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<br> Despite the unequivocal evidence for climate change, a recent poll commissioned by the Ontario Science Center (Canada, 2017) found that 47% of the public (up from 40% last year) agreed that “the science behind global warming is still unclear.” A quote by the chief executive officer of the Ontario Science Center summarizes the problem that arises from this statistic: "If you think that climate change is one of the main issues that we face as a society, and almost half of us think that the science is still unclear when there's a pretty broad scientific consensus about it, this affects the chances that we have to act in a unified way about it." While our team was taken aback by the statistic, we were not entirely surprised considering there are many prominent public figures such as politicians and celebrities who deny climate changing is occurring. How, as a society, we move forward to address complex scientific issues is going to become increasingly more important in the future. On a more positive note, despite 31% of respondents agreeing that “because scientific ideas are fluid and subject to change they can’t be trusted,” 79% agreed that they are comfortable “knowing that scientific answers may not be definitive”, and 82% said they “would like to know more about science and how it affects our world”. </br> | <br> Despite the unequivocal evidence for climate change, a recent poll commissioned by the Ontario Science Center (Canada, 2017) found that 47% of the public (up from 40% last year) agreed that “the science behind global warming is still unclear.” A quote by the chief executive officer of the Ontario Science Center summarizes the problem that arises from this statistic: "If you think that climate change is one of the main issues that we face as a society, and almost half of us think that the science is still unclear when there's a pretty broad scientific consensus about it, this affects the chances that we have to act in a unified way about it." While our team was taken aback by the statistic, we were not entirely surprised considering there are many prominent public figures such as politicians and celebrities who deny climate changing is occurring. How, as a society, we move forward to address complex scientific issues is going to become increasingly more important in the future. On a more positive note, despite 31% of respondents agreeing that “because scientific ideas are fluid and subject to change they can’t be trusted,” 79% agreed that they are comfortable “knowing that scientific answers may not be definitive”, and 82% said they “would like to know more about science and how it affects our world”. </br> | ||
− | Our project by no means is the only answer to stopping or slowing climate change, but it will help reduce the environmental impact and waste of the paper and pulp industries, once we engineer E. coli to degrade cellulose into glucose. With the knowledge that the public wants to learn about science and with the understanding that in order to address climate change everyone needs to be on board, we developed our integrated human practices strategy. There are four ways in which we integrated human practices into our experimental design: talking with experts, discussing safety, researching other Canadian biofuel companies, and presenting our project to various audiences. In addition, we developed an extensive outreach program to establish an open communication platform between the public and scientists (click here to | + | Our project by no means is the only answer to stopping or slowing climate change, but it will help reduce the environmental impact and waste of the paper and pulp industries, once we engineer <i>E. coli</i> to degrade cellulose into glucose. With the knowledge that the public wants to learn about science and with the understanding that in order to address climate change everyone needs to be on board, we developed our integrated human practices strategy. There are four ways in which we integrated human practices into our experimental design: talking with experts, discussing safety, researching other Canadian biofuel companies, and presenting our project to various audiences. In addition, we developed an extensive outreach program to establish an open communication platform between the public and scientists <a href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:Dalhousie/Engagement" style="color: #C1D35D">(click here to view our engagement activities)</a> We hope to foster curiosity, answer questions and concerns, and get more people talking about science!</br> |
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− | <div id="navigation" style="display: flex; background: transparent; padding-top:20px;height:200px; width: 100%; justify-content:space-between;"> | + | <p style="text-align:center;font-size:25pt;color:white;">Click the Buttons to Navigate</p> |
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− | <a href="#panel4" | + | <a href="#panel4"><div class="circle2"><br><br>Talking with Experts |
− | </ | + | </a></div> |
<a href="#panel5"><div class="circle2"></br></br>Safety | <a href="#panel5"><div class="circle2"></br></br>Safety | ||
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biofuel component of our project, and our ideas surrounding bioreactor | biofuel component of our project, and our ideas surrounding bioreactor | ||
construction. We presented her with two bioreactor ideas (see images | construction. We presented her with two bioreactor ideas (see images | ||
− | below). The first option involved two bioreactors, one specifically for E. coli to | + | below). The first option involved two bioreactors, one specifically for <i>E. coli</i> to |
degrade cellulose into glucose, and another for yeast to convert glucose into | degrade cellulose into glucose, and another for yeast to convert glucose into | ||
− | ethanol. The second option involved one bioreactor and a E. coli-yeast co-culture. | + | ethanol. The second option involved one bioreactor and a <i>E. coli</i>-yeast co-culture. |
During the course of our presentation, Dr. Brooks | During the course of our presentation, Dr. Brooks | ||
posed many insightful questions primarily surrounding the logistics of co-cultures, and the requirements of | posed many insightful questions primarily surrounding the logistics of co-cultures, and the requirements of | ||
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synthesize whatever you want from it. This is a much more scalable process, you don’t have to | synthesize whatever you want from it. This is a much more scalable process, you don’t have to | ||
spend years designing functional assays.</br> | spend years designing functional assays.</br> | ||
− | See the rest of Dr. Rubin’s interview here. | + | <a href="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/f/f7/Eddyr.pdf" style="color: #C1D35D" target="_blank">See the rest of Dr. Rubin’s interview here.</a> |
