{"id":98212,"date":"2016-11-16T10:39:18","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T15:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/?p=98212"},"modified":"2016-11-16T05:39:48","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T10:39:48","slug":"bacteria-the-good-the-bad-and-the-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2016\/11\/bacteria-the-good-the-bad-and-the-designer\/","title":{"rendered":"Bacteria: The Good, The Bad, and The Designer"},"content":{"rendered":"
November 16, 2016<\/div>
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By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a> \"Bacteria:<\/p>\n

Synlogic, a spinout from MIT, is about to test a pill that contains 100 billion genetically engineered microbes that will help fight a rare disorder. It may be the first of many \u201csynthetic biotics.\u201d<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

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I start just about every day with a banana and a bowl of Grape-Nuts mixed with yogurt \u2014 Fage, to be sure \u2014 and I like just about every flavor, but my favorites are \u201cHoney\u201d and \u201cKey Lime.\u201d<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s how I get my Lactobacillus bulgaricus<\/em> and my Streptococcus thermophilus<\/em>, the live and active cultures that define yogurt.<\/p>\n

These probiotics also help prevent gastrointestinal infections, boost the body\u2019s immune system, fight certain types of cancer, and prevent osteoporosis.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re \u201cgood\u201d bacteria.<\/p>

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We know all about the other kind<\/strong><\/a>, the \u201csuperbugs,\u201d or \u201cantibiotic-resistant bacteria,\u201d that threaten all sorts of bad outcomes for humankind.<\/p>\n

Indeed, an April 2016 case described in the American Society for Microbiology\u2019s journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy<\/em>\u201csounded alarm bells among scientists over fears that common infections will soon be untreatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCommon infections will soon be untreatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Scientific American<\/em> describes the implications of a Pennsylvania woman who \u201cdeveloped a urinary tract infection (UTI) with bacteria that fought off an antibiotic of last resort called colistin, and had \u00a015 genes for resistance to other antibiotics.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year ago, Chinese and British researchers published a paper detailing \u201cthe first plasmid-mediated polymyxin resistance mechanism, MCR-1, in Enterobacteriaceae.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, plasmid (\u201ca small, circular, double-stranded DNA molecule that is distinct from a cell\u2019s chromosomal DNA\u201d) facilitates sharing of the colistin-resistance gene. And that means it can spread far, wide, and fast when bacteria come into contact.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommon infections will soon be untreatable.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Colistin is widely used in food-animal production in China.<\/p>\n

As Dr. James Johnson, a professor of medicine and senior associate director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program and the VA Molecular Epidemiology Unit at the University of Minnesota, put it to Scientific American<\/em>, \u201cThe emergence of mcr-1 likely occurred because of extensive use of colistin in food animal production \u2014 which is yet another example of how injudicious use of antimicrobials comes back to hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s much more to the bacteria story \u2014 which is a long one, perhaps about 3.5 billion years, according to research presented by scientists from Old Dominion University at the 2012 meeting of the Geological Society of America.<\/p>\n

The story includes all sorts of good outcomes for humankind.<\/p>\n

Did you know that there are as many bacteria and \u201cresident microbes\u201d in our bodies as there are human cells?<\/p>\n

Bacteria also help us \u201cmake vitamins, break down some garbage, and even maintain our atmosphere,\u201d according to MicrobeWorld.<\/p>\n

And researchers are getting closer and closer to \u201cdesigner\u201d bacteria that will actually help us treat disease.<\/p>\n

On November 10, 2016, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based synthetic biology startup Synlogic announced that it had secured a composition-of-matter patent covering \u201ca live engineered bacterium modified to assimilate ammonia for the potential treatment of hyperammonemia-based diseases such as urea cycle disorders (UCDs) and hepatic encephalopathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Synlogic\u2019s No. 1 drug candidate, SYNB1020, is basically a patented form of the probiotic bacterium E. coli<\/em>\u00a0Nissle engineered to jump-start the body\u2019s ability to process nitrogen and ammonia. The pill form will contain 100 billion engineered bacteria.<\/p>\n

