DIANE, the diagnostic device from the 2019 Pasteur Paris iGEM team which reveals the origin of an infection in just a few minutes

The iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine) competition is an international synthetic biology contest, organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Boston. Each year, hundreds of teams from all over the world meet there in October to defend their projects.

This year, at the Institut Pasteur, a team of 10 students trained in multiple fields including biology, physics, chemistry and intellectual property was formed, providing the necessary skills to realize the project conceived: DIANE, DIAgnosis is Now Easier.

Currently bacterial infection diagnostic methods are often too long (more than 24h), which can be a real life-threatening problem in the case of sepsis. The latter kills one person every five seconds in the world. In order to bring down this death toll, the “Surviving sepsis” campaign launched by the SCCM (Society of Critical Care Medicine) and the ESICM (European Society of Intensive Care Medicine) in 2016, issued guidelines recommending use of an empirical antibiotic treatment in the hour following diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock in the patient.

The WHO (World Health Organization) declared sepsis a public health priority in 2017. In this context, the team decided to create a rapid and portable diagnostic device, which could immediately indicate to the doctor the bacteria causing the infection, from a fluid sample (blood, respiratory tract expectorate, urine). Such a device could help doctors give the right course of treatment to the patient in a short amount of time, avoiding the use of wide spectrum antibiotics, as well as treatment mistakes that could lead to a critical loss of time for the patient.

 

The DIANE device is based on an electrochemical bacterial detection method using aptamers, which are single-strand DNA capable of targeting specific ligands, fixed on carbon nanotube electrodes. The device has been developed to be easy to use, portable, and sturdy enough to serve both in emergencies in hospitals, and in rough environments such as humanitarian missions. There are endless opportunities, as it could be adapted to the detection of any infectious organism depending on the aptamers available.

 

In the context of the competition, on July 26 and 27 the iGEM team organized a European meet-up, gathering more than 130 participants from 7 different countries, at the ESME school near the Institut Pasteur. The event allowed the 20 teams to pitch their projects in front of a scientific jury from the Institut Pasteur, the Sup’Biotech school and several start-ups. The iGEM president, vice-president and registry director traveled from the headquarters in Boston to attend this meet-up.

 

 

From left to right and front to back:
Students: Léa Durix, Quentin Mosagna, Marie Sabatou, Vincent Saverat, Clara Delamare, Ronan Soudy, Elise Cambon, Alexandre Zidat, Laurence Vigne, Maria Vittoria Mazzuoli (coach), Tara Fournier, Deshmukh Gopaul (team leader), Chloe Charendoff and Mathieu de Jode (coach).