Wound-Healing Bacteria Greg

Goals Bacteria that could be spread on a wound – Would prevent infections from other bacteria – Would encourage growth of scabs/skin – Would be resistant to or hidden from immune system

Challenges Immune resistance cannot spread to other bacteria – Make immune resistance a multistep process requiring more than one protein Bacteria cannot spread beyond wound – Could upset balance of other beneficial bacteria in gut or kill them off – Link bacterial growth/production of antibacterial stuff to conditions of wounded skin

Stopping other infections Identify method by which harmful bacteria infect a wound – – Step to block seems to be adhesion to human cells

Encouraging Healing Encourage development of fibroblasts, which construct connective tissue, by releasing fibroblast growth factors 1,2,7,10 – In order to avoid disrupting body’s natural healing process, couple FGF generator to a repressor that is activated by fibroblast products (collagens, glycoproteins, etc)

Avoiding an Immune Response PMID: : interaction of B. infantus and L. salivarius with intestinal cells PMID: : toll-like receptors and intestinal bacteria Toll-like receptors in the induction of the innate immune response – Alan Aderem & Richard J. Ulevitch

Containing Immuno-cloaker Engineer two-step process for generation of protection from immune response – Protein cleavage – Require additional enzyme to effect some conformational change

Preventing Spread of Bacteria Cause bacteria to cut DNA responsible for immuno-cloaker and infection stoppers when not exposed to chemicals characteristic of a wound environment – In vivo detection of secreted proteins from wounded skin using capillary ultrafiltration probes and mass spectrometric proteomics, Chun-Ming Huang, Dr., Chao-Cheng Wang, Stephen Barnes, Craig A. Elmets Restriction enzymes moderated by a repressor that is activated by eg. thymosin beta 10 and 4

Other Potential Applications Bacteria that prevent the binding of other bacteria could be used to help patients with a weakened immune system (or injured/sick babies) Immune-resistant bacteria could be used in any medical application where a bacterium needs to avoid detection – Bacteria that unclog arteries? – Bacteria that produce insulin?