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Early Illness Detecting Vitamins
This product is designed to change the color of the user's tongue when the vitamin detects the presence of a pathogen associated with the flu. By providing an easy and non-invasive means of early detection, this vitamin aims to empower individuals in identifying potential illnesses and seeking appropriate medical attention promptly.
About Our Vitamins
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*Note this was a group project by Kate Bellissimo, Nya Harrison, and Max Kalny
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The Problem:
One of the most valuable takeaways from the Covid-19 pandemic was the importance timing had on the rates of spreading a virus. If people were aware of their exposure to the virus, it was much easier for them to quarantine and take preventative measures (for themselves and others) before they unknowingly infected those around them. However, knowing whether there has been an exposure to the virus is not as easy as it might seem. The contact tracing methods we used over COVID were extremely unreliable, and often times were not very effective at stopping the spread.
The Solution:
We created a heavily researched product proposal, complete with a projection of the biology and the economics behind a bioengineered vitamin. We decided to engineer the already existing gummy vitamin with the CRISPR-CAS13 system in order to engineer the vitamin to be able to detect the specific pathogens associated with the flu. The CRISPR system will be activated when the vitamin becomes dissolved and makes contact with the saliva from the user. Once this is completed, if the pathogen(s) are detected, the E.chromi bacteria, that will also be injected into the vitamin to be activated when there is pathogenic material present, will change the user’s tongue a given color temporarily, with a harmless natural dye. The vitamin will still have all the nutritional values of your daily vitamin, and thus will be taken within a users daily routine per usual. This gummy allows users to know they are about to be sick, as the pathogens will be detected before the user is symptomatic and contagious.
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Within our proposal we researched and outlined all of the following topics to make sure our vitamin is possible (it is!).
1. Stakeholders and values.
2. Values for technical requirements.
3. System concept of operations.
4. Architectural diagrams and product lifecycle flows.
5. Central concepts.
6. Foundation of analysis
7. Failure modes and effects analysis + Risk identification & mitigation
8. System Cost Estimate
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Download Complete Report Here
The Result:
We were able to design a plan to develop our gummy that is feasible. When we presented our findings to our professor, he encouraged us to move forward with our project, directing us to a Stanford affiliated board that helps fund student projects and companies. The 3 of us are considering meeting with this board to develop our gummy in a lab next year for our senior capstone project.
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What I Learned:
This project taught me a lot about the bigger picture of what it takes to fully develop a product. It taught me to formally analyze risks and consider the values of potential stakeholders, which previously had not been a part of my early design process.
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