Difference between revisions of "Team:Austin LASA/Human Practices"

Revision as of 03:35, 18 October 2018

const p = t => h('p', null, t);
h(g.Page, {title: 'Integrated Human Practices', prev: 'https://2018.igem.org/Team:Austin_LASA/Safety', next: 'https://2018.igem.org/Team:Austin_LASA/Model', selector: [5, 0]},
  h(g.Section, {title: 'SILVER MEDAL CRITERIA'},
    p('We believe that our work is a positive impact because early detection of HIV-1 can lead to a reduction in mortality of up to 75%. Currently, the detection methods for HIV in resource deficient areas are time consuming or require a lot of resources and expertise. We have detailed this in the “Why HIV Detection in Infants” section of our Description page further. After realizing this problem, we wanted to make a quick and low resource method of detection, which led to our current project. The possibility of such a method reducing infant mortality is a possibility, which is nothing but a positive impact.'),
    p('We investigated the struggles of HIV diagnosis by talking to someone who had traveled to Malawi and had experienced that environment. In our opinion, her direct experience was one of the best ways to investigate the issue. She discussed how the device must be relatively simple to use and be fast, as often people leave the clinic before they get the results back. The more we spoke to people, the more evident it was that a quick and simple kit was something that was an actual necessity. More details on these investigations can be found in the “Engaging with Experts” section of this page.'),
    p('We also engaged with people who are vital to the process of HIV-1 diagnosis and an integral part of that community. We spoke to someone involved in HIV policy in order to help us understand the complexities of building a kit and how to ensure that it was truly beneficial in diagnosis. We also spoke to a biological safety officer in order to understand the disposal techniques and packaging methods in order to ensure that our kit would be used responsibly and have no negative effects that were preventable. More details on this HIV and safety community engagement can be found in the “Engaging with Experts” section of this page.'),
    p('We chose this approach of interviewing people who had actually traveled to locations where our kit was needed because we thought that it would be the best way to get feedback that was personal and genuine. We feel as if we were successful in this, as the information they provided us was seemed much more personal than information gained from papers or other resources. We also interviewed safety and policy officials, as we felt like they would be able to provide a fresh perspective on our project. The team ourselves would not be able to catch every single minute detail that may have a negative impact considering we are not experts in the field. Therefore, we talked to experts who were able to make sure that our work was truly responsible and would have a positive impact.')
  ),
  h(g.Section, {title: 'GOLD MEDAL CRITERIA'},
    p('Utilizing the information that we gained from various experts, we were able to finalize our laboratory protocols and decided to focus on protocols that did not require specific machinery. By doing so, we were able to divert from depending on large central labs, to doing detection within small rural hospitals, thereby increasing communication between the technicians and family. In response to sterility, we created a resource to establish a standard for universal precautions. To see a more detailed description of the designing and implementation please refer to the Integration section.')
  ),
  h(g.Section, {title: 'BEST INTEGRATED HUMAN PRACTICES SPECIAL PRIZE'},
    p('Our project directly targets one of the most vulnerable groups to the HIV infection, infants in rural countries, and aims to provide a seamless solution to detecting this infection early on by using synthetic biology techniques. In doing so, we not only familiarize ourselves with local hospitals in order to understand common issues and better adapt, but we have considered implementation of our project from the viewpoint of a stakeholder. Thereby, all the protocols and materials used in this project were chosen with a specific goal in mind, more information on how our project best integrates the interest of all parties can be found in the “End Result” section.')
  ),
  h(g.Section, {title: 'CONSIDERED TOPICS'},
    p('Our project was related to the detection of HIV-1 in infants. This gave us a lot of room to work with human practices topics. One of the major topics we wanted to look at was the education of the general public about synthetic biology. We considered numerous educational opportunities about synthetic biology and genetics with younger children, which we followed through with. Another topic we considered was informing ourselves about how people diagnosed with HIV in the United States feel about the process and general experience. We pursued the option of going to HIV-1 clinics, but unfortunately this was not possible for us due to the sensitive circumstances surrounding such an institution. Along with this, we wanted to focus on the topic of the struggles of HIV diagnosis and other low resource diagnoses. This led us talking to experts who have experience diagnosing HIV in the field and safety protocols, since we wanted to make sure that our kit would be safe.')
  ),
  h(g.Section, {title: 'ACTIVITIES'},
