At the beginning of our iGEM adventure we were invited by the Rathenau Institute, an institute which promotes safe and ethical research, to visit their introduction to the iGEMmers Guide To The Future. Along with an explanation what that is, we had speed dates with Human Practices experts from the Rathenau and RIVM (government institute for health and environment). Before this event we decided to make a DNA detector, but were not yet sure in what way. We had several option, but after the talks with experts we decided to focus on one specific project; a bacteriophages detection system for the dairy industry. We used the iGEMmers guide during the beginning or our project to explore our human practices options and had skype conversation with Zoe Robaey. She guided us where to start with human practices, such as who to contact, and gave us helpful tips for the deisgn of our 'Outbreak!' game.

To gain insights of the impact of using GMOs in the food industry we contacted dr. J. Hille, among other a lecturer of Biotechnology course unit at the University of Groningen. Here we discussed the general differences between European and American legislation concerning GMO and the public opinion of GMOs in general. Dr. J. Hille was kind enough to give us useful directions and connections, such as Jeantine Lunshof and pointed us towards issues we should take into account before advancing our project.

Cathalijne van Beekvelt works for the ILT. This is the Dutch Inspection of Living environment and Transport. We contacted her because we wanted more information about the regulations that would limit us in bringing our product on the market. She gave us the contact information of Rob Duba, because he knows more about the policies regarding GMOs.

Multiple times, we had a talk with Jaco Westra from the RIVM. The RIVM is the National Institute for Health and Environment. The RIVM provided us with funding and we worked on their assignment where we took safety as the most important aspect of our project. The title of the assignment was ‘Thinking before doing’. Essentially, think about the safety of your product, before you start developing it. We eventually presented all of the safety aspects, we believe to be important, in a card game which is both fun and educative. Jaco was our contact person during this safety assignment. He gave great tips on how to handle legislation. He also gave us some help with who we could contact for more information.

Jeantine Lunshof works as a bioethicist at the Church laboratory in Boston. We contacted her in the beginning of our project to get a general view on ethics in the field of synthetic biology. After explaining the general idea of our project, she told us something about her work at the Church lab. Together we thought about a story which would be interesting for the public and would not scare them of. Jeantine also mentioned that the consumer of dairy products is in our case a very low stakeholder. This definitely does not mean we should set them aside. It is important to inform them and think about the story you will tell them. Why is our project important for the consumer? Does it ensure better/safer dairy products or will the dairy products be of a higher quality? The most important and helpful thing she told us was to make clear at all cases that our diagnostic tool will not get into the food! Only one small mentioning of this of one of the team members could make the headlines and break your story. Possibly the team’s project would only get remembered by the negative attention it got. Ultimately, chances of getting the product on the market would be close to zero. Tip: one team, one voice!

Before the meeting with prof. Martin Goedhart and dr. Maaike de Heij we tried to contact multiple dairy factories and farmers, but all with no success. The fact that we are using a GMO for our project was probably one of the main factors why this was so difficult. Professor Martin Goedhart and dr. Maaike de Heij gave us great tips about how we should contact companies with our GMO product. After we implemented their advice, we were able to gain contact more easily. One of the researchers at a big dairy company was even surprised we were allowed to visit one of their factories!

To gain insights into the current legislation and policy with regard to biotechnology, we contacted Rob Duba, a senior policy officer on Biotechnology at the Department of I&M. We learned that both the license for working with GMOs and notification at Bureau GGO is publicly available. If our biosensor is deemed restricted use, it is necessary for the company to have earned a license for working with GMOs and to have a Biosafety Officer no matter what. Unfortunately up to this moment, no GMO biosensor exists that was not categorized for restricted use. Only in the case that the biosensor gets an EU market approval (in Dutch: EU Markttoelating), which basically allows GMOs that are deemed safe to be released in nature, a company using it is not obliged to get a license.