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According to the World Health Organization, if effective intervention methods against antimicrobial resistance are not conducted by 2050, 10 million deaths could occur annually. Note that no new family of antibiotics has been commercialized in the past 25 years. 

How do antibiotics work?  

An antibiotic is a natural or synthetic substance that destroys or blocks bacterial propagation. The first case can be qualified as a bactericidal antibiotic and the second one, as a bacteriostatic antibiotic. Antibiotics were introduced into our daily lives after World War II. They are considered as one of the biggest therapeutic advances of the 20thcentury. As a matter of fact, antibiotics managed to increase our life expectancy by more than 10 years. However, the overuse or misuse of certain antibiotics conducted to a phenomenon called antimicrobial resistance, meaning that the antibiotic loses its ability to treat the bacterial infection. In hospitals, for example, this resistance leads to an increase in nosocomial infections due to particularly resistant germs such as Escherichia coli. According to the Health Minister, nosocomial infections cause 4 000 deaths per year in France.


Since this phenomenon cannot continue to persist and antibiotics are showing weaknesses,  we wish to exploit the power of synthetic biology in order to face this nasty antimicrobial resistance.

With the help of synthetic biology, the iGEM IONIS 2020 Team advances an alternative to antibiotics to fight against pathogenic bacteria, especially those which are resistant to antibiotics. Synthetic biology is defined as in vitro DNA synthesis. Together with biology and bioinformatics, synthetic biology aims to rethink and redesign living systems.     

To face this major healthcare issue, we conceived the project BacTail. 

Bactail
BacTail is inspired by certain characteristics of bacteriophages which are the natural predators of bacteria. They are composed of a capsid containing the bacteriophage’s genome, a more or less long sheath, and Long Tail Fibers (LTF). The project aims at using specific genetic sequences coding for Long Tail Fibers from bacteriophages allowing them to specifically recognize their target bacterium. 


Annotated scheme of the T4 Bacteriophage
Sup’Biotech students of the 2020 iGEM IONIS team will use LTFs coming from bacteriophages of the Myoviridae family. The aim is to express them on the surface of Escherichi coli (E. coli) so that is it capable of specifically recognizing, attacking and killing pathogenic bacteria, that have developed antibiotic resistance. 

Our proof of concept will be based on specific recognition of a target bacteria (mimicking the future pathogenic bacterium), which will be another strain of E. coli. This recognition will induce the death of the targeted E. coli.

We have planned three main objectives in the BacTail project: 

Specific recognition and binding of targeted bacteria by the LTF 
Induction of the attack of the targeted bacteria through the secretion of antimicrobial peptides that are toxic for the target 
Death of our engineered bacteria once it has fulfilled its mission, in order to avoid its propagation 

Phases of the BacTail proof of concept
Our team is also composed of 3 ESME Sudria students studying general engineering. Thanks to their help, we are developing a software that will help with the assembly of the key recognition components that must be integrated in our engineered model for it to recognize the target. This modularity will allow our system to have a specific response to any type of bacterial target. In addition, 2 students (from ESME and Epita, engineering school in computer science) are in charge of programming our wiki, which is a website that contains our entire project, for the iGEM competition.

Selon l’OMS, d’ici 2050, 10 millions de personnes mourront chaque année à cause de la résistance aux antibiotiques. De plus, aucune nouvelle famille d’antibiotique n’a été mise sur le marché depuis plus de 25 ans.

Les antibiotiques, c’est pas automatique !

Un antibiotique, est une substance naturelle ou synthétique qui détruit ou bloque la croissance des bactéries. Dans le premier cas, on parle d’antibiotique bactéricide et dans le second cas d’antibiotique bactériostatique. Les antibiotiques ont été introduits dans le quotidien des Hommes au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. L’antibiotique est considéré comme l’un des progrès thérapeutiques les plus importants du XXème siècle. En effet, il a fait croître l’espérance de vie de plus de dix ans. Cependant, l’usage généralisé, voire abusif de certains antibiotiques a conduit au développement de bactéries résistantes, et ainsi à une diminution de l’efficacité thérapeutique des antibiotiques. En milieu hospitalier par exemple, cette résistance aboutit à une augmentation des maladies nosocomiales à défaut de traitement adapté à certains germes particulièrement résistants tels qu’Escherichia coli. D’après le Ministère de la Santé, il est estimé que les maladies nosocomiales sont les causes de 4 000 décès par an en France.


