Bacteria in a pill may one day track your body’s chemistry

Bacteria in a pill may one day track your body’s chemistry

6 years ago
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http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/bacteria-pill-may-one-day-track-your-body-s-chemistry

In the latest twist on an edible sensor that could one day monitor disease, scientists have created a pill-size device that can detect bleeding deep inside a pig’s digestive tract—and relay that information via a wireless signal to a cellphone. If researchers can modify the sensor to pick up other chemicals—and shrink the pill—they could one day create a multipurpose readout of gut health.

To make their sensor, engineers and biologists turned to a bacterium commonly sold as a probiotic in Europe. They genetically engineered it to detect the blood chemical heme by injecting several genes: one that triggers in the presence of heme, and another that makes the cell glow when triggered—enough to light up a detector and produce a wireless signal.

Bacteria in a pill may one day track your body’s chemistry

May 24, 2018, 6:18pm UTC
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/bacteria-pill-may-one-day-track-your-body-s-chemistry > In the latest twist on an edible sensor that could one day monitor disease, scientists have created a pill-size device that can detect bleeding deep inside a pig’s digestive tract—and relay that information via a wireless signal to a cellphone. If researchers can modify the sensor to pick up other chemicals—and shrink the pill—they could one day create a multipurpose readout of gut health. > To make their sensor, engineers and biologists turned to a bacterium commonly sold as a probiotic in Europe. They genetically engineered it to detect the blood chemical heme by injecting several genes: one that triggers in the presence of heme, and another that makes the cell glow when triggered—enough to light up a detector and produce a wireless signal.