Modification of human scent glands
Hello all. I'm afraid I wasn't entirely aware of the nature of this discussion board when I signed up for membership. I am a biochemical engineering student who spends most of his time modifying moss, plants, and bacteria in my lab at home. I have never considered the idea of modifying a human being except in one respect, which, if possible, I would like to investigate for my senior thesis. I came to the idea while I was in the shower. Humans spend thousands of dollars over the course of their lifetimes on products like deodorant, perfume, cologne, etc. All of these products are designed to cover up the natural human body odor that we all find so repulsive. Human body odor is caused by bacteria present in the scent glands located in the armpits, the back of the ears, and the groin. The individual scent that each person carries is determined by that individual's histocompatibility complex, the matrix of immune responses that determines which bacteria are killed and which are not. I have, in the past, engineered bacteria in my garage that smells like strawberries and am working on other scents as well. If successful, a simple alteration of the individual micro biome will make the purchase of perfumes and the like unnecessary. The problem I am facing is this. Every person's histocompatibility complex is different. Totally different bacteria are producing your BO than are producing mine. The modifications would have to be 100% personalized which makes distribution more difficult. Any ideas?
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I agree with @Ben; I thought that the bacteria themselves were pretty much the same strain.
~Ian