Did you know that there are as many bacteria and \u201cresident microbes\u201d in our bodies as there are human cells?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nitrogen and ammonia are byproducts of the body\u2019s normal breakdown of proteins.<\/p>\n

Under normal circumstances, six enzymes in the urea cycle help process nitrogen into ammonia and remove it from the bloodstream. The liver turns ammonia into urea, which then leaves the body as urine.<\/p>\n

Ammonia is a highly toxic substance. Treating UCDs \u2014 genetic disorders caused by a mutation \u2014 is critical to preventing \u201chyperammonemia,\u201d or elevated blood ammonia. If ammonia reaches the brain through the blood, it can cause irreversible brain damage, coma, and\/or death.<\/p>\n

SYNB1020 is in the preclinical development stage. The company plans to file an application with the Food and Drug Administration for the first treatment of patients during the first quarter of 2017.<\/p>\n

As MIT Technology Review<\/em> notes, this is a novel concept.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of swallowing genetically modified bacteria might seem odd,\u201d writes Antonio Regalado. \u201cBut purpose-built germs could be a new way to take over physiological functions that people\u2019s own bodies can\u2019t perform if they are sick, and a substitute for pills or injections.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are \u2014 in light of evidence indicating bacteria are quite able to mutate into indestructible forces \u2014 concerns that this particular engineered strain, SYNB1020, could \u201cshare\u201d its DNA with yet another strain and create entirely new organisms.<\/p>\n

Uncontrolled, injudicious use of antibiotics created the \u201cantimicrobial resistance\u201d monster. We don\u2019t need any more of that.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Synlogic notes that SYNB1020 will have a short life span \u2014 too short to share DNA. And they\u2019ll only operate in a low-oxygen environment, such as the gut. That it relies on the nutrient thymidine, which isn\u2019t found in the digestive tract, also ensures it \u201cwill divide only once before dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have to get a firm grip on the waste consequences, too. Synlogic is just one company working on \u201cdesigner\u201d bacteria. There are others out there, and we\u2019re essentially going to be pissing this stuff away \u2014 which may indeed include living microbes \u2014 into the waste management system.<\/p>\n

Uncontrolled, injudicious use of antibiotics created the \u201cantimicrobial resistance\u201d monster. We don\u2019t need any more of that.<\/p>\n

But where there\u2019s great risk, there\u2019s great reward.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re talking about potential anti-cancer drugs based on salmonella, which causes food poisoning, yes, but also concentrates in tumors.<\/p>\n

And there are applications for one of the yogurt bacteria, Lactobacillus<\/em>, that would enable folks to safely consume nuts, milk, and other stuff some people simply can\u2019t digest.<\/p>\n

As Sveta McShane of SingularityHub notes, \u201cWe have entered a fascinating new phase of human development where we can deliberately control our own biology and that of the organisms living in our bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NBNBC<\/h2>\n

Synlogic \u2014 \u201cwe have reimagined the potential of probiotics\u201d \u2014 was co-founded by James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT.<\/p>\n

The company has raised about $70 million, with backers including founding investors Atlas Venture and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) as well as OrbiMed HealthCare Fund Management, Deerfield Management Co., and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n

Synlogic\u2019s most recent round, of $40 million in Series B funding was led by OrbiMed and included Deerfield, Atlas, and NEA. It closed in February 2016.<\/p>\n

That money will help Synlogic answer the question of whether we can program \u201cgenetic switches\u201d into microbes and help them help us fight diseases both rare and common.<\/p>\n

Smart Investing,<\/p>\n

David Dittman
\nEditorial Director, Wall Street Daily<\/i><\/p>\n

The post Bacteria: The Good, The Bad, and The Designer<\/a> appeared first on Wall Street Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By WallStreetDaily.com Synlogic, a spinout from MIT, is about to test a pill that contains 100 billion genetically engineered microbes that will help fight a rare disorder. It may be the first of many \u201csynthetic biotics.\u201d I start just about every day with a banana and a bowl of Grape-Nuts mixed with yogurt \u2014 Fage, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98223,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98212\/revisions\/98223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}