Team:Lethbridge/HP/Silver
User Group Interviews
Novices
Winston Churchill High School Science Department
We contacted members of the science department from Winston Churchill High School, a high school located in Lethbridge. The teachers backgrounds varied from Chemistry, Biology, General Science, and Physics. We asked the department about the Alberta science curriculum and how integrated synthetic biology is within it. They told us that the current focus for the science curriculum is the nature of science and how this can relate to technology, society, and environmental impacts. It also works on developing how to utilize the scientific method and integrating First Nations, Metis, and Inuit perspectives. They said their students are interested in learning about the human system, how technology and science work together, and enjoy hands-on activities. They said that synthetic biology is largely absent from the current curriculum with the exception of the grade 12 biology course and that current scientific research is hard to discuss with the current topics. They suggested that synthetic biology can be integrated easily in areas discussing genetic modification, but need updated language to use and examples. They said that their is a need to discuss synthetic biology within the high school curriculum since all higher level sciences will relate to it and an earlier introduction would be beneficial for students in the long run. When we asked them what we would need to include in the development of a teaching aide for topics such as transcription and translation they said it would need to be easy to use, small in size, and cost effective for the public school system. For cost effectiveness, they said that a higher upfront cost for the tool with affordable replacement packs with the necessary components would work best. For the safety considerations of using it in a classroom, they suggested it would need to have appropriate labelling and have a clear disposal mechanism. They also suggested that a professional development day workshop, where teachers can learn about experiments and concepts to later teach in their class, would be necessary for the teachers to know how to use the system and have the background knowledge required to use the tool effectively.
Derek Masterman, High School Teacher
A member of our team discussed experimental design of our system with Derek Masterman, a high school science teacher with a background in biochemistry. He suggested that it would be effective for us to design an experiment that utilizes the modularity of our system. One idea was that an experiment would involve separating the transcription and translation components. Without certain components, the system would not be able to transcribe mRNA or translate a gene product with a visual output to indicate to the students if the experiment was successful or not.
Sheanne Cox, Middle School Teacher
As a part of our collaboration, members of the High School team interviewed Sheanne Cox, a Grade 6 teacher in Lethbridge School District 51 who was involved with curriculum development at the Grade 5 level for many years. At the middle school and elementary school levels, teachers can teach any subject area no matter their school background. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in history with a minor in ecology. From this interview we gained insight into what the focus of the curriculum is in Alberta for younger age groups. At this age group, the main focus is problem solving and getting the students to see how a lot the problems the world is facing can be figured out using science. For the educational tool that we want to develop, she suggested that the kit would need to be easy to put together and that we would need to consider if it would be a class set or if we would need to make it large enough for everyone to see. She also said that having digital resources like a powerpoint or something with smartboard compatibility would also be excellent for teachers to use to teach effectively. The tool would also have to be durable since it would likely be passed between different class sections at the school. Teachers would also need instruction booklets to explain some of the pieces of the kit to them and how to use the kit itself. We would also need to ensure that the tool would be inexpensive since at the elementary school level they are generally given a small budget to share between multiple teachers.
Justin Pahara and Julie Legault, Amino Bio Labs
Members of our team had the opportunity to interview the co-founders of Amino Labs, Justin Pahara and Julie Legault. Amino Labs is a start up company that produces innovative minilabs and kits for people aged 12 and up. We conferred with them how to develop a kit for educational purposes using a cell-free system. We discussed how we should market our system as a kit to teachers in a way that is easy for them to understand. They told us that we should write the instructions for teachers assuming that they do not know anything about DNA, plasmids or proteins since we won’t know the background of the people wanting to use it. Julie also recommended that we write the instructions thinking of the questions that the students will have. This will allow teachers to do some research if they are unsure of how to answer the potential questions. They also mentioned that the cost of products can affect who will approach you. Having an affordable product allows it to be more accessible to a wider audience. Julie also mentioned that we should look at the safety procedures that other science kits include and that we should push users of a cell free kit to have good safety practices even though there is a low risk of something becoming contaminated. They also told us that labelling can be an issue in making sure that package labels comply to the standards in each country that the kit could be distributed to.
Hobbyists
Hans Wilms, Biotechnology Consultant
We conducted an interview with Hans Wilms, a PhD student who is working as a synthetic biology consultant with The ODIN. The ODIN is a biotechnology company that makes do-it-yourself kits for anyone interested in genetic engineering. Discussing making our system open-source, Hans said that we are creating a powerful tool that allows members of the scientific community to modulate our parts collection that we are providing to the registry. He also agreed that using a cell-free system would help to reduce concerns that people have when working with microorganisms like E. coli. He did not foresee anything hazardous using our system since it is non-proliferating and would not be able to survive in an environment since it lacks a cell wall. He suggested that when we are writing protocols for people who are serious about getting into the DIY biology community, we should regulate our terminology appropriately by using words such as ribosomes and DNA, but not going too in depth by discussing topics such as promoters. We also discussed how to promote genetic engineering in a positive way and he said that it is about creating an open community and showing other people what projects you are working on. In terms of how to produce cell-free system kits, Hans said that there would not be any restrictions on what they could produce as long as they are safe and easy to use. He suggested that it would be preferable that the company would not have to construct the kit contents in-house since this would allow for faster shipping to consumers.
Experts
Dr. Ute Wieden-Kothe, Biochemistry Professor
We interviewed Dr. Ute Wieden-Kothe, a biochemistry professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Lethbridge whose research focuses on RNA and protein research, specifically RNA modifications. We asked her questions related to the types of systems she uses in her lab. She said that her lab utilizes in vitro transcription assays to synthesize RNA, which they make in-house. For protein work, she said that her lab is normally able to purify protein products directly from the cell, they have had issues in the past using this method. She said that cell-free systems have the fundamental advantage of allowing precise control in the biochemistry work she researches. She did say that cell-free does have limitations as you may miss interactions that occur in vivo, but this could further research conducted on having more complex cell-free systems. She suggested that having the machinery required to do transcription with E. coli and Yeast systems would help with her research. She also said that modularity is key to break the cellular process into different pieces so researchers can choose the elements that are most imperative for their work. She also said this could help with potential troubleshooting of our system as a whole and suggested we think of a set of positive controls that could be included. These controls would aid in determining if there is an issue with the transcription or translation machinery provided. With making our system open-source, she advised that we would need to communicate effectively on how people can access our parts. We also asked her how to communicate the complexity of our project to people without background knowledge and told us we should write down our key message to avoid including scientific words that people may not know the meaning of.
Biosecurity Interviews
Justin Pahara and Julie Legault, Amino Bio Labs
Another part of our interview with Amino Labs centered around the biosecurity aspects of our project. In addition to his role as a co-founder, Justin is also a part of the Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative fellowship. We discussed the biosecurity and education components of our human practices with them. During our discussion on biosecurity, we asked Justin if he knew how an ex vivo system would be regulated within Canada. He told us that it would depend on the end product being produced. If a toxin was produced, then it would be regulated under the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act. He also told us that he had not come across any specific regulations for ex vivo systems, although he thought they might fall under the regulations in the Canadian Environmental Protection Agency that cover microorganisms. When we asked them about exporting internationally, they told us that each country can be different from another and that it is up to companies and consumers to know how products will be regulated in their respective countries. When we asked about the system that we would develop as an educational tool and what safety recommendations we would have to consider, Justin thought that we would mainly have to do an internal risk assessment. He also told us that the main risk would be environmental though he thought that risk would be minimal.
