Probiotic bacteria can diagnose, prevent, and treat infections

Probiotic bacteria can diagnose, prevent, and treat infections

6 years ago
Anonymous $roN-uuAfLt

https://phys.org/news/2018-06-probiotic-bacteria-infections.html

The MIT team's new probiotic mix could be consumed regularly as a preventative measure in regions where cholera is common, or used to treat people soon after infection occurs, says James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and Department of Biological Engineering.

"Our goal was to use synthetic biology to develop an inexpensive means to detect and diagnose as well as suppress or treat cholera infections," says Collins, who is the senior author of the study. "If one could inexpensively and quickly track the disease and treat it with natural or engineered probiotics, it could be a game-changer in many parts of the world."