Ten Egyptian students are hoping to develop a solution that would help in the battle against cancer. What exactly is this solution? Egyptian Streets interviewed the team to find out more. What exactly is the problem? Cancer has become the second leading cause of death in the world. Conventional anticancer therapies such as radio- and chemotherapies cannot differentiate efficiently between cancerous and normal tissues, and thus can hurt more than help. Our research focuses on a specific type of bacterium that has the ability to differentiate between cancerous and normal cells. These bacteria preferentially accumulate in cancer tissues at a ratio 10000:1 compared to normal ones. Scientists then managed to use these bacteria as a vehicle to deliver cytotoxic drugs into cancerous cells. However, about 1% of bacteria still instigated apoptosis in normal cells, so the procedure is not perfect. Our solution is to insert an “ON” switch into these bacteria, so that they only instigate cell death when activated. This switch would preferentially be turned on only in cancerous cells. What is your vision? Our project vision is to deliver a drug that cures cancer without hurting the individual,…
10 Egyptian Students Need YOUR Help To Develop A Medical Solution
April 30, 2015
