Latest revision as of 15:33, 10 October 2017

Although synthetic biology is a field that seems like it would be confined to science, it permeates throughout various sectors of society. Early on in our project, we knew we had to get the input of experts to tailor our project. We did our best to integrate these professionals’ knowledge into our project to make it more meaningful and useful. Listed below are the summaries of the interviews we conducted and the take away in relation to our project.

Dr Cathleen London

Dr.London is a WGN radio correspondent and currently resides in rural Maine. Dr. London practices general medicine and is active in healthcare policy. Dr.London recently made news as she devised a reusable epinephrine autoinjector to combat Epipen’s controversial price increase.

Dr. London emphasized the importance of physician-patient relationships and public health policy to lowering the rate of antibiotic overuse. Hospitals are essentially hotbeds of bacteria, more so than individual physician practices. People without insurance (due to de funding) also have the tendency to wait until things are bad before rushing to the emergency room, where carers unfamiliar with the patient prescribe antibiotics “just in case” the problem is a bacterial infection, which it's often not.
Dr. London also believes our project is a clever idea, as antibiotic resistance must be attacked on all fronts with as many new ideas possible. The onus, however, lies with us to educate the public about gene editing, which often sounds like a dangerous idea to the average citizen.

Takeaway: We tried to take Dr.Londons emphasis on educating the average citizen that genetically modified does not inherently correspond to something negative. For example, while presenting to CTD students, we made an “ethical consideration slide” that balanced the pros and cons of potential genetic engineering applications. Projects such as experimental mosquito (i.e to fight Zika) or GMO foods often get a bad rep in the media, but have many positives such as disease eradication and feeding hungry populations.

Dr.Mendelson

Dr. Mendelson is the head of the division of infectious disease and HIV medicine at University of Cape Town. He mainly studies models of antibiotic stewardship, responses, prescription, and how international policy/health systems implement antibiotic resistance. He is an advocate for using standardized language when talking about antibiotic overuse across disciplines of the media and science.

Dr.Mendelson highlights how there are many players in the antibiotic game, not just scientists or doctors. Finance, food production and the general public are often in tandem with the science behind antibiotic resistance (AR). He stressed the importance of education and awareness as well as individual and national responsibility to use antibiotics in a poised manner. Using language that is clear such as "antibiotic resistance" vs "antimicrobial resistance" is also essential to the fight. Dr. Mendelson thinks that carefully planned use of antibiotics will be a lasting solution in addition to new therapies being created to fight bacteria.

Takeaway: We tried to implement the correct language when referring to antibiotic resistance that Dr. Mendelson stressed. When talking about antibiotics, this website only uses the terms "antibiotic reistant" or "drug resistant infection". According to Dr. Mendelson, most of the population can understand these terms, a first step to combating AR worldwide.

Special Agent Scott Mahloch

Scott Mahloch is a former member of the Navy turned FBI agent. After entering the FBI in 2008 and completing training, Mahloch was assigned to Milwaukee Division’s Kenosha Resident Agency, where he worked on a variety of cases. He currently is the Chicago Division’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordinator

Special Agent (SA) Mahloch didn’t have to much to say in relation to antibiotic resistance or the specifics of our project. However, Mahloch did highlight the use of biological threats when it comes to weaponry. He emphasized the importance of being vigilant and adware of ones surroundings while working in a lab and reporting potentially suspicious activity. Mahloch made us adware that the FBI was not a regulatory agency but is often the eyes to make sure that everything is working smoothly and safely.

Takeaway: There isn't much we can change about our project from Special Agent Mahloch's presention. However, our team is more adware of the dangers of biology and how it can potentially be used for nefarious acts. If we see something we will definitely say something!

Dr.Stuart Levy

Dr. Levy is the director of the Center of Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. He studies how Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic cells adapt to environmental signals and hazards. Currently, Dr. Levy is studying the efflux of the Tet Protein and Tetracycline use.

Dr. Levy thinks that the fight against antibiotic resistance should be multifaceted. Treatments to aid conventional antibiotics should be developed, as well as new antibiotics. From his knowledge, Dr.Levy thought that are proposed gened editing therapy was feasible and that "young individuals should be able to try out new techniques". As an afterthought, he mentioned that a easy way to fight antibiotic resistance is swap out your toothbrush multiple times a year, especially after sickness.

Our interview with Dr.Levy gave us confidence that our project could potentially be feasible. Dr.Levy was very encouraging and supportive of the scientific process. However, he gave us advice to do failure analysis on our solution. Often times, treatments improve in some areas over their predecessors and fall short in others.