Et parce que « les antibiotiques c’est pas automatique », nous souhaitons repousser les limites de la biologie synthétique afin de contourner cette résistance !

L’équipe iGEM IONIS 2020 propose alors d’apporter une solution alternative à l’usage des antibiotiques via la biologie de synthèse pour lutter contre certaines bactéries pathogènes et notamment celles résistantes aux antibiotiques. La biologie de synthèse se définie comme l’ingénierie du vivant, il ne s’agit plus seulement de comprendre le vivant mais de concevoir en le « redesignant » grâce à l’association de la biologie et de l’informatique.


Pour répondre à cette problématique de santé majeure, nous avons pensé le projet BacTail qui vise à utiliser certains gènes provenant de bactériophages leurs conférant une propriété de reconnaissance spécifique bactérienne ; les LTF (Long Tail Fiber). Un bactériophage est le prédateur naturel des bactéries. Ces derniers sont composés d’une capside renfermant leur génome, d’une gaine ainsi que des fibres caudales autrement appelées LTF.


Structure annotée du bactériophage T4
Les étudiants de Sup’Biotech de iGEM IONIS vont se charger de faire exprimer ces LTF provenant de bactériophages de la famille des Myoviridae par la bactérie Escherichia coli (E. coli) pour qu’elle puisse reconnaître, attaquer et tuer spécifiquement les bactéries pathogènes ainsi que celles ayant acquis une résistance aux antibiotiques.

Notre preuve de concept sera basée sur la reconnaissance spécifique d’une espèce de E. coli, notre bactérie cible (qui mime la bactérie pathogène), par l’espèce de E. coli que nous aurons modifiée. Cette reconnaissance aura pour but de déclencher la mort de la cible (càd celle qui représente notre bactérie résistante et pathogène).

Nous avons décidé de décomposer le projet BacTail en 3 étapes :

La reconnaissance spécifique de la bactérie cible par les LTF
Le déclenchement de l’attaque de la bactérie cible via une sécrétion de peptides antimicrobiens qui sont toxiques pour la cible
La mort programmée de la bactérie modifiée quand sa mission sera accomplie, afin d’éviter sa propagation

Etapes de la preuve de concept du projet BacTail
Notre équipe étant également composée de 4 étudiants de l’ESME Sudria spécialisés en informatique et en électronique, nous souhaitons également automatiser un appareil qui, à partir d’une bactérie pathogène cible, pourra designer le plasmide clé à intégrer dans notre modèle d’étude afin qu’elle puisse spécifiquement éliminer sa cible.



Our Project

Notre Projet

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The IGEM IONIS Team would like to thank you from the bottom of our heart for your donations. The fundraising was a real success! As you may already know, we started this campaign in order to present our project at the iGEM competition. Your contribution allowed us to reach our first milestone, thus reducing the gap between us and our goal.

All the members of our team thank you for your generosity and your support. You are now part of our project and we hope to bring you far with us in this wonderful adventure!!!

> William Ubelmann – Paul Lubrano – Lucas Boistard – Grégoire Soghomonian – Shanti Mabro – Matthieu Chaldebas – Eva Levi – Matthieu Da Costa – Antoine Scanu – Celia Chenebault – Isabelle Jenner – Emmanuel Hugon – Vanessa Proux – Luka Beygui – Chloé Bardin – Nathan Fonti – Jacques Eynard – Arlette Trinkler – Marie Hélène Charles – Sonia Criseo – Quentin Person – Olivia Penichou – Antoine Kobak – Paul Duteil – Nada Zehrouni – Robert Padrino – Rodril Voyer – Camille Lemonnier – Jean Louis Bosc – Antoine Lodiot – Farzin Beygui – Alexis Rezgui – Nadine Chamsi Pasha – Pamina Lantos – Clémence Raphaël – Maryse Sellier – Anne Podevin – Adrien TRAN – Matthis Di Giacomo – Fanny Margerie – Martin Le Digabel – Thibaud Hemon – Sara Kadiri

