Programmed Killing of Parasite Eggs by Probiotic Organisms

Tae Seok Moon from Washington University in the U.S. will develop a bacterial-based strategy to block the transmission of soil-transmitted helminth infections (intestinal worms), which occurs via parasite eggs present in human feces. They will engineer consumable probiotic bacteria that are designed to sense when they are excreted from the body and to subsequently release toxic substances designed to kill the parasite eggs in order to prevent disease transmission.