A team of engineers at CalTech are refining a technique that would allow them to direct microbes to specific sites in the body and activate them only when they are in prime position to deliver their therapeutic payload. The research focuses on programming bacteria to respond to changes in temperature. Physicians would be able to initiate the therapeutic action of the designer microbes using ultrasound technology.

Mikhail Shapiro, PhD, assistant professor of chemical engineering and Heritage Principal Investigator at CalTech, envisions a future where engineered bacteria can be directed to the site of disease and become activated to begin their therapeutic action before being digested, and then self-destructing when reaching lower temperatures outside of the body. Conversely, the bacteria could also be programmed to self-destruct in the presence of higher temperatures that indicate a patient is developing a fever and is not having a favorable response to the treatment.

Click here to read more about this project on CalTech’s News Outlet.