Human Practices

Integrated in the Industry:

Our team worked very hard to meet and work with professors and companies in the agriculture industry to improve our project and learn how it would be most effectively used and implemented in the future. Please check out our Integrated Human Practices page to learn more about our meetings with Dr. Fernando, UNL's Animal Science Department, and businesses around Lincoln.

Safety Cases:

As you will see later on this page, safety was the biggest concern of the public when we introduced them to our project. That is why we worked on developing a Safety Case for our project. Safety Cases are an upcoming way to ensure a well-rounded project that takes every safety concern into account. To see our team's Safety Case and how you can develop your own Safety Case, visit our Safety page.

Survey:

Museum Nights:

One of the main channels through which we reached out to the community was volunteering at Morrill Hall, the University of Nebraska’s State Museum. Over the course of the summer, we participated a total of five times. In early June, we set up a table to talk about biology. Additionally, we set up an experiment called “See DNA”, a “Building with Biology” event. (Experiment Details) When the kids came to our station, we asked them if they knew what DNA was and then simply illustrated the procedure of extracting DNA from a wheat germ: using detergent to break down the cell wall, and using alcohol to separate the DNA from the rest of the solution. The younger ones enjoyed the hands on experience and the older ones who came had a passion for science and appreciated learning new facts. Alongside the DNA experiment, we presented four petri dishes of E. coli with the red and green fluorescent protein since its fluorescence drew in crowds of visitors. We gave a little talk explaining that E. coli had a different and new gene that caused it to glow. Then finally at the end of our table, we displayed a video about what synthetic biology is and how E. coli would be utilized for our project. If the kids couldn’t read the words on the presentation, one of the members would help clarify into simpler terms. This event was our first public appearance and the participants were younger, so conversations were more gravitated towards the topic of biology and less around synthetic biology. As a parting gift, we provided each museum visitor with their own vial of DNA.

For July, we volunteered every Thursday from 6 to 8pm because admission was free and the number of attendees would max out. At these sessions, we tweaked our station and its focus. Beforehand, we created a trifold poster about the greenhouse effect. In the middle, we had diagrams explaining what the greenhouse effect is and what kind of things contribute to it. On one side we had some true and false questions, and on the other side we included images detailing the main steps of our project. For a kid’s station, coloring sheets were created with images such as the Earth or cows and tips on how one can reduce one’s environmental footprint, for example, walking more instead of driving. The demonstration showcased two jars where one jar contained just air and the other contained both CO₂ (from added dry ice) and air. Two thermometers were placed in front of the jars and by the greenhouse effect, the jar containing CO₂ had a temperature which surpassed the temperature of the other jar. Finally, two computers were set up with the survey we created to acquire more responses. All of that provided the basis for the booth that we set up each week. When visitors approached our table, we first introduced them to the greenhouse effect (global warming is too politically controversial) and see how much they knew. Most had heard of the term but less knew the scientific reasoning behind the effect. In order to demonstrate the greenhouse effect, we directed them to the jars to show how much hotter the jar containing CO₂ was while explaining that CO₂ and other greenhouse gases absorb heat more than air, causing the temperature to rise.

Returning back to our project, we introduced the team, and since iGEM is still a rising competition, we helped spread the word to undergraduate aged attendees about what iGEM is. When our discussion reached the point regarding our idea of introducing genetically engineered E.coli into a cow, then came the conflicting views. While some were extremely fascinated by our project because of our relatively new approach of tackling the climate change issue and even took a picture of our board, others were more skeptical. Some of the immediate concerns included fear about the strain of E. coli we were using and so we explained that we were using a non harmful strain of E. coli that is already present in the intestines of people and animals. Additionally, we talked about GMOs and their benefits to society to enlighten those who had concerns or were uneducated about the field of synthetic biology. We appreciated all their responses and feedback since the community’s opinions and views are very important to us. Above is the content of an email sent to us from the museum's volunteer director, Sarah Feit.

