Difference between revisions of "Team:Warwick/Human Practices"

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<h3>★  ALERT! </h3>
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<p>This page is used by the judges to evaluate your team for the <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Judging/Medals">medal criterion</a> or <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Judging/Awards"> award listed below</a>. </p>
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<p> Delete this box in order to be evaluated for this medal criterion and/or award. See more information at <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Judging/Pages_for_Awards"> Instructions for Pages for awards</a>.</p>
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<h1>Human Practices</h1>
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At iGEM we believe societal considerations should be upfront and integrated throughout the design and execution of synthetic biology projects. “Human Practices” refers to iGEM teams’ efforts to actively consider how the world affects their work and the work affects the world. Through your Human Practices activities, your team should demonstrate how you have thought carefully and creatively about whether your project is responsible and good for the world. We invite you to explore issues relating (but not limited) to the ethics, safety, security, and sustainability of your project, and to show how this exploration feeds back into your project purpose, design and execution.
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<p>For more information, please see the <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Human_Practices">Human Practices Hub</a>. There you will find:</p>
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<li> an <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Human_Practices/Introduction">introduction</a> to Human Practices at iGEM </li>
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<li>tips on <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Human_Practices/How_to_Succeed">how to succeed</a> including explanations of judging criteria and advice about how to conduct and document your Human Practices work</li>
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<li>descriptions of <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Human_Practices/Examples">exemplary work</a> to inspire you</li>
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<li>links to helpful <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Human_Practices/Resources">resources</a></li>
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<li>And more! </li>
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<p>On this page, your team should document all of your Human Practices work and activities. You should write about the Human Practices topics you considered in your project, document any activities you conducted to explore these topics (such as engaging with experts and stakeholders), describe why you took a particular approach (including referencing any work you built upon), and explain if and how you integrated takeaways from your Human Practices work back into your project purpose, design and/or execution. </p>
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<p>If your team has gone above and beyond in work related to safety, then you should document this work on your Safety wiki page and provide a description and link on this page. If your team has developed education and public engagement efforts that go beyond a focus on your particular project, and for which would like to nominate your team for the Best Education and Public Engagement Special Prize, you should document this work on your Education and Education wiki page and provide a description and link here. </p>
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<p>The iGEM judges will review this page to assess whether you have met the Silver and/or Gold medal requirements based on the Integrated Human Practices criteria listed below. If you nominate your team for the <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Judging/Awards">Best Integrated Human Practices Special Prize</a> by filling out the corresponding field in the <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Judging/Judging_Form">judging form</a>, the judges will also review this page to consider your team for that prize.
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<h3>Silver Medal Criterion #3</h3>
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<p>Convince the judges you have thought carefully and creatively about whether your work is responsible and good for the world. Document how you have investigated these issues and engaged with your relevant communities, why you chose this approach, and what you have learned. Please note that surveys will not fulfill this criteria unless you follow scientifically valid methods. </p>
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<p>Expand on your silver medal activity by demonstrating how you have integrated the investigated issues into the purpose, design and/or execution of your project. Document how your project has changed based upon your human practices work.
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<h3>Best Integrated Human Practices Special Prize</h3>
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<p>To compete for the Best Integrated Human Practices prize, please describe your work on this page and also fill out the description on the judging form. </p>
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<p>How does your project affect society and how does society influence the direction of your project? How might ethical considerations and stakeholder input guide your project purpose and design and the experiments you conduct in the lab? How does this feedback enter into the process of your work all through the iGEM competition? Document a thoughtful and creative approach to exploring these questions and how your project evolved in the process to compete for this award!</p>
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<p>You must also delete the message box on the top of this page to be eligible for this prize.</p>
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<h1 id='GenericTitle'>Human Practices</h1>
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                                  <h2>Pakistan</h2>
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                                  <p>We spoke to an official, who worked for WAPDA in Lahore, Pakistan, and was directly involved in water treatment. This discussion highlighted the importance of a centralised water treatment system, and the need for governance over the 'standard' level of water cleanliness. Pakistan is currently moving towards this goal, and aims to have standardised water treatment soon, however as of right now, it is often up to each local district to lay out the rules on water treatment and the budget that is allocated to this.</p>
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                                  <img src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/9/9a/T--Warwick--pakistan.png' style="width: 20%;margin-top: -12%;margin-left: 3%;">
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                              </div>
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                              <div class='Contents' id='Content2'>
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                                  <h2>Survey</h2><br>
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                                  <img src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/a/a7/T--Warwick--HPGraph1.png' style='margin-top: -10%;'>
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                                  <p>Before we launched our project, we conducted an online survey to gauge the public’s reaction towards the problem of water safety and to see if our project would create an impact on society. We received a total of 118 responses with survey respondents coming from all around the world such as United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore and India.
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The survey results showed that our project has the ability to make an impact as many people (68.6%)  were aware of the dangers of oestrogen in water to animals. 
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                                  <p>
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                                      Although our project would involved placing anti-bacterial resistance into water, our initial fears were alleviated when the survey results show that close to half of the respondents (40.7%) approved to the addition of bacteria in water while only 14.4% of them disapproved.
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                                  </p>
