Team:Rice/Engagement

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Hexatri

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ENGAGEMENT

Erin Brockovich Showing

Erin Brockovich is a movie that dramatizes the true story of a woman who took on a legal battle against PG&E, accusing the power company of contaminating a community with hexavalent chromium. This movie is accessible to non-scientists and explains the importance of the problem our project targets. Showing it to an audience of Rice students provided a fantastic opportunity to engage in discussion of the status of Cr(VI) in Houston and our project.

We promoted the event with a water fountain posters campaign. The posters both advertised the movie showing and also directed people to our wiki where they could learn more about the problem of Cr(VI) contamination in Houston.

Bioethical Debate

Introduction

On June 6, 2017, the Rice iGEM team collaborated with the Rice University Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering (IBB) to host a Bioethics Debate for the participants of the Girls’ BioScience STEM Initiative. The prompt of the debate was, “Are existing scientific regulatory bodies and procedures sufficient for the regulation of synthetic biology?” The girls received various introductory reading materials about the topic before launching into the debate and were split into two teams to defend the affirmative and negative positions. From the girls’ enthusiasm and engagement in the debate, it seems that there may be some future synthetic biologists and lawyers in the bunch!

Objectives

1. To critically examine the ethical, moral and legal landscapes of synthetic biology.
2. To reflect on the benefits, potential harm, and “acceptable risks” of synthetic biology.
3. To assess various attitudes towards the controversies surrounding synbio applications designed to improve people's lives.

Participants

Economically disadvantaged girls attending high school in an underserved part of Houston come to Rice University each summer to participate in a series of STEM immersion experiences. Additionally, the program organizes college preparatory activities and exposes students to career paths in STEM. The bioethics debate organized by Rice iGEM was incorporated into these activities. This year, all of the participants in the debate were 12th graders from Cesar Chavez High School.

Selected Readings

The participants were provided with an “evidence packet” which included excerpts from various readings, including:

1. Gregory N. Mandel, Gary E. Marchant “The Living Regulatory Challenges of Synthetic Biology”. Iowa Law Review.
2. Civil Society Working Group on Gene Drives. “The Case for a Global Moratorium on Genetically-engineered Gene Drives.”
3. Jonathan B. Tucker, Raymond A. Zilinskas. “The Promise and Perils of Synthetic Biology”. The New Atlantis. 2006. Pp32-3.
4. Carter, Sarah R., et al. Synthetic biology and the US biotechnology regulatory system: challenges and options. No. DOE-JCVI--SC0004872. J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD (United States), 2014.
5. Berlinger, Nancy, and Mary Crowley. "Birth to death and bench to clinic: The Hastings Center bioethics briefing book for journalists, policymakers, and campaigns." Chapter 35, Synthetic Biology. The Hastings Center New York, 2008. 163-167.
6. Zhang, J., Claire Marris, and Nikolas Rose. "The Transnational Governance of Synthetic Biology: Scientific uncertainty, cross-borderness and the’art’of governance." (2011).

Significance

The debate participants presented well-reasoned arguments in support of and in opposition to existing synthetic biology regulation measures. Exposing these high schoolers to new, complex ideas sparked curiosity and interest among the participants. This excitement is essential to support our next generation of college undergraduates and researchers. Even if they decide not to pursue a STEM career, exposure to these controversial synthetic biology topics will prepare them to participate in in well-reasoned public discourse.

Participant Feedback

The girls each filled out a survey at the end of the activity.

• 100% of the participants indicated that they “have a better understanding of synthetic biology after participating in the event”.
• Over 70% of the participants indicated that “the event inspired/encouraged [them] to learn more about synthetic biology”.