A team of students from Dundee University has won a hat-trick of prizes at an international competition for using E coli to help combat the effects of cystic fibrosis.
The students created a device called “The Lung Ranger” at the Internationally Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition in Boston.
The event asks students to tackle a real world problems by designing and building a new device or system from a kit of biological parts.
Dundee’s team this year chose to work on cystic fibrosis, a disease which is found worldwide but is particularly prevalent in Scotland where approximately one in 2,000 babies are born with the condition.
They developed The Lung Ranger, a device used to detect infection by utilising a harmless variant of E coli.
The bacterium has been engineered to glow green when aggressive lung pathogens are detected in mucus coughed up from the respiratory tract.
This can then help doctors recognise and treat the infection faster.
The Dundee team won the best project in the Health and Medicine track, the best Policy and Practices (Outreach) prize, and the prized iGemmers Award, which goes to the team nominated best by their peers. It is the second year in a row Dundee has taken the iGemmers Award.
Professor Tracy Palmer, who worked with the team on their project, said: “This is a fantastic achievement by our iGem team and builds on a great run of success for our students. The team developed an idea into a product that could have real impact for patients with cystic fibrosis.”