Liver cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to detect, but synthetic biologist Tal Danino had a thought: What if we could create a pro-biotic, edible bacteria that was "programmed" to find liver tumours? His insight exploits something we're just beginning to understand about bacteria: their power of quorum sensing, or doing something together once they reach critical mass. Using Quorum Sensing and the ability of bacteria to live in tumour cells, Tal Danino developed bacteria that change the colour of your urine once they started growing in a cancer cell. And since they are already in the tumour, he also on their way to developed a way to stop it growing.

Additional Infos

Further articles on this topic:

• nanotechnologyworld.org.
• Nature paper on how bacteria changes e.g. its color: A synchronized quorum of genetic clocks