Human Practices (Gold & Integrated)

Aims and Rationale

Sensynova was a project founded in Human Practices. Each branch of our project is rooted in a barrier to biosensor implementation identified by in-depth conversations with stakeholders. We identified not only technical issues, but also societal issues, as these are equally important in ensuring successful implementation of biosensor projects.

The aims of our human practices were to:
1 - Determine how current biosensor developers design, produce and implement biosensor projects
2 - Use these talks to determine the common barriers to biosensor development and implementation
3 - Create novel solutions to identified problems, producing frameworks and guidelines to aid future researchers

To achieve these aims, we emailed, skyped and attended conferences to speak to stakeholders in biosensor development, from the early research stage to the end-user.

Introduction

Synthetic Biology biosensors have a number of advantages over traditional methods. They are cost-effective (After the research stages, production of the biosensor relies only on the maintenance of a population of cells expressing an engineered system), can produce a variety of sophisticated behaviours, such as signal amplification and logic gates, and often have no reliance on additional equipment and therefore are ideal for onsite diagnosis.

Each year a plethora of useful biosensors are developed, both by iGEM researchers and in the broader synthetic biology community. We now have access to biosensors for applications ranging from water contamination to fruit ripeness. In fact, we had originally decided on the development of a biosensor for herbicides as our iGEM project. However, our research for this project unearthed an interesting fact: despite the large number of synthetic biology biosensors that have been developed over the years, there is a distinct lack of synthetic biology based biosensors in everyday use. Despite their advantages over methods like immunoassays and mass spectroscopy (which are expensive and often rely on additional equipment), these traditional methods are much more widely used by researchers. Also, the day-to-day usage by non-scientists, who are often the target end-user for a biosensor, has not materialised. In fact, not one synthetic biology based biosensor has been approved for use outside of a laboratory setting by the EU.

This led to the question which shaped not only our human practices work, but our project as a whole: What are the barriers facing synthetic biology biosensors, and what can we do to help?

The Issues

Issue #1: Parts Reusability

“Each generation of scientists keeps reinventing the wheel” - Dr Martin Peacock

The Issue

The use of synthetic biology based biosensors is limited in the field due to restrictions around the use of genetically modified organisms outside controlled areas. Speaking to Dr Chris French on this matter, he told us about his experience with this issue when trying to get clearance for the use of the arsenic biosensor in the field. It became clear that this was the only hurdle in this project and that it was the reason the project has come to a stand still.

Our Solution

During our discussions with Dr French, he pointed us in the direction of the Workshop on Biosensors that took place in. This report said that “a possible solution to getting around legislative restrictions is the use of cell systems”. After reading this and along with our discussions with experts, we went forward and created a

Issue #2: Range of Analytes and Outputs

“Main bulk of the work in developing a biosensor is the deduction of the mechanistic process of substrate-circuit interaction” - Dr Oliver Purcell

The Issue

The use of synthetic biology based biosensors is limited in the field due to restrictions around the use of genetically modified organisms outside controlled areas. Speaking to Dr Chris French on this matter, he told us about his experience with this issue when trying to get clearance for the use of the arsenic biosensor in the field. It became clear that this was the only hurdle in this project and that it was the reason the project has come to a stand still.

Our Solution

During our discussions with Dr French, he pointed us in the direction of the Workshop on Biosensors that took place in. This report said that “a possible solution to getting around legislative restrictions is the use of cell systems”. After reading this and along with our discussions with experts, we went forward and created a

Issue #3: Legislation

“The main problem with using biosensors outside the lab is legislation” - Dr Chris French

The Issue

The use of synthetic biology based biosensors is limited in the field due to restrictions around the use of genetically modified organisms outside controlled areas. Speaking to Dr Chris French on this matter, he told us about his experience with this issue when trying to get clearance for the use of the arsenic biosensor in the field. It became clear that this was the only hurdle in this project and that it was the reason the project has come to a stand still.

Our Solution

During our discussions with Dr French, he pointed us in the direction of the Workshop on Biosensors that took place in. This report said that “a possible solution to getting around legislative restrictions is the use of cell systems”. After reading this and along with our discussions with experts, we went forward and created a

Issue #4: Extensive Optimisation

“The main problem with using biosensors outside the lab is legislation” - Dr Chris French

The Issue

The use of synthetic biology based biosensors is limited in the field due to restrictions around the use of genetically modified organisms outside controlled areas. Speaking to Dr Chris French on this matter, he told us about his experience with this issue when trying to get clearance for the use of the arsenic biosensor in the field. It became clear that this was the only hurdle in this project and that it was the reason the project has come to a stand still.

Our Solution

During our discussions with Dr French, he pointed us in the direction of the Workshop on Biosensors that took place in. This report said that “a possible solution to getting around legislative restrictions is the use of cell systems”. After reading this and along with our discussions with experts, we went forward and created a

Issue #5: Uptake of Technologies

“Only the top 5% of an industry will pick up new technologies, and we rely on them feeding it down" - Dr David George

The Issue

The use of synthetic biology based biosensors is limited in the field due to restrictions around the use of genetically modified organisms outside controlled areas. Speaking to Dr Chris French on this matter, he told us about his experience with this issue when trying to get clearance for the use of the arsenic biosensor in the field. It became clear that this was the only hurdle in this project and that it was the reason the project has come to a stand still.

Our Solution

During our discussions with Dr French, he pointed us in the direction of the Workshop on Biosensors that took place in. This report said that “a possible solution to getting around legislative restrictions is the use of cell systems”. After reading this and along with our discussions with experts, we went forward and created a