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                                  <img src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/6/65/T--Warwick--HPGraph2.png' style='box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px 5px white;'>
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                              <div class='Contents' id='Content4'>
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                                  <img src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/f/f4/T--Warwick--HPTable3.png'>
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                                  <p>
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                                      Overall, many felt that our team’s project have the ability to create a positive impact on the environment as there is a clear awareness of the present dangers of water.
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                                  </p>
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                              <div class='Contents' id='Content5'>
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                                  <h2>Lee Hishamuddin Allen & Gledhill (IP Lawyer)</h2>
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                                  <p>
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After some discussion with Eunice Chan, an Intellectual Property (IP) lawyer , we were told that in order to patent a product, it needs to be new or be combined in a new way. Patents cannot be applied if they have been introduced into the public domain. This prompted us to compile an intellectual property guidebook which would serve as a guide for other teams when considering which type of trademark applications they should go for.<br>Furthermore, in line with the recent blockchain developments, we posed the question of whether is blockchain technology the future of synthetic biology intellectual property protection. The full version of the guidebook can be found <a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:Warwick/Public_Engagement">here.</a>
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                                  </p>
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                                  <img src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/2/23/T--Warwick--Law.png' style='width: 25%; margin-top: -16%; margin-left: 2%;'>
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                              </div>
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                              <div class='Contents' id='Content6'>
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                                  <h2>David Coleman, Professor of Oral & Applied Microbiology, Dental Science at Trinity College Dublin</h2>
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                                  <img src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/d/d1/T--Warwick--TCD.jpg' style='width: 20%; margin-right: 5%; margin-top: -95%;'>
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                                  <p>
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                                      We were fortunate to conduct a phone call interview with Mr Coleman about his perspective on our Legionella project. He stated that decontamination against Legionella bacteria was far easier than effectively testing for the bacteria itself - most Legionella are highly susceptible to antibiotics. A rapid test would be valuable to dental practitioners to prove that their equipment would be sterile at low concentrations of Legionella bacteria. Equipment is usually sterile, however Legionella bacteria tend to find their way into dental chair units - waterlines can become dense with bacterial biofilm without regular disinfection.<br><br>
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Culture tests for Legionella can frequently result in false negatives, putting patients at risk when no threat can be identified. Legionella are a parasitic bacteria, both to humans and to microorganisms; they can revive themselves after being engulfed by amoeba, meaning that the amoeba cells must be lysed in order to correctly define the true prevalence of legionella in a given sample. An acid lysis step is required in order to free the Legionella, but due to the parasitic nature of the bacteria, cultures can still prove difficult to give consistent results. Disinfectant can also cause Legionella to enter a pathogenically-viable non-culturable state.<br><br>
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After the interview with David Coleman, we discovered a significant demand for an effective Legionella detection kit. We changed the sequence of our gRNA based upon his recommendation from an <a style='color:#85e4e9 !important; font-weight: 400;' href='http://parts.igem.org/Part:BBa_K2841515'>endA (highlighted in red)</a> sensing device to a <a style='color:#85e4e9 !important; font-weight: 400;' href='http://parts.igem.org/Part:BBa_K2841541'>Legiolysin sensing device (highlighted in blue)</a>. The interview with David Coleman has had a foundational impact on our project, changing it at a genetic, and therefore functional level.<br><br><br>
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<img style='width: 80%' src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/7/7e/T--Warwick--riboHP1.png'><br>Before<br><br><br><img style='width: 80%' src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/0/01/T--Warwick--riboHP2.png'><br>After<br><br>Find our Designs page <a style='color:#85e4e9 !important; font-weight: 400;' href='2018.igem.org/Team:Warwick/Design'>here</a>
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                                  </p>
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                              <div class='Contents' id='Content7'>
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                                  <h2>Dr Ng Khuen Yen, Professor of Pharmacy at Monash University Malaysia</h2>
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                                  <p>
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In our interview with Dr Ng from Monash University, he offered us great perspective on his thoughts regarding to our Bacillus Subtilis project. He stressed that in order for us to market our product effectively, we have to ensure that the lead floatation system is low in cost and has good sensitivity towards the detection of toxic metals.
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                                  <img src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/b/b6/T--Warwick--HPimg1.png' style='width: 40%; box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px 5px white; margin-right:8%;'>
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                              <div class='Contents' id='Content8'>
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                                  <h2>David Lloyd, FREDsense</h2>
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                                  <p>
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                                      Mr Lloyd, co-founder and CEO of FREDsense gave us amazing insights into how we could improve and advance our project, specifically in the North America market, He spoke of how lead is a pretty common problem in ageing infrastructure, especially in areas such as Michigan whereby a high concentration of lead is currently leaking out of the pipes of various infrastructures. Hence, our project has a great potential marketability value. With regards to scaling-up, he advised us that we need to consider whether do we want our project to be a field-based technology or something that can be implemented in common household. With the former option, he also warned us that we need to ensure that the operators using it would be able to know how to use them in a simple but effective manner. This is because they are used to using simpler and quicker operation lead detection systems such as taking water samples. Therefore, in order for our project to work effectively when launched, simplicity and performance are two things we have to bear in mind.
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                                  </p>
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                                  <img src='https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/b/bd/T--Warwick--Fredsense.png' style=" width: 21%; margin-left: 5%; margin-top: -23%; box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px 5px white;">
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<div class='Contents' id='Content8'>
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Latest revision as of 03:59, 18 October 2018

