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                         <h1 class="mb-5">We are the BioIQS iGEM team!</h1>

                     <h2 class="section-heading orange">Welcome to our page</h2>

                     <h3 class="orange">A brief resume:</h3>

                         <p class="book orange">Our project is based on the design of a <b>personalized gluten sensor</b> by using the common tools of <b>synthetic biology</b>. There are already several sensors that are able to detect gluten in the food. However, there are milestones that still have not been overcome. We propose a robust model in which the <b>HLA-DQ</b> protein of a patient is expressed and used as a sensor to detect specific reactive gluten epitopes.</p>

                             <p class="text-b"><b>Coeliac disease (CD)</b> is an autoimmune disorder that is closely related with HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen), a type of cell-surface proteins that are responsible for the regulation of the inmune systems in humans.</p>

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                    <p class="apart fletxa">These molecules are responsible for the correct discrimination between what is self and foreign proteins, guaranteeing the correct immune response against foreign agents that can cause infections.

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                         Within the HLA protein family there is a subset called HLA-DQ. There are several DQ isoforms that can bind to different gluten-derived epitopes and present them to T-cells. More specifically, 25% of the general population carry the HLA-DQ that can recognize gluten-derived epitopes, but only 1% of the population suffer from coeliac disease.

                     <p class="apart yellow">As a consequence of T-cell activation, an inmune response is triggered, and it ends up causing damage to the enterocytes present in the small intestine.</p>

                             <p class="text-b">Understanding why the inflammatory response is triggered by a certain type of T cells upon epitope presentation by HLA-DQ molecules is essential to uncover the mechanism of CD. Since the first step for the immune response activation is the recognition and binding of the gluten epitope to the HLA-DQ receptor, we developed a sensor based on this principle.</p>

                     <p class="apart yellow">The development of a personalized sensor to determine reactive epitopes could help to better understand the disease and would also allow the screening of those foods that could potentially trigger an immune response to the patient.</p>

                             <b>personalized gluten sensor</b> through a synthetic biology approach. To do so, we decided to build a model based on the HLA expression of the patient which will be coupled to a sensor, allowing the detection of reactive epitopes. The main specificities of our sensor are described as follows:</p>

                             <p class="text-b">To obtain de HLA-DQ from scratch. That means, to extract the &alpha; and &beta; chains <b>from the genomic DNA of a celiac patient.</b></p>

                          

                          

                             <p class="text-b">To express the human HLA-DQ in a <b>bacterial or yeast cell host.</b></p>

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                         <p class="text-b">To develop <b>non-dimensional mathematical and stochastic models</b> to understand and predict our sensor dynamics.</p>

                     <p class="text-b">To provide information to the public so as to <b>clear up misunderstandings related to the celiac disease.</b></p>

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