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<h1 class="segmentHeader"><span style="font-weight:normal;">Education Kit</h1> | <h1 class="segmentHeader"><span style="font-weight:normal;">Education Kit</h1> | ||
− | <p class="pageText"> Taking into account the suggestions we received from the interviews we conducted with various educators (link to silver), we have developed a simple experiment that aligns with the Alberta Biology 30 curriculum (ref to Unit C document). The experiments uses the fluorescence capabilities of RNA-Mango to indicate when transcription has occurred and the chemical reaction between salicylic acid and the protein BMST1 (part number, name of team) to produce a wintergreen scent to indicate translation. Derek Masterman suggested that we use physical indicators to ensure students understand that processes are separate. During the development of this experiment we received feedback from the students on the Lethbridge High School iGEM Team, one of our team members who is the education program at the University of Lethbridge, and biology teachers from Winston Churchill High School. | + | <p class="pageText"> Taking into account the suggestions we received from the interviews we conducted with various educators (link to silver), we have developed a simple experiment that aligns with the Alberta Biology 30 curriculum (ref to Unit C document). The experiments uses the fluorescence capabilities of RNA-Mango to indicate when transcription has occurred and the chemical reaction between salicylic acid and the protein BMST1 (part number, name of team) to produce a wintergreen scent to indicate translation. Derek Masterman suggested that we use physical indicators to ensure students understand that processes are separate. During the development of this experiment we received feedback from the students on the Lethbridge High School iGEM Team, one of our team members who is the education program at the University of Lethbridge, and biology teachers from Winston Churchill High School.</p> |
<p class= "pageText">In addition to the transcription and translation protocol, we also developed a biosafety module. We designed this module based off of our conversation with the Public Health Agency of Canada (link to silver). They suggested that students need to understand how to interact with microorganisms at an early age to mitigate the risk of lab incidents in the future.</p> | <p class= "pageText">In addition to the transcription and translation protocol, we also developed a biosafety module. We designed this module based off of our conversation with the Public Health Agency of Canada (link to silver). They suggested that students need to understand how to interact with microorganisms at an early age to mitigate the risk of lab incidents in the future.</p> | ||
<p class= "pageText"> In the future, we hope that we can develop more experiments that utilize a cell-free system. We plan on doing some work within our lab to test sub-optimal reaction conditions for these experiments. We plan on doing a more in depth analysis of how these experiments can also align with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) initiatives to complement the Lethbridge High School iGEM Team's proposal (link to their engagement page). We also wish to develop an intermediate level of protocols to better suite the needs of the DIY Biology community members that we spoke with. We received feedback on this module from the Lethbridge High School iGEM Students, our team member, and high school teachers.</p> | <p class= "pageText"> In the future, we hope that we can develop more experiments that utilize a cell-free system. We plan on doing some work within our lab to test sub-optimal reaction conditions for these experiments. We plan on doing a more in depth analysis of how these experiments can also align with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) initiatives to complement the Lethbridge High School iGEM Team's proposal (link to their engagement page). We also wish to develop an intermediate level of protocols to better suite the needs of the DIY Biology community members that we spoke with. We received feedback on this module from the Lethbridge High School iGEM Students, our team member, and high school teachers.</p> |
Revision as of 18:46, 29 October 2017
Our gold and integrated practices became two large components this year as we took into consideration what our user groups needed us to provide and how we could ensure that we would be providing a safe tool (link to silver). Based on our conversations with educators and members of the DIY Biology community, we decided to focus on education as an application of our cell-free system. To ensure our system would be safe and be available for people to use around the world, we explored the regulations surrounding synthetic biology and cell-free systems. We also discovered a potential dual-use of our system and came up with a solution to this using software.
Education Kit
Taking into account the suggestions we received from the interviews we conducted with various educators (link to silver), we have developed a simple experiment that aligns with the Alberta Biology 30 curriculum (ref to Unit C document). The experiments uses the fluorescence capabilities of RNA-Mango to indicate when transcription has occurred and the chemical reaction between salicylic acid and the protein BMST1 (part number, name of team) to produce a wintergreen scent to indicate translation. Derek Masterman suggested that we use physical indicators to ensure students understand that processes are separate. During the development of this experiment we received feedback from the students on the Lethbridge High School iGEM Team, one of our team members who is the education program at the University of Lethbridge, and biology teachers from Winston Churchill High School.
In addition to the transcription and translation protocol, we also developed a biosafety module. We designed this module based off of our conversation with the Public Health Agency of Canada (link to silver). They suggested that students need to understand how to interact with microorganisms at an early age to mitigate the risk of lab incidents in the future.
In the future, we hope that we can develop more experiments that utilize a cell-free system. We plan on doing some work within our lab to test sub-optimal reaction conditions for these experiments. We plan on doing a more in depth analysis of how these experiments can also align with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) initiatives to complement the Lethbridge High School iGEM Team's proposal (link to their engagement page). We also wish to develop an intermediate level of protocols to better suite the needs of the DIY Biology community members that we spoke with. We received feedback on this module from the Lethbridge High School iGEM Students, our team member, and high school teachers.
Check out the full modules below!
Professional Development
Within education, professional development (PD) days are defined as a variety of specialized training sessions to help administrators and teachers improve their ability to teach (ref). To better integrate synthetic biology concepts within the existing Alberta curriculum, the teachers we spoke with suggested that PD days would be an effective way to ensure that teachers understand the concepts to effectively teach students. Our team paired up with SynBridge, a makerspace located in the University of Lethbridge to begin the process of hosting these workshops. Our team will work on designing the workshops to be held on the PD days, with SynBridge providing the space to host them and acting as a resource for teachers after our iGEM season has ended.
