Under the guidance of Dr. Ching-Fen Chang and Dr. Chuan-Hsiung Chang, from the Institute of Biomedical Informatics and Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology of the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Team NYCU-Taipei, with the title of ‘NATTO_IT_OUT’, received the gold medal award in The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation Competition of Synthetic Biology hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The research focuses on the utilization of Nattokinase, a thrombolytic agent, to deliver effective prevention method for cardiovascular diseases targeting deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
The team uses the BphP1-QPAS1 light-inducible systems to remotely control the E. coli ’s Nattokinase production which is produced by the designed E. coli Nissle 1917 live biotherapeutic product (LBP). Additionally, with the implementation of the Dense Neural Network (DNN) and machine learning classification model using simple linear Support Vector Machine (SVM), the classification of whether a specific protease would cleave a cleavage site was determined successfully. Overall, the research results give invaluable contributions to clinical research.
Team NYCU-Taipei started their journey in 2007. Up to this point, they have won best environment project, being at the top six globally and top three in Asia, as well as excellent achievements with 11 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals.

Source: https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/3749062