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In the previous iGEM competitions, human practice has always been one of the vital and indispensable elements. As an innovative team, we tried our best to produce a practical and effective bio machine. To achieve this tough goal, we need not only to spend a ton of time doing experiments in the lab but also do something related to the society so that our target consumers could benefit from our product. Therefore, we carried out the following activities.

First of all, questionnaires was designed and uploaded on the internet as well as distributed to different communities. We got the feedback about their interests of our project from different people. Secondly, to find out the problems among the sweeteners which have already been on the market and improve our project, we interviewed some relevant authoritative experts. In order to know the market demand and trading policy, which are also significant to us, we discussed with Sixin Wang, the chief engineer of Sdic Zhonglu Fruit Juice Co.,Ltd (the NO.1 enterprise in the area of producing concentrated apple juice), and some bosses of COFCO (one of the top 500 corporations and the most advanced food supplier in China) right after we finished our original plan. Thirdly, we aimed to popularize iGEM and collect critical advice to improve our project, we organized a large conference with students from Beijing University, Lanzhou University and Jilin University. Finally, we discussed with the bosses of COFCO for the second time. We were highly encouraged by them with their belief that we were likely to be successful in the future market.

QUESTIONARIRES

Based on the feedback of the questionnaires from both of the website and communities, we realized that different people prefer various flavors. However, most people are still fans of those sweetness which make people feel happy and warm. According to what we found, there is an excellent opportunity for us to research the sweeteners. Prior to design the detailed plan, it is necessary for us to learn about the existing questions relevant to the sweeteners that have already been observed.

According to the above two questions, we got information about the market demand from our questionnaire survey. We knew that natural sweeteners may be more acceptable to people, and sweetness is more important compared with aftertaste, coolness and mellowness.

Sdic Zhonglu Fruit Juice Co.,Ltd

After we completed the initial plan, we visited the Sdic Zhonglu Fruit Juice Co.,Ltd, the most outstanding enterprise in the area of producing concentrated fruit juice in China. It’s our great honor to discuss with the chief engineer, Mr. Wang. He was so friendly and warm-hearted to answer all our questions. Importantly, he introduced the problems and prospect of the current sweeteners. For instance, saccharin, an extremely sweet sweetener with low calories, has some potential risks to human beings, while the international standard of food safety was never ignored . Thus our project has a really bright future of applications with the two aspects including market prospect and policies.

COFCO

When several constructions of genetic circuits had been finished the following verification of their functions had been carried out. We visited COFCO, one of the top 500 corporations and the most advanced food supplier in China. Some managers of COFCO showed up to welcome us, including Mrs. Zhao (she is in charge of the development and innovation of new products), Mr. Huang (one of the vice chairmen of the enterprise) and Dr. Liu who is responsible for the manipulating of electronic tongue. We had a long but meaningful communication about the current sweetness detecting device used by most of the food producing companies, which made us realize that the detection range of generally machine is so limited thus it is hard to measure the sweetness conveniently as well as some devices like electronic tongue. The measurement of sweetness would only be efficient after associating with the assessment given by workers, which resulted in the humongous uncertainty. Therefore, an innovative bio-system which relies on Synthetic Biology is used to observe and select new types of sweeteners will have a non-negligible contribution to the society. Finally, we took the advice that is starting with some classical and conventional sweeteners like stevia rebaudiana, liquorice and Momordica grosvenori which were given by the experts of COFCO.

COFCO AGAIN

When we had run the experiments for several months and obtained a certain result, we decided to visit COFCO again to show what we have done and what we expect to do in the future. We were thoroughly pleased because almost all the managers showed up and made their creative idea to cooperate with us. They appreciated our bio machine and pointed out that our project is likely a successful innovation in the future market.

JOINN

In the mid-October, our project has been completed basically. And we have completed the goals which we want to achieve before. We went to JOINN Laboratories, Inc. (one of the most famous biotech company in China) to communicate with the staff about our project. We had a clearer picture of the value of our project. They were interested in our project very much, and they also gave us lots of advice about targeting the market.

Among the suggestions from JOINN Laboratories, Inc., the followings are important:

(1) As the improvement of life quality, people’s demands of health is getting more with their concerns of food mainly include the followings:

• ① low calorie
• ② good taste
• ③ high sweetness
• ④ a sense of happiness

Therefore, on the basis of detecting the sweetness of sweet substances，we should think about the taste and calorie of sweeteners, which are important for our product to be put on the market.

(2) Our biometric method involves the growth of the fungus, which may cause people to think about safety and health, so we should pack our items and ensure that the strain are safe and harmless.

(3) Before entering the market, we need to consider the cost of our project. After comparing with the existing physical detection technology, the cost of our project may be lower.

ITCCC

In October 2017, BIT-China was invited to take part in the CGEM conference held by INTERNATIONAL TEENAGER COMPETITION AND COMMUNICATION CENTER. About 8 teams participated in the conference. All of them made splendid speeches to present their own projects and discuss with each other. During the special journey, we knew plenty of exciting ideas and got many useful help.

Conclusion

From our human practice, we came up with the idea of our project. In order to realize the idea, we used synthetic biology methods step by step and we completed the project eventually. In this process, we firstly understood the importance of sweetness through social surveys. Then we realized that people prefer natural sweeteners. Later on, we went to one of Chinese most famous food enterprises, COFCO, in order to know about the current market demands and we were told that if we want to apply our project to the market in the future, we had to overcome so many problems, such as cost, function and the value of the project itself. In addition, we went to one of the most famous fruit processing enterprises Sdic Zhonglu Fruit Juice Co.,Ltd in China, where we learned important information about the inducer. Choosing the inducer is important, because we can test its sweetness, which is an important measurement standard of fruit juice.