We met with Emily Wilton, the coordinator for SynBridge, to discuss how we would work on the design of the Professional Development Day workshops. Emily told us that they would like to provide the workshops free of charge or at a subsidized rate for the schools, which help to accommodate the limited teaching budgets. We would also work on the design of experiments to teach, while keeping in contact with teachers to ensure they would meet the curriculum needs.
When we discussed our plans with the Winston Churchill Science Department, the best direction to have the PD days instilled was discussed. They suggested forming a collaborative community. In Alberta, a collaborative community is defined as a group of teachers being able to focus on any one school related topic and is open for any teacher to join. Moving forward in this direction, this would also allow these PD days to be open to the whole school district in Lethbridge.
The teachers are planning on visiting SynBridge facilities on April 9th and plan on using this visit to move forward with the development of more synthetic biology initiatives in their curriculum. We plan on this being a long-term goal to be continued on after our season has ended.
Regulation Research
To understand if synthetic biology products and cell-free systems were regulated around the world, we researched relevant legislation. Table 1 is an overview of the regulations that we could find that are implemented in the four legal systems used as was suggested to us by Ian Andrews (link to silver). We concluded that some legal systems have more concrete regulations for the use of products derived using biotechnology. Most countries have in place some form of assessments to ensure that any products will not have detrimental effects on the environment and human health.
Figure 1. Colour-coded depiction of countries by type of legal system.
Legal System | Civil | Common | Mixed | Religious |
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Laboratory Safety | General guidelines implemented, national frameworks being updated |
General guidelines implemented in regulations, committees in place to oversee concerns |
General guidelines implemented in regulations, committees in place to oversee concerns |
National biosafety frameworks in the process of being developed, have signed the Cartagena Protocol |
GMO Regulations | In place, appropriate labelling required in most cases to identify GMO status Generally strict regulations in place (EU, JPN) |
In place, usage differs depending on country though most countries allow (notable exception: NZ) | Dependent on country: some follow EU regulations and restrict access while others are in the process of developing legislation with minimal regulations currently |
In place, only allow certain crops, need proper labelling to identify GMO status |
Environmental Regulations | Environmental impact assessments used to determine effect on biological diversity, environmental release addressed |
Environmental impact assessments used to determine effect on biological diversity, environmental release addressed | Environmental impact assessments used to determine effect on biological diversity, some countries have in place environmental release stipulations |
Environmental impact assessments used to determine effect on biological diversity, developing more specific legislation for environmental release |
Agricultural Regulations | Regulations mostly relate to field trials | Must be approved by regulatory body to not cause a negative impact on the environment |
Dependent on country: some have strict regulations on crops that can be planted while others have regulations in place, but allow a greater crop diversity |
Regulations relate to type of crops that can be planted |
Health Regulations | Must be approved by governing authority to not have negative impacts | Must be approved by governing authority to not have negative impacts | Must be approved by governing authority to not have negative impacts, some countries are still in the process of developing legislation |
In development with the growth of biotechnology, general regulations state that new materials generated must be approved |
We looked further into the regulations of biotechnology products in Canada and the United and tried to find any piece of legislation that mentioned the regulations of cell-free systems. Within Canada and the United States, both countries do not regulate the methodology of how products are made; they focus on the end materials. While we could not find any specific mention of "cell-free", Ian told us that this may not mean that cell-free systems are not included within the regulations. He suggested that the direct mention of cell-free systems is just out-of-scope of current legislation. However, the closest piece of legislation that we could find that was the most associated with our project is the Assisted Human Reproduction Act in Canada as it prohibits transplanting human-based materials into non-human life forms.
Regulation Area | Canada | United States |
---|---|---|
Health | Assisted Human Reproduction Act (HC):
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Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDA) Public Health Service Act (FDA):
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Environment | Canadian Environmental Protection Act (EC and HC):
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National Environment Policy Act (EPA):
|
Food/Pharmaceuticals | Food and Drugs Act (CFIA):
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Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDA) Public Health Service Act (FDA) :
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Agriculture | Seeds Act (CFIA) Canada Agricultural Products Act (CFIA):
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Federal Seed Act (APHIS) Plant Protection Act (APHIS) :
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Pests | Pest Control Products Act (PMRA):
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Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (EPA):
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Microorganisms | Canadian Environmental Protection Act (EC and HC):
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Toxic Substances Control Act (EPA):
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Animals | Health of Animals Act (CFIA):
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Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDA):
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Pathogens and Toxins | Human Pathogens and Toxins Act (PHAC):
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Toxic Substances Control Act (EPA):
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Biocontainment
Since our cell-free system has the ability to rapidly purify the essential components to produce an output protein and does not contain genomic DNA, it has an application in aiding genetic recoding research. Genetic recoding is observed when the relationship between codons on the mRNA strand and the tRNA carrying an amino acid change. Traditionally, the majority of living systems utilize the standard 64 codon table to produce proteins.
However, with our system’s ability to alter the normal interactions that occur to produce the standard code, we can generate modified codon tables. The generation of modified codon tables can provide another feature to our system to make it intrinsically safe. By altering our system to only read a modified code, it prevents environmental sequences from contaminating our system modified inputs from being transferred to living organisms and/or modified inputs from being transferred to living organisms. This prevents accidental environmental contamination being introduced by our system. From the research we conducted within environmental regulations, our system becomes more in-line with current regulations and their aim to ensure that synthetic biology produced products do not have a detrimental effect on the environment.