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応募プロジェクト・アイデアのタイトル（日英併記）
Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System. Human skin microbiome gene modification and disease detection through smell
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応募プロジェクト・アイデアの紹介動画URL（5分以内）
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応募プロジェクト・アイデアの詳細説明（日英併記）
We've got this idea during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic when we read about dogs which identified people having covid by smell. We also knew that some people can smell diseased such as cancer or Parkinson disease. This is how the idea was born: we imagined that we can expand this human ability by experimenting with human skin microbiome and creating the bacteria which will work as sensors: identify the molecules of diseases and produce tangible smell as a response to these triggers.
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キーワード
#synthetic biology #smell #skin microbiome
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応募プロジェクト・アイデアのWebサイトがありましたら、URLをご記入ください。
https://nikonole.com/quorumsensing
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【特別賞】「地域資源の活用」として、素材や知見などの、地域資源をどのように活用して、課題に取り組んでいるか。（日英併記）
In "Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System" project we propose to use the existing biological systems, resources and the abilities of human body, such as human skin microbiome, smells and olfactory to create a new system of diagnostics. In terms of bio-semiotics we can utilize these existing resources and abilities to program and reprogram information on molecular level
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【特別賞】「コミュニティから始まり、持続される」として、地域コミュニティでの活動を通じて、どのようにその活動を持続させているか。
If we talk about the production of the work: we produced the installation part of the project in Ljubljana and we worked with people from local tech, arts and craft communities: from metal and glass production to 3d-printing and electronics.
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【特別賞】「天然資源の再生」どのように廃棄物や汚染を排除し、天然資源を再生しているか。
In terms of sustainability our project propose to use only biological resources and systems of human body for diseases detection or even prevention. This can be seen as radically sustainable approach to healthcare.
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Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System
Others
Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System project develops DIY-approaches for modifying human skin microbiome in order to produce smells which can be easily detected to self-diagnose or prevent diseases. Moreover this project creates a system, connecting three kingdoms in a symbiotic relationship: uniting bacteria, plants and animals (such as humans).
By creating genetically modified skin microbiome bacteria, producing smells of flowers as a response to a trigger as a disease or fever, "Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System" project suggests to consider skin microbiome as a terminal or an interface. On a bio-semiotic level this signal system may be resurrected and reimagined by programming and reprogramming existing biological relations and structures in the human body into an artificially created nevertheless natural organ, operating between molecular-level processes and something tangible like a smell.
We started to work with E. Coli as a model micro-organism. We used a gene knockout approach to switch off bacteria's own smell and tested smell production using several molecules of smell extracted from flowers (mint, linalool).
Some diseases are asymptomatic, but can be detected on a molecular level. The entity or the organ, created as a prototype within the framework of the project, is able to reveal diseases by decoding these molecular processes and producing smells which can be detected and identified. In terms of medicine this system can be considered as a method of diagnostics and self-diagnostics or even diseases prevention. For instance, we can change an odor of skin microbiome to make it unrecognisable or repellent for mosquitoes to protect people living in areas endemic for yellow fever, dengue and malaria.
However we can expand this understanding in terms of bio-semiotics and to see it as a new sensing organ with specific ability to redefine the existing signal system (smells) and to use the familiar sensation (olfactory) to encode and decode the information on a biochemical level.
By creating genetically modified skin microbiome bacteria, producing smells of flowers as a response to a trigger as a disease or fever, "Quorum Sensing: Skin Flora Signal System" project suggests to consider skin microbiome as a terminal or an interface. On a bio-semiotic level this signal system may be resurrected and reimagined by programming and reprogramming existing biological relations and structures in the human body into an artificially created nevertheless natural organ, operating between molecular-level processes and something tangible like a smell.
We started to work with E. Coli as a model micro-organism. We used a gene knockout approach to switch off bacteria's own smell and tested smell production using several molecules of smell extracted from flowers (mint, linalool).
Some diseases are asymptomatic, but can be detected on a molecular level. The entity or the organ, created as a prototype within the framework of the project, is able to reveal diseases by decoding these molecular processes and producing smells which can be detected and identified. In terms of medicine this system can be considered as a method of diagnostics and self-diagnostics or even diseases prevention. For instance, we can change an odor of skin microbiome to make it unrecognisable or repellent for mosquitoes to protect people living in areas endemic for yellow fever, dengue and malaria.
However we can expand this understanding in terms of bio-semiotics and to see it as a new sensing organ with specific ability to redefine the existing signal system (smells) and to use the familiar sensation (olfactory) to encode and decode the information on a biochemical level.
