Team:Ecuador/Human Practices

C-lastin, Interlab

Overview

Ecuador is a megadiverse country in the world and with great academic potential, if both qualities are exploited in sciences such as biotechnology and synthetic biology, it can become a source of innumerable discoveries for the food, medical, agricultural and energy industries. However, in recent years these disciplines have not advanced too much, due to the gaps in the laws of GMOs in the country, moreover to the lack of dissemination of the applications of these sciences in the country. For this reason we have named our Human Practices project as "Open Doors", which focuses on improving the performance of synthetic biology in the country, for future teams and groups dedicated to carrying out these sciences in the country.


For this purpose, a survey was carried out to several academics and students to understand if they know about synthetic biology, its applications and if it believes that the laws of the country are favorable for its realization.

Knowledge about synthetic biology

Knowledge of the applications of synthetic biology

Favorable laws in the country

With the data obtained it was possible to define that there is a great knowledge of the subject by the academic people, against the students or natural persons do not know much about the subject. However, both agree that the laws are not favorable enough for the development of the science in the country. Therefore, our team considered working on the dissemination of synthetic biology, in addition to the main tools for its realization for students and people without much knowledge of the subject. More over  to the work in conjunction with the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment for the proposal of clarifications in the existing gaps in Ecuadorian laws.