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Revision as of 16:44, 22 October 2020
OVERVIEW
Vitamin A Deficiency and the Creation of Oviita
Vitamin A deficiency has long been a problem in vulnerable and developing areas. The topic has not been addressed by the media and larger organizations since the early 2000s. However, it turns out that vitamin A deficiency cases have reached a seven-year high, and numbers are expected to rise (Baker, 2019). Providing a solution to Vitamin A deficiency would not only prevent childhood blindness but also improve immunity to other diseases. Oviita’s vision is to see no child blinded by vitamin A deficiency. For this to happen, we wanted to make informed decisions. After all, many organizations have invested millions of dollars to alleviate this problem.
To fully understand the problem and design a plan to address it, our team utilized iGEM Calgary’s human-centered design process which leads to integration with key stakeholders and end users throughout the project lifecycle.
Initially we thought that supplementing beta-carotene alone would solve the problem. Little did we know that Vitamin A Deficiency was caused by multiple gaps/problems with compounding effects.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
Stakeholder Interviews
Before investing our energies in doing wet lab and dry lab work, we wanted to verify that Vitamin A Deficiency is still a problem. We talked to people who work directly with vitamin A deficiency: nutritionists, public health specialists, anthropologists, and doctors. We created conversation about the problems with past attempts in vitamin A supplementation programs, what the supplementation process is like, the current status of vitamin A internationally and countries they are in, and the bottlenecks in the supplementation process.
What did we discover?
Current State of Vitamin A DeficiencyOur HP contacts who work in the Philippines, Ghana, India, and Burkina Faso told us that VAD still affects a significant percentage of the children in their countries. The government plays a big role in promotion of growing beta-carotene biofortified crops and supplying vitamin A (retinol) capsules. However, these efforts are not enough.
Ineffective Delivery
Past approaches such as the Golden Rice project and biofortification of other staple crops through genetic engineering did not work well because plants need months to grow and farmers would suffer economic losses because the biofortified crops can contaminate their non-fortified crops and prevent its export. Additionally, vitamin A supplementation through gel capsules is only done biannually. Health and nutritional organizations allot for more than 100% coverage of supplements, but social workers and mobile nurses are not always able to reach rural areas.
Lack of Sustainability
Many institutions from western companies have provided VAD-vulnerable countries with resources to combat the problem, but we learned that they don’t work well because these institutions do not leave infrastructure for the people to work with. As a result, their efforts go in vain as soon as they leave the country and stop providing resources. Many of these efforts also do not consider the culture and available resources in the country they are helping. Lastly, the money has to come from someone’s pocket. Even with cheap vitamin A capsule prices, transportation and distribution costs can still be economically straining. Most importantly, the people we are working with do not want external aid enforced on them. They want something sustainable-- something THEY can have ownership and accountability of.
IDEATE
Propose Solutions
Having identified key problems in the vitamin A supplementation distribution, our team started brainstorming ideas. Upon careful consideration of our stakeholders’ needs, we decided on using a chassis producing β-carotene targeted for consumption like nutritional yeast. Upon conducting literature review, we decided on working with Rhodotorula toruloides, a red oleaginous yeast which naturally produces β-carotene. Then, we would genetically modify it with a series of cellulases to use agricultural waste as a feedstock. A light-inducible kill switch would also be added as a biocontainment measure. For added safety features and optimized growth conditions, our yeast would be grown in a laboratory bioreactor. With these attributes, the yeast could be grown in a community center, clinics, or dispensaries-- improving vitamin coverage and delivery in a sustainable manner. To learn more about these solutions, please click the buttons below.
Verifying Need
With a proposal on hand, we talked to our end users to verify its need and discuss its implementation in their workplace and communities. We talked to healthcare workers and nutritionists in rural areas in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia which are among the most VAD-vulnerable areas.
The feedback we received from our stakeholders was that a bioreactor capable of producing a steady supply of vitamin-A producing yeast would be much better than waiting for biannual distribution of the vitamin. Omega-3 fatty acids are an emerging essential nutrient with numerous health benefits which make its production favourable.
Dr. Sanou and Lourlin mentioned that vitamin A supplementation is not always effective because children's intestines are often perforated by worms and parasites due to lack of proper footwear and access to clean water in these areas. Because of this, our team decided to change the production of omega-3 to that of thymol, an anthelmintic compound found in thyme leaves.
In places like the Philippines, India, Burkina Faso, and Uganda, people would have events like “nutrition week” or “micronutrient week” dedicated to diagnosing VAD, deworming using Albendazole, supplying vitamin A, and also informing parents and children about the importance of incorporating vitamin A in the diet.
Asides from these initiatives, we were surprised to hear that diagnostic methods for VAD are based on height, sight, and academic performance tests rather than laboratory testing. This explains the sparse data on Vitamin A deficiency by the WHO which dates back to 2005. From Dr. Sanou’s Public Health perspective, these tests are inaccurate. And that’s how randi cell was born.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Next Steps
In order to provide a sustainable, community-based solution, we plan to genetically modify Rhodosporidium toruloides, an oleaginous yeast that naturally produces beta-carotene and lipids, to be more robust and resource-efficient. By modifying the yeast to produce cellulase, it can then use common agricultural waste products as an energy source for synthesizing its oil. It can then be eaten as a vitamin A supplement. The yeast strain, while naturally safe and non-pathogenic, will also be genetically modified to include a kill switch for bio-containment, and optimized for oil production.
