Talented Bacteria Detect Cancer, Diabetes

May 29, 2015

(Los Angeles Times) – In two articles published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers reported they had equipped E. coli bacteria with genetically encoded digital amplifying genetic switches. Those engineering tweaks transformed the bacteria into living sensors, capable of staying in a mouse’s body for as long as a month. In one of studies, conducted on mice, the engineered bacteria provided warning–in the form of a visible change in the color of the animal’s urine–when a tumor had established itself in the liver.