Desctription

While the light activated CRISPR-Cas 9 system developed in this project should provide scientists with greater control and accuracy when gene editing, its effects on a larger scale (at the level of multicellular organisms such as humans or plants) are more contested. The indefinite nature of this technology has resulted in barriers to integrating it into mainstream healthcare and policy discourse.

Our dry lab team is responsible for developing a model of the gene circuit designed by the wet lab. Previous studies have illustrated the stochastic nature of gene regulatory networks, indicating the complexity of interactions. Thus, stochastic model algorithms will be used to simplify the complexity of gene regulation. Specifically, the dry lab team will recreate the gene pathway and determine the rate kinetics of the many outputs of our system, using the data provided by the wet lab. Next, the dynamics of our CRISPR-Cas 9 syetem will be analyzed with MATLAB Symbio Library. Finally, our wet lab team will implement the newly designed genetic circuit using the optimized model created by the dry lab.

Although mathematical modeling will attempt to increase the accuracy of our gene editing system it is important to understand and address societal apprehensions to integrating it into mainstream discourse. To investigate these barriers our team will create a dialogue with individuals who represent diverse cultural, economic, and religious backgrounds. These will include local politicians, healthcare professionals, members of religious communities, and end users who will be affected by the inclusion of this technology into mainstream healthcare. Through this dialogue we hope to provide a diverse understanding of the manner in which this technology will shape, and is shaped by, the political and social landscape of Canada. Our team also seeks to engage the broader public in dialogue on synthetic biology by making it more accessible in three ways. The first is by educating and engaging high school students through a summer camp which incorporates activities such as protein modeling, coding, and case studies. Through this camp we seek to provide practical skills to students and foster an interest in synthetic biology and introduce the social impacts of it. The second will pair scientists and artists for a daylong Iconathon event. Not only will the icons created through this event be used to enrich the currently meager synthetic biology icon repository, it will also act as a way to educate artists about synthetic biology in an interdisciplinary fashion. Finally, a five episode podcast related to synthetic biology will engage industry professionals, specialists, and our own team members to educate a wider audience.