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Ethics:

Knowing that the public had serious ethical concerns regarding GMOs, we decided to consult one of UNL’s professors who is knowledgeable in this topic. We contacted Professor Stephen Baenziger, whose area of focus is small grains breeding and genetics. Although he doesn’t deal with animals specifically, he still provided valuable insight for our project. After we introduced him to our project, we asked him three main questions: “What are some of the common ethical arguments against GMOs?”, “What could persuade the public’s opinion in favor of GMOs?”, “How can we integrate that into the way we approach introducing and discussing our project?” and discussed other issues as well. One of his first concerns with our project was the possibility of gene transfer. He suggested we continue with our project but to also find another strain of bacteria where the risk of gene transfer is lower. Using another organism would also ease people’s concerns because of the stigma surrounding E. coli. If there is still a fear of the risks that accompany our project, he told us to think of a quote from Voltaire: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”, meaning any risk that comes from our technology will always be less than the environmental risks of letting methane continually be released into the atmosphere. When we asked how to approach such issues, he suggested that first we attempt to answer all possible questions that could be asked to us beforehand so the public knows the team has thought about the problems. Then when presenting our project, we need to emphasize the tradeoffs and emphasize the term probiotic or medicine because they are more favorable words used already for other GMOs. For example, insulin was created through genetic engineering however there have been no complaints because of its obvious benefits and it isn’t called a GMO. On a different note, he was also concerned about the misapplications of our technology. For instance, drugs that have been banned due to non approved uses. Our technology could also be used incorrectly and so we have to consider potential regulations or restrictions that need to be placed.

Social Media

Online learning has become exponentially more important in the decade. It was important to our team to engage in this type of platform with technology moving rather quickly. By designing a Facebook page of our team, we not only could inform the public on Synthetic Biology but it made collaborating with teams much easier. Every week we would post a couple of articles from credible sources that pertained to Synthetic Biology, our methane reduction research specifically, and everything in between. We were able to record the amount of hits we received from each posting and how many interactions total we received. For fun, we would even post fun memes or pictures to keep those who liked and were suggested to like our page entertained and further engaged. By providing these strategies, we were able to educate the public on the purpose and importance of Synthetic Biology.

Additionally, making this Facebook page enabled us to communicate with other iGEM teams more easily than other platforms. Although we utilized our twitter to have short chats (less than 140 characters) and post pictures when we received our supplies, it wasn’t the best resource to actually coordinate logistics and collaboration with other teams. On Facebook we were actually able to display to other teams our research process and timeline in a lot easier and a better-understood format. Moreover, others team and the general public more easily understood the purpose of our research and Synthetic Biology all together.

Intellectual Property

We were able to get into contact with a patent lawyer who works at UNL. Last year, the 2016 UNL iGEM Team also held a patent meeting, but after submitting their patent request, UNL patent services denied their request. From our meetings with the Animal Science Department, it was apparent that our project was more marketable than the 2016 team’s project, so we met with Arpi Siyahian, a patent representative with NUtech Ventures, UNL’s patent services. On August 1, she kindly volunteered her time to talk with us about the patenting process, intellectual property, and what our future holds in terms of patents.

She had some interesting things to say about what makes a patent valid, how research patents under companies and universities like UNL work. She told us that while everyone involved with the project should be included on the patent, only the people who made a significant contribution to the project’s ideas and progress should be cited as “inventors”. Otherwise, the patent could be found invalid, and the money that had been made from the patent would have to be forfeited. In addition, the “inventors” on a patent obtained through UNL patent services would be given a combined 20% of the total revenue made as a result of the patent.

The process of obtaining a patent was also discussed that morning. Arpi told us that first we should apply through the NUtech Ventures for a patent. After we submit the application, patent experts will do a thorough investigation into whether the idea is “novel” (it has not been introduced by any other party) and determine whether it is profitable enough to warrant the university pursuing the patent and paying the necessary fees. If UNL decides to not pursue our patent, then we cannot apply for a patent on our own because all of the ideas and research are owned by UNL as all work was done on their property. Due to the timing of our project and iGEM’s Jamboree, she told us we should apply for a provisional patent, a legal document claiming the idea for 2 years so that further research can be done without actually paying for a full patent.

Meeting with Arpi Siyahian was an interesting look at how the patent process works at UNL and for full time researchers and professors. Her ending remarks to us included that we should likely characterize our parts more intensively before applying for the actual patent.