Biosafety investigation and considerations for our project

For further investigation, we went to the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy Research, CAs. We consulted professors who worked on years of bioenergy development and microbial fermentation. The safety problems involved in ethanol production by microbial fermentation of cellulose were discussed. Experts said there are many kinds of microorganisms that can degrade cellulose in nature, and the expression of fungal cellulase in engineered yeast is more common. Moreover, the level of exogenous genes expressed by S.cerevisiae is limited. In the long run, the construction of yeast that can utilize cellulose or fiber sugars can effectively convert the rich algae waste into a renewable carbon source for use in the bioenergy industry in the future.

To fully investigate the impact of the eruption of Enteromorpha on the marine environment, we went to the first Marine Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. We understand that the coastal Enteromorpha is mainly from the northern Jiangsu Shoal Aquaculture Waters, from where a large number of floating Enteromorpha drift to the Yellow Sea coast. The green Tide distributes about 20,000 square kilometers, covering an area of about 187 square kilometers. A large number of Enteromorpha hoard in the seaside , but the hoarding algae is very easy to become metamorphic, which can do harm to marine environment and marine life.

Our project goal is to use waste algae residue, reduce their hoarding capacity, improve the utilization rate of Enteromorpha. In the long run, our project is of great significance in solving environmental problems and protecting marine life. In the project design and implementation process, we strictly abode by the safety regulations of the iGEM Committee, more details can refer to our safety page.

Safety project design

Being responsible for our earth and ourselves is our attitude towards every experiment. In our project, all the parts we have utilized are selected from Risk Group 1, none of which are with a Red Flag. What’s more, nonpathogenic bacteria, E.coli K12 is employed as the main host. Up to now, although we have already made S. cerevisiae express xylase and cellobiase and also produce ethanol, we still want to enrich the nutritional value of ethanol. So we decided to make S. cerevisiae produce resveratrol, a compound with many medical value. In addition, for the innovation part we also try to mold avidin biotin and chain link E.coli KO11 and yeast, and then co-culture to test whether it can increase the alcohol yield. The co-culture these two strains is harmless for their growth and relatively safe for industrialized applications. In order not to destroy environment, all the experimental organisms were sterilized before being abandoned.

Safe lab work

We work at a neat lab named “Lab for Micro-innovation and Enterprise”, which is a BSL-2 laboratory. Before working in the lab, we are supposed to be trained by the skillful hands, not only for the general lab safety rules, but also for the standard experimental operation avoiding unnecessary damage. No experiment carries no risk to the experimenters, hence we are properly equipped with facilities, such as latex gloves, nitrile gloves, goggles, lab coats to protect us from biotic and abiotic hazards. For us, lab safety is a hot topic and we have come up with a practical lab safety manual which normalizes our lovely lab.

A comic book for biosafety

In the form of a comic book, we would like to share our understanding of biosafety and synthetic biology with more people. It is specifically designed for first learners of synthetic biology or children. Because to our understanding, biosafety stands above most of the other aspects in research. For this job, we carried out surveys among teachers and children, and spent over 6 month drawing and editing, hoping to spread the concept of biosafety to the society.