimize the size, building a user-friendly device for the detection of IOP.

Through Eye kNOw and Eye Screen, we can tackle the ever-worsening problem of glaucoma by employing the power of synthetic biology and develop a more efficient and less invasive glaucoma treatment.

For further information, feel free to contact us.

Email: igem.club@gs.ncku.edu.tw

Instagram: @igemncku

Messenger: iGEM NCKU-Tainan

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