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According to the World Health Organization, infections caused by ultra-resistant bacteria will be the world's leading cause of death by 2050. Antibiotics destroy everything in their path, good bacteria and bad, which unbalances the human microbiota and can lead to the spawning of new germs. Despite this issue, they are the only tools we have to fight infections. Fortunately for us, Xavier Duportet and his associate David Bikard have come up with an alternative treatment: a biological robot, made out of DNA and proteins that is capable of identifying bacteria that need to be killed, including those that are resistant to antibiotics.This new wonder, baptized "Eligobiotique," has already been tested successfully on mice that carried an ultra-resistant version of staphylococcus aureus—one of the deadliest strains of bacteria in the world. Eligobiotiques could also be "reprogrammed" to get rid of the bacteria responsible for bowel inflammation and eradicate Crohn's disease or acne. If this product turns out to be efficient, it could be used on any pathology linked to the microbiota, such as diabetes and certain types of cancer. So far, $2.7 million has been invested in the project, and researchers are currently preparing the product to enter the market: The Eligo robot could appear in pharmacies in about seven years."I played lots of construction games with my pet ants. I'd build mountains out of food and watch them collect it all. I built them roads and labyrinths with Legos."
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When Duportet was 12, a member of his family advised him to do an internship at the laboratory of renowned entomologist and geneticist, Bernard Mauchamp. "I was inspired by this great thinker when I was a kid and that was enough to make me become the man I am today," Duportet says. "At the time, [Mauchamp] was really a pioneer: [His lab was] doing the first genetic modifications in insects." From the moment Duportet watched the eyes and limbs of silkworms develop under the microscope, he knew he would become a geneticist.After studying at AgroParisTech and Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire, Duportet won the International Prize of Fundamental Research iGEM. He then went on to do three internships at Pasteur Institute, Inria, and MIT—where he also launched two startups, including "Eligo Bioscience." He also started the association Hello Tomorrow with the aim to mix science, technology, and entrepreneurship, while accelerating innovation and technological development."I fight to inspire curiosity. What we should do is awaken young people's curiosity, and make them want to go beyond the digital. Science is also a good way to put stuff on the market. The web is great, but it's not all there is."
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