Team:ZJUT-China/HP/Gold Integrated
ZJUT-China
Gold Medal and Integrated Human Practices
Gold Medal Criterion #1
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We went to Hangzhou Zhongmei Huadong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. introducing our project to their director of Macromolecular Laboratory and asking for the possibility that if our blue-light-controlled self-lysis system could fit their production in the middle of our experiments. But our system was consisted of two plasmids (one for light-controlled part and one for FixK2 promoter and lysin) at that time. Therefore the director told us only if we could solve the problem of multi-plasmids pressure in cells then could our project be used in fermentation industry. We had spent a long time connecting the light-controlled system and the functional gene so that they can be put in the same one plasmid. In some ways we solved the problem of multi-plasmids pressure by reducing one plasmid in the system. And we may work on making one kind of plasmid vector with our blue-light-controlled self-lysis system which can be directly used by fermentation factories for genetically engineered producing strains in the future.
- Others
To make our human practice work more efficient! We held different activities involving safety, public education and social activities in different modus according to the group in different age.
- Question 3: Have you ever heard about synthetic biology?
- Question 7: Have you ever used or heard about intracellular product?
- Question 12: Among the following traditional method used in disrupting cells to extra the intracellular product, which method have you heard about ?
- Question 14: If the engineering bacteria can be disrupted by the light what’s your attitude towards the technology ?
Questionnaire
As our project is related to intracellular product, we did a survey among the public to know their attitude to synthetic technology as well as how much they know about iGEM.Here goes the result.The main content
Analysis: only 1/5 of respondents have heard and know synthetic biology which is a main kind of technology used in the industry. The result implied that it’s necessary to spread the knowledge to the public.
Analysis: nowadays intracellular products take a share of the market, but they don’t arose enough attention. The result shows that only 20% of the respondents have ever used and cared about product.
Analysis: cell disruption in the industry are traditionally under harsh condition. We are surprised to find that 25% of the respondents thought it was no unnecessary. We listed several common method in the questionnaire , hoping it would help a bit.
Analysis: a majority of the respondents hold a active attitudes to our idea, as it’s more gentle and more environment friendly, though they didn’t understand the technology thoroughly.
According to the result, we can get the conclusion that, public don’t acquire enough knowledge about synthetic biology as well as intracellular product, but they appeared the awareness of clean producing which is also our idea aims at. Therefore, the propaganda work and public education are both essential.
Best Integrated Human Practices Special Prize
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Education: lecture for Freshman of ZJUT
To appeal more students to join the iGEM, we delivered a speech to the freshman of ZJUT, spreading the spirit of iGEM as well as the knowledge of synthetic biology. To enhance the effect, we designed questionnaire. There went a little episode, though the result of the survey showed that almost none of them had ever heard about iGEM, after the speech, some of them came to ask for joining the team immediately, which did show their great interests in the competition. As we envisioned, the atmosphere scene was pretty enthusiastic and we had a deep discussion about iGEM with them. The successfully ended activity also implied that, we students were eager to broaden our horizon, therefore we did appreciate for what iGEM provides us.
*Figure 1: Lecture for freshmen of ZJUT to recruit potential iGEMers
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Some Human Practices topic areas
* Figure 2: Explaining the equipment to the pupils
Open day at ZJUT
Since our school had cooperation with the primary school nearby, and to arise their interest in synthetic biology, we introduced iGEM to those pupils. They were surprised that synthetic biology could be used in such a wide range. And they brought out many imaginative ideas, such as whether they could create a kind of microorganism to put out a fire!
Later we showed them around our lab, and let them observe the various microbes under the microscope, and also we introduced the classic procedures of producing in the industry to them. The pupils expressed that they had a great time there and realized the magic of biology.
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Conference of China iGEMer Community-The biggest party for iGEMers in China
We could never miss this opportunity! This year’s Conference of China iGEMer community which provided us participants with a stage where we could exchange information with other iGEMers sufficiently, was held by Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University from 26th August to 27th August. During the conference, every team signed up had the chance to introduce their projects to the public, and the audience were welcomed to question. Between the presentations, the chairman Dr. Hao-qian Zhang delivered panel sessions, with years of experience, he put forward valuable advice. There was also a poster exhibition held to help the participants express their ideas better.
We indeed learnd a lot, not only the knowledge presented by the participants but also the various methods they used in propaganda work. And we seized the opportunity to make acquaintance with them, maintained a good relationship afterward.
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Interview with SJU
SJU is experienced in iGEM competition, to better improve our project, we paid a visit to Shanghai Jiaotong University. On arrival, teacher Wang and students there greeted us warmly, and spared no effort to share us with their years’ experience, including the problem we might meet in visa, accommodation and tickets booking and they also advised us how to establish a spirit to unite teammates together. Then we presented our projects in turn. Teacher Wang repeated several times that we should try our best, as we would reap just what we sow. In the end we set up a chat-group so that we can communicate more efficiently online. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to SJU’s constructive suggestions again, they did help us a lot.
* Figure 5: We and the teammates from team SJT
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Interview with XHsynbio for cell disruption technology
Our project aims at solving the problems in producing intracellular products, therefore, we investigated the fermentation factories and biotech-companies frequently. First we visited XHsynbio, the manager there gave us a warm welcome and expressed that, they would try their best to help us. Then the manager guided us the procedures of traditional producing in the scale of lab. After that, we had a discussion about the current problems exiting in the industry, moreover, the manager gave us some practical advice on our project. As it happened, when we were to leave, the director came back, we sought the opportunity to introduce our original idea to him, the director wished us a good luck, and suggested that we’d better make a comparison between our ideas and the traditional methods to stress our advantages out. We want to thank the manager and the director in XHsynbio again for their support and valuable advice.
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SAFETY: Interview with member of HUADONG MEDICINE CO., LTD.
HUADONG MEDICINE CO., LTD. is committed to the development of drugs, production and trade, continues pushing out medicine with significant efficacy and advanced dosage form. To better understand the situation of intracellular product, and acknowledge the medicine as well as the production safety. We visited HUADONG MEDICINE CO., LTD, the manager gave us a warm welcome, and expressed that he would do us a favor on the safety discussion. We introduced our project to him, and he was interested in how we improve the cell disruption method, since the step was often money consuming and the harsh condition in the traditional method was really dangerous. As long as we could perfect the plasmid product to fit their production condition, the manager said, they would like to give the new method a try. Again we want to thank to HUADONG MEDICINE CO., LTD for their great support.