L’équipe IGEM IONIS tient à vous remercier de tout son cœur pour vos dons, la cagnotte fut un réel succès ! Comme vous le savez, nous avons lancé cette campagne afin de présenter notre projet au concours iGEM, et votre contribution nous a permis d’atteindre le premier palier et nous rapproche un peu plus de notre objectif.

Tous les membres de l’équipe vous remercient de votre générosité et de votre soutien. Vous faites partie maintenant à part entière du projet et nous espérons vous amener loin avec nous dans cette superbe aventure !!!

> William Ubelmann – Paul Lubrano – Lucas Boistard – Grégoire Soghomonian – Shanti Mabro – Matthieu Chaldebas – Eva Levi – Matthieu Da Costa – Antoine Scanu – Celia Chenebault – Isabelle Jenner – Emmanuel Hugon – Vanessa Proux – Luka Beygui – Chloé Bardin – Nathan Fonti – Jacques Eynard – Arlette Trinkler – Marie Hélène Charles – Sonia Criseo – Quentin Person – Olivia Penichou – Antoine Kobak – Paul Duteil – Nada Zehrouni – Robert Padrino – Rodril Voyer – Camille Lemonnier – Jean Louis Bosc – Antoine Lodiot – Farzin Beygui – Alexis Rezgui – Nadine Chamsi Pasha – Pamina Lantos – Clémence Raphaël – Maryse Sellier – Anne Podevin – Adrien TRAN – Matthis Di Giacomo – Fanny Margerie – Martin Le Digabel – Thibaud Hemon – Sara Kadiri

Our Kind Donors

Nos généreux donateurs

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**iGEM** (International Genetically Engineered Machine) is an international synthetic biology student competition. Hosted by the MIT (Boston, MA) since over 10 years ago, this competition, which attracts students from all around the world, promotes synthetic biology with strong ethics and safety commitments. The 2018 edition featured 340 teams and 5790 team members.

Synthetic biology is the design and construction of new, standardized biological parts and devices, and getting them to do useful things. Parts are encoded using DNA and assembled either in a test tube or in living cells and then applied to deliver many different kinds of outcomes. This field combines engineering and biology skills to solve problems while respecting the environment, ethics and safety. Students are tutored by researchers, PhDs or postdocs, and develop their own project (research, development, communication, sponsorships, ethics, …).

# An international contest

iGEM began in 2003. It was initially an MIT summer class, but became a competition in 2004. Since then, iGEM became the reference competition regarding synthetic biology projects, bringing together teams from more than 40 different countries.

# iGEM IONIS on previous editions

Our team is mainly composed of students from Sup’Biotech, but also EPITA, Epitech, IPSA, IONIS STM, e-artsup and ESME Sudria, all being part of the IONIS education group, 1st private education group in France.

With these diversified talents, our different teams were able to develop innovative technologies using synthetic biology during the 2015, 2016 and 2017 iGEM editions.

## BACT’MAN Adventures: Synthetic Biology for all

The iGEM IONIS 2015 team had the aim to make synthetic biology accessible for all. The team was multidisciplinary, being composed of the following IONIS schools: Sup’Biotech (Engineer school in Biotechnologies), Epita (Engineer school in IT), E-artsup (a school specialised in design). Thanks to this plurality, this team succeeded to conceive a video game, BACT’MAN Adventures, which allowed to promote synthetic biology.

The hero of the game is a bacterium that must avoid to enter in contact with a laser to survive. Indeed, the bacteria had been modified thanks to synthetic biology:

- At the begin of the game, a bacterium is released with several vesicles. When bacteria receive a light stimulation (laser), bacteria synthetise a protein, luciferase, which is a fluorescent protein. The vesicles are sensitive to the fluorescence emitted by the bacteria. They are fragilized and thus release toxins that will kill the bacterium.
- The end of the game leads to the death of the bacteria.

