EXPERTS:
In order to gain insight about how our project would affect the world, especially the local fishing industry, we set out to find some experts to talk to. We were in luck because we were invited to Peshawar Carp Hatchery and Training Centre which is under the superivision of Directorate of Fisheries, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We met with Assistant Director Mr. Fawad Khalil who facilitated our visit and was kind enough to answer all of our questions. We recorded our visit as a documentary which can be viewed above:
We also had an interesting and informarive skype session with iGEM judge Darren N. Nesbeth who is one of the iGEM judges and the editor of Synthetic Biology Handbook. He highlighted the positive and negative aspects of our project and gave us a morale boost! Darren advised us to make the name for our project more interesting and appealing. Wiki was another thing we discussed with him on where he advised us to make our wiki as direct as possible. He provided us guidance regarding the final presentation and poster and enlightened us with numerous other factors that the judges might judge us on at the giant jamboree. For example, he advised us to look further and deeper into the genomics of fish and do excessive research on the GMOs and their do’s and don’ts. Moreover, he provided us some valuable strategies on how to best carry out our human practices.
We thank Darren for giving us generous amount of time from his busy schedule and providing us with sage advice.
We had a lecture with IIB's own Dr. Sohail Qureshi on reporter genes. He is a renoqn Pakistani molecular biologist with 25+ years of experience in the lab. His research interests span a wide range of topics, including gene regulation in hyperthermophilic archaea, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis E, cancer, epigenomics and neuroscience. In the lecture, we discussed about the different pathways of reporter genes and their expressions in different systems. This helped us a lot in working on our project.
We also had a meeting with Dr. Fahim. He is an Assistant Professor at Institute of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering, (IBGE) The University of Agriculture, Peshawar. His main areas of research are Plant Virology and Plant Biotechnology. Our main topic for this meeting was to discuss the ethics and the aesthetics part of the project. He presented us with a couple of different ideas about how to improve our project aesthetically and from an ethics point of view.
OUTREACH
Being the only iGEM team from Pakistan, we were aware of our tremendous responsibility to educate children and raise awareness in the public about synthetic biology. We designed 4 unique SynBio and DNA activities and took them across the country including the KP Summer Camp through a direct collaboration with the provincial government during which we travelled to schools in all seven divisions of the province (slightly larger than Ireland). We also led activities at Pakistan’s first ever Makerfest, a Makerthon for kids and MagnifiScience, the biggest science fair in Pakistan, where we interacted with thousands from all corners of the country. Our team also conducted a biodesign workshop at an international conference, presented our project at engineering and medical colleges and also conducted a live broadcast on a major radio channel. So far its been 8500+ kilometers travelled, 6500+ students and parents directly engaged through 100+ hours of outreach.
A number of different activities were performed during our outreach sessions. SynBio presentation was delivered. We also performed DIY DNA Extractions using kitchen protocol, so that it can be replicated by young scientists at homes as well. Apart from this, a SynBio card game was prepared with the aim of making the younger kids understand the concept of SynBio at an early stage.
The team was active on different social media platforms as well. The team enjoys a total of more than 650,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram combined. They have also featured in numerous e articles. We also had a couple of radio shows as well in which we discussed about Synbio and iGEM. The most interesting was FM 92.2 (Pakhtunkhwa radio), in which we told the public about our project and how the projects of this kind can help humanity in combating major problems one of which being water pollution. For more information, visit our Public Engagement page
What if's
In order to gain insight about public opinion regarding synthetic biology and our project, we designed a unique campaign to spark dialogue. We designed "What If?" stickers and placards that highlighted future synbio products and applications to be distributed and displayed at public places. We also sent these cards to different igem teams around the world to gain there opinion.
SURVEY
In order to gain feedback about public opinion, we conducted a survey to go along with the what if campaign. We have a total of 238 responses on the survey from all over the world, and some of the interesting insights we gained are listed below.
We recieved a global response to our What If campaign. The word cloud below shows the cities that recorded a response:
Some of the insights are:
50% OF THE PEOPLE BELIEVE MOST BACTERIA ARE HARMFUL WHILE ALMOST 46% PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT MOST BACTERIA ARE HARMLESS.
When ASKED ABOUT YEAST, public responses WERE VERY DIFFERENT. ABOUT 75.5% OF THE RESPONDENTS WERE OF THE VIEW THAT MOST OF THE YEAST ARE HARMLESS, SO CAN BE USED IN MAKING PRODUCTS.
THE STATS ABOVE SHOW THAT MOST 80% OF OUR RESPONDENTS FEEL SAFE WITH BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCED MEDICINE as compared to other chemical synthesis methods.
MOST OF THE RESPONDENTS, ABOUT 53% preferred the use of plants for biomanufacturing.
While the responses were mostly positive, the "should not be used" bar for using synthetic biology for food was highest as compared to other applications indicating that a larger amount of people are uncomfortable with GM food. The same bar is lowest for pathogen detection indicating that people are most comfortable with such an application.
THE ABOVE STATS SHOW THAT PEOPLE ARE WELL EDUCATED ABOUT THE TOXIC HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATION IN WATER.
93% OF OUR RESPONDENTS are of the opinion THAT THERE SHOULD BE A CHEAP A ND EASY TO USE METHOD FOR TESTING FISH MEAT.
76% OF OUR RESPONDANTS think our idea is cool!
SURPRISINGLY 69% OF OUR RESPONDANTS WOULD be okay with consuming GENETICALLY MODIFIED Reporter FISH!