+ | </br></br></br></br></br></br> | ||
<img src= "https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/7/7c/Dallloyd.jpg" style=" padding:10px;" height="25%" width="25%"align=left ></br></br> | <img src= "https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/7/7c/Dallloyd.jpg" style=" padding:10px;" height="25%" width="25%"align=left ></br></br> | ||
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was through that process […] we ended up changing the sensor we were building to look at | was through that process […] we ended up changing the sensor we were building to look at | ||
other market opportunities.”</br> | other market opportunities.”</br> | ||
− | See the rest of | + | <a href="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/3/37/Daveint.pdf" style="color: #C1D35D" target="_blank">See the rest of Dave’s interview here.</a> |
+ | </br></br></br></br> | ||
<img src= "https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/e/ea/DalScott.jpg" style=" padding:10px;" height="20%" width="20%"align=right ></br></br></br> | <img src= "https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/e/ea/DalScott.jpg" style=" padding:10px;" height="20%" width="20%"align=right ></br></br></br> | ||
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horizontal gene transfer with natural organisms. Whether it be by controlling the environment, | horizontal gene transfer with natural organisms. Whether it be by controlling the environment, | ||
controlling the organism, or both, we have been thinking about safety since the start of our | controlling the organism, or both, we have been thinking about safety since the start of our | ||
− | project. We are eager to ensure that our cellulose-degrading E. coli offers a safe and efficient | + | project. We are eager to ensure that our cellulose-degrading <i>E. coli</i> offers a safe and efficient |
alternative to current biofuel systems.</br> | alternative to current biofuel systems.</br> | ||
</br> | </br> | ||
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state of our project, they did provide us with things to consider if we were to scale-up our | state of our project, they did provide us with things to consider if we were to scale-up our | ||
project for their reactors. Firstly, there bioreactors do not support a co-culture system and | project for their reactors. Firstly, there bioreactors do not support a co-culture system and | ||
− | therefore our design would have to include multiple reactors. Secondly, an E. coli organism may | + | therefore our design would have to include multiple reactors. Secondly, an <i>E. coli</i> organism may |
be just BSL-1, but when it is found in large quantities, such as in a 3000 L bioreactor, it has to be | be just BSL-1, but when it is found in large quantities, such as in a 3000 L bioreactor, it has to be | ||
treated as a BSL-2 organism. Finally, biosafety is not just to protect us and the outside from the | treated as a BSL-2 organism. Finally, biosafety is not just to protect us and the outside from the | ||
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Technical difficulty: No scientific jargon. Not focused too much on our project.</br></br> | Technical difficulty: No scientific jargon. Not focused too much on our project.</br></br> | ||
− | As communication is the major theme to our outreach efforts | + | As communication is the major theme to our outreach efforts , it was imperative that we practiced and attempted to better our own |
− | + | ||
communication habits. Writing these elevator pitches served as an important exercise in | communication habits. Writing these elevator pitches served as an important exercise in | ||
learning how best to convey our project.</br></br> | learning how best to convey our project.</br></br> | ||
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<p style="text-align: center; "> | <p style="text-align: center; "> | ||
− | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/8/8c/ | + | <a href="http://www.plosibilities.wordpress.com"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/archive/8/8c/20171031235427%21Dalscreen.png" height="20%" width="20%" ></a> |
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/parts/d/d7/Porcupinelogo2017.png" height="20%" width="20%" > | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/parts/d/d7/Porcupinelogo2017.png" height="20%" width="20%" > | ||
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/e/ef/Whitetigerlogo.png" height="20%" width="20%" > | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/e/ef/Whitetigerlogo.png" height="20%" width="20%" > |
Latest revision as of 03:57, 16 December 2017
Integrated Human Practices
Despite the unequivocal evidence for climate change, a recent poll commissioned by the Ontario Science Center (Canada, 2017) found that 47% of the public (up from 40% last year) agreed that “the science behind global warming is still unclear.” A quote by the chief executive officer of the Ontario Science Center summarizes the problem that arises from this statistic: "If you think that climate change is one of the main issues that we face as a society, and almost half of us think that the science is still unclear when there's a pretty broad scientific consensus about it, this affects the chances that we have to act in a unified way about it." While our team was taken aback by the statistic, we were not entirely surprised considering there are many prominent public figures such as politicians and celebrities who deny climate changing is occurring. How, as a society, we move forward to address complex scientific issues is going to become increasingly more important in the future. On a more positive note, despite 31% of respondents agreeing that “because scientific ideas are fluid and subject to change they can’t be trusted,” 79% agreed that they are comfortable “knowing that scientific answers may not be definitive”, and 82% said they “would like to know more about science and how it affects our world”. Our project by no means is the only answer to stopping or slowing climate change, but it will help reduce the environmental impact and waste of the paper and pulp industries, once we engineer E. coli to degrade cellulose into glucose. With the knowledge that the public wants to learn about science and with the understanding that in order to address climate change everyone needs to be on board, we developed our integrated human practices strategy. There are four ways in which we integrated human practices into our experimental design: talking with experts, discussing safety, researching other Canadian biofuel companies, and presenting our project to various audiences. In addition, we developed an extensive outreach program to establish an open communication platform between the public and scientists (click here to view our engagement activities) We hope to foster curiosity, answer questions and concerns, and get more people talking about science!
