Difference between revisions of "Team:Jiangnan China/Human Practices"

    In the previous iGEM competitions, human practice was always the vital and indispensable element. As a group of creators, we devoted ourselves to producing an anti-acid and anti-cold chassis microorganism. To achieve that tough goal, we need to not only spend a ton of time in the lab but also do something relative to the society who will be our real beneficiary. Therefore, we took some actions.



    At Yakult, we understand the great benefits of probiotics for human health. Yakult's live probiotics have strong acid resistance. Because of company secrets, we can't know how its acid resistance was improved. It is known that it is screened from many strains, which gave us some inspiration.



    First, we watched the propaganda film of Meiji and learned about the company's products, market and corporate culture. Then, we visited the company's workshop under the guidance of the staff. The streamlined production made us feel the advanced technology of the company. After discussion with the marketing staff, we learned that Lactococcus lactis has a large share of the probiotic market.



    Guided by the head of the R&D department, we visited the company's laboratories, learning a lot about some high-tech equipment. In the conference room of the R&D department, we conducted a far-reaching discussion with the person in charge. He told us the application regulations and policies of genetically engineered bacteria, which made us realize that genetically engineered bacteria cannot be eaten directly, which caused substantial changes in the direction of our project. We no longer stuck to the probiotics direction and try to find new application directions.



    Firstly we went to Xinhua pharmaceutical company. At this company, we learned that most of their current drugs are still relatively common drugs, and they are also used in the traditional way of taking drugs. However, some drugs need to be prepared in the form of coating, and need to control the time and dosage, which is not very convenient. Also, the granules are relatively large. We have initially explored the possible application of our project in pharmacy, such as making a live vaccine, etc. They gave affirmation, especially in the safety, and also proposed some problems, which is also the problem we need to solve in the future.



    Later, we went to Vland biotech company to discuss the problem of frozen stress in the process of microbial fermentation and preservation and transportation. Although protective agents can be added to reduce the harm of acid stress and frozen stress, the advantages of Lactobacillus lactis in anti-acid and anti-freezing are self-evident. And they raised the issue of safety, not only the safety of the bacteria, but also the emissions of the natural environment, and they encouraged us to add a suicide mechanism, which was consistent with our idea, so we considered the suicide mechanism in the design of subsequent experiments.