  h(g.Section, {title: 'Education and Outreach'},
    h('p', null, 'Our team was very active in reaching out to our local community, particularly to younger children. We’ve listed out below everything we’ve done.'),
    h('ul', null,
      h('li', null, 'The LASA iGEM Team spent time volunteering at the AHA 2018 Stem Event (7/21/18)',
        h('ul', null,
          h('li', null, 'The second annual Austin STEM Day, led by the American Heart Association, Abbott and Texas Mutual Insurance Company, will engage 40 high-school students in a day-long conference. The program aimed to inspire students, encourage innovative thinking and demonstrate that not only are STEM careers critical to the health of our communities but also, they can be fun!'),
          h('li', null, 'Volunteers engaged with other students during the conference from 8:30-12 p.m on July 21, 2018 and participated in various STEM related activities with mentors to to help inspire future students.')
        ) 
      ),
      h('li', null, 'The LASA iGEM Team led mini science experiment-labs at The Thinkery Museum (8/10/18, 8/25/18, and 9/15/18)',
        h('ul', null,
          h('li', null, 'Members led 3-4 hour workshops in the Thinkery Museum, a children’s museum created to  help the new generation of innovators and creative problem solvers.'),
          h('li', null, 'Workshops included the following the ', h('a', {href: 'https://www.genome.gov/pages/education/modules/strawberryextractioninstructions.pdf', className: 'link'}, 'procedure'), ' of the classic Strawberry DNA Lab'),
          h('li', null, 'During the lab, members discussed basic science concepts with children and parents and mentioned the field of synthetic biology to adults. This event was extremely successful as there were over 30 participants each session. The LASA iGEM team volunteered here for a total of about 8 hours each.'),
        ) 
      ),
      h('li', null, 'The LASA iGEM Team volunteered at the Summer Mad Science Camps in Austin (8/6/18-8/7/18)',
        h('ul', null,
          h('li', null, 'Austin Mad Science is a well known establishment with the goal of delivering unique, hands-on science experiences to children.'),
          h('li', null, 'From 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. members of the LASA iGEM team helped the camp run by facilitating activities with kids and interacting with them about synthetic biology.'),
          h('li', null, 'Activities are attached ', h('a', {href: 'https://austin.madscience.org/locations/austin/pdf/SummerCamp2018IAAAustin.pdf', className: 'link'}, 'here'), '.')
        ) 
      ),
      h('li', null, 'The LASA iGEM Team conducted a short lab experiment with Clayton Elementary School on (10/5/18)',
        h('ul', null,
          h('li', null, 'LASA iGEM members went to Clayton Elementary and met with an afterschool science group to perform a simple DNA lab. Students had a great time learning about new scientific concepts and having hands-on experience with scientific tools.'),
          h('li', null, 'Workshops included the following the ', h('a', {href: 'https://www.genome.gov/pages/education/modules/strawberryextractioninstructions.pdf', className: 'link'}, 'procedure'), ' of the classic Strawberry DNA Lab')
        )
      ),
      h('li', null, 'The LASA iGEM Team went to a local elementary school, Laurel Mountain Elementary and talked about DNA, genetics and did the strawberry DNA extraction activity (the protocol in one of the sections above). The kids were super enthusiastic about the activity and even knew what the acronym DNA stands for at the end.',
        h(g.Image, {src: 'https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/1/1f/T--Austin_LASA--Strawberry1.jpg', position: 'center'},
          h('p', null, 'Here’s some of our team members in the classroom, before performing the experiment with the class.')
        ),
        h(g.Image, {src: 'https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/5/50/T--Austin_LASA--Strawberry2.jpg', position: 'center'},
          h('p', null, 'Will helping a student filter their mixture in order to remove chunks. The kids enjoyed seeing the DNA form after rubbing alcohol was added.')
        )
      )
    )
  ),
  h(g.Section, {title: 'Engaging with Experts'},
    p('In order to learn more about the diagnosis of HIV and biosafety, we interviewed several experts in the field and have included the information they gave us below.')
  ),
  h(g.Section, {title: 'Human Practices in Our Kit'},
    h('p', null, 'We integrated human practices into our project throughout the iGEM season. Below we’ve summarized how our integrated human practices fits the requirements for the Gold Medal Integrated Human Practices criterion and the Best Integrated Human Practices Award.'),
    h('p', null, 'For a much more detailed reference on the development of our kit and how our human practices played a role in that, please see our Kit Considerations page. For a much more detailed reference on how our human practices impact our wet lab work, please see our Design, Development, and Results page.')
  )
);

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+  h(g.Section, {title: 'Engaging with Experts'},
+    p('In order to learn more about the diagnosis of HIV and biosafety, we interviewed several experts in the field and have included the information they gave us below.')
    ),
    h(g.Section, {title: 'Human Practices in Our Kit'},