Talking with Experts
Trevor Charles, PhD, Department of Biology, University of Waterloo Dr. Charles is an expert in functional metagenomics, as well as the co-founder of Metagenome Bio Inc, a company which makes and screens metagenomic libraries for industries like mining, and agriculture. In June of 2017 he welcomed members of Dalhousie iGEM into his lab to teach the basic of metagenomic library construction. Dr. Charles’ team are the reason we got as far as we did, offering their experience, as well as giving us their cosmid, and the bacterial host.Su-Ling Brooks, PhD, Department of Process Engineering and Applied Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada Dr. Brooks’ research revolves around bioprocessing, food engineering, fermentation, extraction of natural products, and waste utilization and treatment. For this reason, we eagerly wanted to speak to her about the biofuel component of our project, and our ideas surrounding bioreactor construction. We presented her with two bioreactor ideas (see images below). The first option involved two bioreactors, one specifically for E. coli to degrade cellulose into glucose, and another for yeast to convert glucose into ethanol. The second option involved one bioreactor and a E. coli-yeast co-culture. During the course of our presentation, Dr. Brooks posed many insightful questions primarily surrounding the logistics of co-cultures, and the requirements of our organisms. At the end of the meeting we came away realizing that we still had a lot to learn about bioreactors. It was at this meeting that we began drawing up plans for future shake flask experiments. Mark Dubé, Port Hawkesbury Paper, Cape Breton, Canada Mr. Dubé elaborated on the cellulose waste treatment at the Port Hawkesbury pulp and paper mill in Cape Breton and identified two main types of waste: bark chips and a mix of clay, cellulose, and organic phosphates. All this waste goes into a biomass boiler to produce the steam needed to dry the paper in downstream processes. “We have looked into biofuel production, but it is too expensive…the technology isn’t efficient enough.” Currently, Port Hawkesbury Paper buys wood waste from surrounding companies to fill it’s need for steam. Dr. Eddy Rubin, Chief Science Officer, Metabiota, San Francisco, USA Dr. Rubin has years of metagenomics under his belt, so we asked him which was better: sequencing-based or functional metagenomics? “Well, functional is great but I’m a sequencing guy... I’m interested in scalable things.” Dr. Rubin’s argument was with the advent of next generation sequencing and better DNA synthesis, you can produce terabytes of data and synthesize whatever you want from it. This is a much more scalable process, you don’t have to spend years designing functional assays. See the rest of Dr. Rubin’s interview here. David Lloyd, Co-founder and Director, FREDsense, Calgary, Canada David Lloyd was involved in iGEM during his undergraduate degree at University of Alberta and as a mentor during his Masters degree at University of Calgary. During his time at the University of Calgary he, and a team of students, developed a biosensor which morphed into the company FREDsense. We asked for his insight on how to develop an iGEM project into a company. “Spend your time really figuring out what the value your product is going to provide to that customer base. Picking up the phone and having those conversations is really important. It was through that process […] we ended up changing the sensor we were building to look at other market opportunities.” See the rest of Dave’s interview here. Scott Doncaster, Vice President, Manufacturing Technologies and Engineering, BioVectra, Charlottetown, Canada BioVectra is a contract pharmaceutical fermentation plant that using bacteria and fungi to produce small molecule drugs or biologics. Being in charge of manufacturing and engineering, Scott is well versed in safety practices. Although BioVectra works with BSL-1 organisms, the volume of organisms they use requires them to treat the bacteria or fungi as if they were BSL-2. We asked Mr. Doncaster what safety mechanisms must be in place for large scale fermentation to work. “Containment is key! Rooms have slanted floors so [if a spill were to happen] it all goes into a contained grate, that would get autoclaved in emergencies. The building has been built with special air circulation, sterilization tools, air locks, temperature control and much more.” Stephen Snobelen, PhD, Associate Professor of Humanities, University of King’s, Halifax, Canada Some of Dr. Snobelen’s research interest include science in popular culture, and the popularization of science, therefore we knew we wanted to meet with him to discuss our science literacy survey. We did not have much previous survey planning experience to draw upon, and thus it was great to get an expert opinion on how to form unbiased questions. Dr. Snobelen advised us not to use the phrase “science illiterate” as it could potentially polarize the audience. Furthermore, we discussed that people are not scientifically literate or illiterate. For instance, someone could be literate in biology, but have a poor understanding about physics. For this reason, we tried to instead paint the idea that science literacy is a spectrum.
Safety
After speaking with Scott Doncaster from the fermentation company, BioVectra, it was clear that there were a few safety aspects to consider if our project were to make it to the bioreactor stage. In this section, we hope to address two questions:- is our design safe?
- What are the major concerns for companies?