![Global architecture scheme of BACT’MAN Adventures](https://storage.googleapis.com/igem-strapi/image_ba8d7142d4/image_ba8d7142d4.png)

## Quantifly, detecting pollution at the source

Over the years, air pollution has become a true ecological and sanitary issue. Although pollution reduction is important, it is also necessary to be able to detect and quantify it in order to take proper actions.

As currently used means of detection (chemical or physical) are considered as poorly efficient, the iGEM IONIS 2016 team, composed of students from Sup’Biotech, EPITA, EPITECH, IPSA, IONIS STM and e-artsup, has developed a new, more effective, biological system. It is specific to organic volatile compounds such as benzene or toluene.

Two main elements constitute the system:

- A biosensor: the use of bacteria that are going to detect the pollutant enabling the release of a light signal linked to the concentration. Bacteria are modified with two genes found in two different species: Pseudomonas putida (detection protein, XylR) et Gaussia princeps (signal protein, Luciferase). 
As shown below, XylR protein forms a complex with the pollutant which then allows the expression of the luciferase. 

![Biosenseur Quantifly](https://storage.googleapis.com/igem-strapi/image_1_a0be809e7a/image_1_a0be809e7a.png)

- A drone: it is the means of transport of the biological system which has to bring it directly where the pollutants are.

![Drone Quantifly](https://storage.googleapis.com/igem-strapi/image_2_e3d84bf286/image_2_e3d84bf286.png)

Thus, this new biological system allows the recovery of more specific and accurate data in less time.

This project was rewarded with a golden medal and several nominations such as best environmental project.

## Softer Shock, adapting plants
One of the many international tokens of France is definitely wine. Indeed, over the centuries French wine was able to impose itself as one of the most refined and known wines in the world. Wouldn’t it be a shame to see such a patrimony diminish? Unfortunately, with the climate change we are experiencing today, winemakers are starting to notice that their vineyards are degrading and the wine quality is declining. Frequent droughts and freezing are to be blame.

![Vigne victime de gelée (gauche) et sécheresse (droite)](https://storage.googleapis.com/igem-strapi/image_3_b720fe93f3/image_3_b720fe93f3.png)

To answer to the agriculturers’ distress whose survival depends on the quality of their products, the iGEM IONIS 2017 team, composed of students from Sup’Biotech, EPITA and e-artsup, has imagined the Softer Shock project.

The idea is to develop a biological thermosensitive solution allowing the reduction of the plants’ thermal stress.

To fight both the dreadful effects of droughts and freezing, Softer Shock is composed of 2 systems:

- Cold Shock: in this system the UP element is going to allow the transcription of the CspA promotor at low temperatures (<15°C) inducing the expression of ice-binding proteins, thus reducing the formation of ice crystals.
- Heat Shock: the use of the pL promotor only active at temperatures higher than 37°C. Its activation allows the expression of reflective proteins which then induces a cooling effect on the leaves.

![Schéma d’action global de la bactérie](https://storage.googleapis.com/igem-strapi/image_4_5fa76584bc/image_4_5fa76584bc.png)

To test the efficiency of their induction system, the team has used reporter genes: amilCP chromoprotein for Cold Shock and mRFP fluorescent protein for Heat Shock.

This project was rewarded with a golden medal and several nominations such as best food and nutrition project.

## Cinergy, transforming cigarette butts into electricity

France is one of the world’s largest tobacco consumers. More than 4 300 billion cigarettes are thrown on the ground each year in the world, producing a very polluting waste: the cigarette butt. Cigarette butts release harmful substances that turn up in the soil, groundwater and oceans. Moreover, cigarette butts are composed of a plastic called cellulose acetate which slows down the natural degradation of this waste, which can take from 10 to 15 years.

