Human Practices/Examples
Human Practices Example Projects
Teams approach the Human Practices and Education and Public Engagement elements of their projects in many thoughtful and creative ways. You can read about the work of last year’s winners and nominees below and you can find many examples of excellent work by teams from past years on the iGEM.org Human Practices Page. We also encourage you to explore the wikis of other teams - there are many examples of excellent and inspiring work that you can build upon.
Best Integrated Human Practices
Best Education & Public Engagement
UofC Calgary 2016
Best Integrated Human Practices
The 2016 UofC_Calgary wanted to create a transdermal patch to protect space travelers by delivering radioprotector particles into the bloodstream. Their design was inspired by discussions with ionizing radiation experts, former iGEM team members, microneedle array experts, and transdermal patch manufacturers. The team came up with the patch system idea as a way to deliver radioprotectors continuously at high concentrations.
Imperial College 2016
Best Education & Public Engagement, Nominated for Best Integrated Human Practices
The Imperial College team offered a new problem-solving framework to guide the thinking of iGEM teams. They combined two decision-making frameworks: the Socio-Technical Integration Research protocol (STIR), a formalized way to reflect on social, ethical, and economic considerations in decision-making, and the problem-based learning (PBL) framework to create a modified STIR-PBL framework. The team also developed a Visual Strategies Experiential Guidebook to help teams create visual graphics to help communicate technical projects. The ecolibrium team also created a game called “Go Culture,” which encourages players to collect and learn about different micro-organisms and co-cultures.
Paris Bettencourt 2016
Nominated for Best Integrated Human Practices
The 2016 Paris Bettencourt team interviewed dry cleaners in Paris to help them develop a product to remove red wine stains without the toxic effects of current cleaning solvents. The team developed an enzyme capable of doing this, and the dry cleaners helped the team assess existing cleaning options and identify opportunity in the market. This analysis informed the team’s project overall design and execution.
SCAU-China 2016
Best Education & Public Engagement
The 2016 SCAU team used rice as a bioreactor to synthesize astaxanthin, a naturally occurring antioxidant of medical interest. The team conducted surveys to assess local attitudes towards genetically modified organisms/foods. The team also wrote a handbook about GMOs in an effort to provide useful information. Team SCAU also sent educational handbooks to distant regions of China to promote more widespread education among different groups of farmers and students.
BroadRun-Baltimore 2016
Best Integrated Human Practices, High School
The 2016 BroadRun-Baltimore team worked with industry partners to figure out how to make a manufacturing process more sustainable. BroadRun-Baltimore genetically modified a yeast strain to digest starch. Starch is a precursor of butyric acid, a waste product of ceiling tile manufacturing. The Baltimore team reached out to a ceiling tile manufacturer, who helped the team better understand the workflow of tile production and wastewater management. Team members were then better equipped to assess how their genetically modified yeast strain could be designed and deployed to reduce starch levels produced by the manufacturing process.
TAS Taipei 2016
Best Education & Public Engagement, High School, Nominated for Best Integrated Human Practices, High School
The 2016 TAS Taipei Team conducted substantial work both in integrated human practices and in education and public engagement. The team sought to design Counteracts, noninvasive eyedrops with a protein disaggregator compound that reverts the aging eye damage that leads to cataracts. The Integrated Human Practices component of their project involved interviewing practicing cataract surgeons and researchers to understand important design features for non-invasive alternatives to surgery. The team also interviewed cataract patients to learn about their knowledge of cataracts and their willingness to use GMO products. For the Education and Public Engagement portion of their project, the team distributed information about cataracts through several events and awareness day meetups across Taipei, and introduced students in their school to synthetic biology and its potential applications.
Cornell NY 2016
Nominated for Best Integrated Human Practices
The Cornell NY’s Legendairy project was shaped by a dialogue with various stakeholders in the dairy industry. The team visited a dairy farm, a pharmaceutical company that develops treatments for animals, and a milk quality expert. Through these visits, the team identified a need for better bovine mastitis detection methods. After developing a concept for a prospective milking apparatus that would help prevent bovine mastitis,the team sought feedback from producers of milking machinery and others on their design. The team sustained a conversation with the potential users of their product through the end of their project, when the team presented a physical prototype of their product for feedback.
