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Team
Team
Mentors
Collaborations
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Project
Description
Interlab
Design
Experiments
Notebook
Contributions
Modeling
Results
Improve
Attributions
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Parts
Parts
Basic Parts
Composite Parts
- Safety
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Human Practices
Silver HP
Integrated and Gold HP
Public Engagement
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Judging
Medal Criteria
Judging Form
Public Engagement
The team for public engagement spoke to many different groups of people at various events in our area. We focused on teaching younger generations; informing such a group about synthetic biology is vital due to the field’s current blossoming industry and its modern day applications. The team also took several trips to grade schools previously attended by team members and presented to the sixth through eighth graders. This presentation briefly explained our project and went into depth about fundamental concepts of synthetic biology and its purposes. After the presentation, the grade schoolers completed a lab using candy to create DNA models, helping them better understand basic genetics. Furthermore, our team ran a booth at an open house at our high school in order to clarify the purpose of our project to more of the general public. In order to aid this explanation, our team presented on synthetic biology and our research, as well as distributed brochures that further described these topics.
Education
The team for education traveled to local schools in the area and spoke about the basics of synthetic biology and our research to students who may be interested in science and research. We explained the topics to the students in a manner that was comprehensible, but still informative. For different levels of students, different demonstrations were presented in order to cater to that age range. Besides the middle-school presentations, a high school lesson plan was created to be sent out to our high school and surrounding schools for teachers to provide a basis in synthetic biology and research with molecular biology.
Product Design and Possible Kill Switches
Our team searched through the iGEM registry for a possible kill switch for our microbe. A kill switch would be useful so that people would feel more comfortable ingesting the capsule or putting it in water they will later drink. A kill switch would allow the bacteria to be shut down or limited to make sure the population does not grow uncontrolled. We also looked for parts the might improve our project to help people from getting sick from other harmful bacteria and molecules.Two parts were found that we could use in continuation projects in the next few years. These parts are a population capping device and a dCBD improvement that can bind to metals.
xylR+PxylA+RBS+ydcE+Ptms+RBS+ydcD: Cell Growth Inhibition Device
iGEM Registry Part: Bba_k733012
This part is a growth inhibition device makes a cell release BMP2 that can slow or stop the growth of bacteria. In the future, this part can be modified to keep the cell population of our E. coli controlled in the colon of humans or in water. It would allow the cells to not grow and overtake the cells that are already living in the ecosystem. This part is already modified for cells in the colon and could be a great addition to our E. coli.
Scale-up and Deployment Issues
The final product of an engineered microbe bound to cellulose has a clear application to illnesses affecting deployed personnel. The bacteria can sense and respond to ETEC, a form of Traveler’s Stomach that affects over half of deployed soldiers, while encapsulated in a cellulose module that could either pass through the human GI tract unharmed or be placed into drinking water. To scale up this project the product would need to withstand travel and field conditions. Additionally, the product has to be ready for use at all times for either ingestion or to test drinking water lest ETEC-contaminated food or water affect the personnel. These potential issues could cause the product to fail in extreme conditions, but the product is fairly durable and should be able to last through general deployment.
Environmental Impact
The final constructed part will be encapsulated inside a cellulose pellicle. This cellulose matrix will both protect the genetically modified part from damage and prevent the part from harming the environment through the potential of mutating. Furthermore, the organism will be unable to spread out into the environment and expand into the ecosystem.
Ethics
While many citizens still possess fears concerning the modern prevalence of genetically modified organisms, numerous precautions are taken to prevent any potential hazards. In addition, the intent of the engineered microbe is to aid civilians employed by the government or deployed personnel by protecting them from infection by certain strains of E. coli that can cause Traveler’s Stomach.
Safety
The microbe would have to be further modified in order to ensure total safety. When the research is continued, a kill switch would be incorporated into the microbe in order to ensure that the microbe escape into any environment and mutate. However, several precautions are already incorporated into the engineered microbe. The strain of E. coli intended for use as the carrier of the modified plasmids is harmless to humans. Moreover, both of the altered plasmids contain antibiotic resistance, resulting in the expulsion
The plasmids also have antibiotic resistance which means that our edited plasmid would be kicked out, which would make the bacteria nearly worthless as it would no longer have any of the capabilities that we edited into it.
Security
All of the conducted experiments were performed in secure labs that meet standard regulations. Additionally, all data was recorded by hand until it was cleared and entered into the Wiki, preventing tampering with the data or notes.
Risk Assessment
Due to the bacteria being a probiotic, there is no risk of the bacteria infecting the person that ingested the organism. However there is a possibility of the organism mutating, but the organism will be encapsulated inside a cellulose pellicle to ensure that if it does mutate, the bacteria will be contained and will be unable to infect the person or to spread throughout the GI tract.