To answer this environmental problem, the iGEM IONIS 2019 team composed of students from Sup’Biotech, ESME Sudria, EPITA and IPSA, imagined the Cinergy project. The aim of the project project was to recover the filter of cigarette butts by degrading it with bacteria in order to produce electricity.

![Scheme of the electricity production process](https://storage.googleapis.com/igem-strapi/sch_C3_A9ma_ba8fb67e05/sch_C3_A9ma_ba8fb67e05.png)

Cigarette butts are first crushed in order to separate the cellulose acetate fibres which serve as substrate for the *Escherichia coli* bacteria. These fibers are then degraded via different enzymes in order to produce glucose and acetate which are then metabolized into lactate. The latter is excreted and metabolized by a second bacteria, *Shewanella oneidensis*, which is known as “electrogenic” to produce electrons which are then transmitted to the Microbial Fuel Cell electrode to produce electricity.

The competition

Le concours

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# The goal of this fund-raising
Taking part in the 2020 iGEM competition requires a proof of concept conducted in the laboratory. Which will demonstrate and confirm that our project is robust. For this, we need to buy lab equipment, as well as consumables. This estimated cost is 10 000€. This represents a milestone which is a critical step for the fulfilment of our project. It would be a great indicator of the its future success.

That is why we call upon you help sponsor our purpose!

With this aim in mind, we set 3 different support levels :

- Level 1 : 5 000€ – Thank you, we are now able to pay for 50% of our lab consumables.
- Level 2 : 10 000€ – Thank you for your generosity, we can now buy all the necessary lab equipment and consumables needed for the proof of concept.
- Level 3 : 15 000€ – Thank you for your donations, we will be able to finance our participation to the Grand Final of the iGEM Competition!
 

If you wish to help us in taking part in this great adventure and contribute to the first step which is the competition’s registration fees, please don’t hesitate, any type of donation is very much appreciated!

# Acknowledgements
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to read about our project. A big thank you to anyone in advance who will take part in this fund-raising campaign, no matter the size of your donation. Finally, we are very grateful to anyone who supported us and believed in our project.

# Make a donation

[![](https://storage.googleapis.com/igem-strapi/Capture_d_e_cran_2020_04_29_a_17_33_23_1588175456_42884a28f0/Capture_d_e_cran_2020_04_29_a_17_33_23_1588175456_42884a28f0.png)](https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/bactail)


# À quoi servira la collecte
Afin de présenter notre projet au concours iGEM, nous devons établir notre preuve de concept et donc réaliser nos expériences en laboratoire. Pour cela, nous avons besoin d’acheter du matériel de laboratoire ainsi que des consommables. Nous évaluons ces frais à hauteur de 10 000€. Cette étape est cruciale au bon déroulement de notre projet. C’est pourquoi nous faisons appel à vous.

Pour cela, nous nous sommes fixés 3 paliers :

- Palier 1: 5 000€ – Grâce à vous, nous sommes en mesure de financer 50% des consommables nécessaires au laboratoire.
- Palier 2: 10 000€ – Grâce à votre générosité, nous pouvons financer 100% des consommables.
- Palier 3: 15 000€ – Grâce à vos donations, nous pouvons financer 100% des consommables AINSI QUE notre participation à la grande finale du concours iGEM !

Si vous souhaitez nous soutenir dans cette incroyable aventure et contribuer à la première étape qu’est l’inscription, n’attendez plus.

# Remerciements
Un grand merci à toutes les personnes qui ont pris le temps de lire l’intégralité de notre projet. Merci à tous ceux qui vont participer à cette campagne de financement, qu’il s’agisse aussi bien de petites comme de plus grandes donations. Nous tenons également à remercier toutes les personnes qui nous soutiennent et croient en ce projet.

# Faire un don

[![](https://storage.googleapis.com/igem-strapi/Capture_d_e_cran_2020_04_29_a_17_33_23_1588175456_42884a28f0/Capture_d_e_cran_2020_04_29_a_17_33_23_1588175456_42884a28f0.png)](https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/bactail)


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