Oxford 2016
Nominated for Best Education & Public Engagement
The 2016 Oxford team characterized various copper chelators that could be deployed in a bacterial system to treat Wilson’s disease. The team also conducted education and public engagement throughout the course of their project to make sure their activities were meaningful and useful. They worked with local publications, radio and museums to discuss their project. The team also engaged diverse student groups: student researchers at nearby museums, younger students visiting their university, students at the University of Cyprus, and students at an international science forum
OLS Canmore 2016
Nominated for Best Integrated Human Practices, High School, Nominated for Best Education & Public Engagement, High School
The 2016 OLS Canmore team’s project design was inspired by communication with nearby wastewater treatment plants. The team devised a system capable of breaking down and repurposing keratin, an essential component of the hair and feathers that make their way into waste and sewage systems. The wastewater treatment plant representatives helped the team decide whether to design a separable enzyme to treat the water or to develop a bioreactor. With fertilizer companies, the team discussed how the keratin byproducts might be repurposed for fertilizer and animal feed. The team members also consulted a fertilizer company representative on how they might implement and market a system usable by wastewater treatment facilities.
Manchester 2016
Nominated for Best Education & Public Engagement
The 2016 Manchester team’s project aimed to raise public awareness of alcohol consumption levels, and the team members extended their efforts through public engagement and education. In the lab, the team designed a cell free detection system for monitoring blood alcohol concentration. The team hoped this project would culminate in a cheap, fast-acting topical patch. The team engaged a broad audience in their work by presenting at conferences and forums, discussing their project with nonprofits focused on alcohol education and recovery, featuring in local newspaper articles, and giving a radio interview. The team also ran a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for their trip to the iGEM Jamboree, pitching their project to a global community through video and written appeals.
INSA-Lyon 2016
Integrated Human Practices, Nominated for Best Education & Public Engagement
The 2016 INSA-Lyon team developed an ethical matrix, describing their device as it related to different stakeholders. The team worked on a single blood drop screening test for HIV and HBV, and they built the ethical matrix through surveys and meetings with medical staff at a local diagnosis center. The team also led workshops for younger students at their school, orienting them in the field of bioengineering and inviting them to engage with synthetic biology, whether through iGEM or a longer-term career.
METU HS Ankara 2016
Nominated for Best Education & Public Engagement, High School
The 2016 METU HS Ankara team lead public education and engagement efforts focused on the problem their project was designed to address. The team sought to modify an E. coli strain to bind selectively to colon cancer cells and induce cell death. Team METU HS Ankara worked with a larger community to raise money for cancer research, including organized a running day for colon cancer. They lead educational events at local schools to increase knowledge about colon cancer, and conducted radio interviews and TV broadcasts in their local area to reach a broader community.
Sydney Australia 2016
Nominated for Best Integrated Human Practices
The 2016 Sydney Australia team conducted iterative needfinding with their potential users, incorporating user feedback into the design of their project. The team wanted to create a biosensor to indicate the ripeness of fruits being transported to market. The team did iterative needfinding with various produce distributors, who helped the team develop ideas for their sensor design. The team integrated some of these ideas, such as using an app-accessible smart reader strip, and biodegradable materials, in the final sensor design.
Groningen 2016
Nominated for Best Education & Public Engagement, Overgrad
The 2016 Groningen team worked with cybersecurity and legal experts to develop their project, which involved using DNA to securely store information. Team Groningen hoped to make secure information storage out of DNA with the intent of developing an alternative to silicon flash storage, which has physical limitations. The team consulted experts on cybersecurity and legal experts to ensure that their project addressed considerations about the secure transfer of data and export controls. The team also spread knowledge of their work in synthetic biology by inviting and mentoring students at their lab, publishing work via different media outlets, and participating in interviews.
HSiTaiwan 2016
Nominated for Best Integrated Human Practices, High School
The 2016 HSiTaiwan team looked to address toxin management, and they developed their project through interactions with stakeholders beyond the lab. The Herb Tasters were interested in developing a biosensor to detect the presence of toxins in traditional Chinese medicines. To better understand current toxin management, team members researched this issue by conducting national health interview surveys and spoke with government regulators and manufacturers of Chinese medicine.Through their research, the team gained a better understanding of the need for and challenges to toxin detection solutions that informed their project design.
Stockholm 2016
Nominated for Best Education & Public Engagement, Overgrad
The Stockholm team designed an education program challenging students to respond to synthetic biology case studies relating to ethics, environmental sustainability, and antibiotic resistance. Students were asked to practice ethical decision-making, evaluating which technologies still should not be used “just because we have the know-how.” The team also led workshops at the Stockholm Makerspace, providing an opportunity for interested members of the community to practice synthetic biology.
