Team:Beijing 4ELEVEN/Human Practices
Our project takes into concern various aspects such as moral, social, and scientific. From the moral aspect, our final product is composed of purified components from microorganisms, so users would not have to raise moral concerns when applying our products. From the social aspect, we gathered information through interviews and online surveys, then analyzed the demands of the public. From the scientific aspect, we researched articles, and interviewed professionals.
All our human practices have provided us with directions of improvement.
Acne has negative effects on both health and appearance. Looking at our teammates' faces full of pimples, we decided to focus our project on the treatment of acne vulgaris.
We interviewed mainly teenagers about their experiences with acne and their anticipation of an effective anti-acne product, and learned that most of them are troubled by acne vulgaris' negative effects on their daily lives, and seek treatments that cure acne in a short time, and contain ingredients popularly known to have great effect on acne treatment, but are normally confused by the vast variety of treatments on the internet, not knowing which is most effective.
During our research, we found that antibiotic treatment of acne contributes to the antibiotic misuse. Thus, we established an online survey gathering information about people's concern and awareness of the negative effects of antibiotics misuse, and found out that they are very aware of the correct uses of antibiotics, and are willing to accept an innovation that reduces the worsening of antibiotic misuse in treatment of diseases including acne.
From the scientific aspect, we found out through research that: AMPs have a much lower chance of eliciting bacterial resistance than antibiotics for their different mechanisms of attacking bacteria[1]; protein based bio adhesives, including those consisting of our adhesive and cohesive proteins, are effective as biocoatings[2]; and that biosynthesis of AMPs, once the problem of product AMPs accidentally killing chassis bacteria is solved by using Pichia pastoris as chassis, can reduce the cost and boost the efficiency of AMP synthesis, which is, in most commercial circumstances often in the form of chemosynthesis[1][3]. Then, we proved through experiments that our 5 selected AMPs(CEN1HC-Br, GDP20, snake cathelicidin-BF, human cathelicidin LL-37, and tridecanoic peptide), are effective in killing P. Acnes, an acne vulgaris pathogenic bacteria (the process of which can be viewed in the Proof Of Concept section).
Since our project focuses on AMP acne treatment, it is necessary to investigate the development of AMPs in the professional field of dermatosis and market application prospects of our product. Therefore, our team interviewed the director of dermatosis at an UFH hospital and severaal cosmetics corporations.
It is noteworthy that in the interviews of cosmetics companies, we learned about available acne treatments and the increasing demand for new anti-acne products and treatment. They encouraged the development of our product by suggesting that the use of AMPs in acne treatment is very innovative.
In our interview with the director, she was also interested in our project and showed encouragement and support for our ideas. However, she thought that the use of antibiotics in acne treatment was well controlled and has not triggered severe antibiotic resistance, and due to technical problems, antimicrobial peptides cannot completely replace antibiotics for acne treatment. And she also pointed out that there are many different pathogenic mechanisms for acne, so the application of our products are limited in application because it can only treat one type of acne caused by bacterial infection.
The knowledge we acquired from the interviews helped us gain a clearer view of the field of acne treatment and a better perspective at improving our project.
Our research and interview report (PDF link)
Since Acneutralizer's effects as an anti-acne agent is limited, we decided to support acne patients by helping them find the best treatment.This is accomplished by our development of an applet based on the 2019 Acne Treatment Guidelines of China, which provides acne diagnoses and gives treatment advice based on information input by its users. When we introduced the applet to acne patients via our wechat official account, we received measureable positive feedback for helping people who had not gone to hospitals gain a primary impression of their conditions and credible treatment advice.
See more details on our Software page.
[1] O’Neill, J. Antimicrobial peptides: Tackling of a crisis for the health and wealth of nations. Available online: http://amr-review.org/sites/fefault/files/AMR%20Review%20paper%20-%20Tackling%20a%20crisis%20for%20the%20health%20and%20wealth%20of%20nations_1.pdf
[2] https://2019.igem.org/Team:Greatbay_SCIE
[3] Ramesh, S., de la Torre, B. G., Albericio, F., Kruger, H. G., & Govender, T. (2016). Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Antimicrobial Peptides. Antimicrobial Peptides, 51–59. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-6737-7_4
