The Challenge 

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), including Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the intestine. In the Netherlands it is estimated that 80.000 people suffer from IBD. Diagnosis of IBD is performed via different medical procedures, namely biochemical, radiologic, histologic and endoscopic. Endoscopy is the most invasive of these procedures and therefore, the most unpleasant. This technique is necessary to establish a diagnosis for IBD.

The Solution

As team iGEM Eindhoven 2021, we would like to make the current diagnostic procedure more pleasant, by making it non-invasive. The non-invasive procedure will contain a sensing mechanism for chronic bowel inflammation by means of E.coli bacteria and ultrasound technology. The E.coli bacteria can detect inflammatory markers in the intestinal wall. As a response to the presence of these markers, the bacteria will produce tiny gas vesicles and these gas vesicles can be observed via ultrasound.

The Mission

Non-invasive early diagnosis of IBD.

This project is being coached by