Ripple


Human Practices

Pakistan

We spoke to an official, who worked for WAPDA in Lahore, Pakistan, and was directly involved in water treatment. This discussion highlighted the importance of a centralised water treatment system, and the need for governance over the 'standard' level of water cleanliness. Pakistan is currently moving towards this goal, and aims to have standardised water treatment soon, however as of right now, it is often up to each local district to lay out the rules on water treatment and the budget that is allocated to this.

Survey


Before we launched our project, we conducted an online survey to gauge the public’s reaction towards the problem of water safety and to see if our project would create an impact on society. We received a total of 118 responses with survey respondents coming from all around the world such as United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore and India.

The survey results showed that our project has the ability to make an impact as many people (68.6%) were aware of the dangers of oestrogen in water to animals.

Although our project would involved placing anti-bacterial resistance into water, our initial fears were alleviated when the survey results show that close to half of the respondents (40.7%) approved to the addition of bacteria in water while only 14.4% of them disapproved.

Overall, many felt that our team’s project have the ability to create a positive impact on the environment as there is a clear awareness of the present dangers of water.

Lee Hishamuddin Allen & Gledhill (IP Lawyer)

After some discussion with Eunice Chan, an Intellectual Property (IP) lawyer , we were told that in order to patent a product, it needs to be new or be combined in a new way. Patents cannot be applied if they have been introduced into the public domain. This prompted us to compile an intellectual property guidebook which would serve as a guide for other teams when considering which type of trademark applications they should go for.
Furthermore, in line with the recent blockchain developments, we posed the question of whether is blockchain technology the future of synthetic biology intellectual property protection. The full version of the guidebook can be found here.

David Coleman, Professor of Oral & Applied Microbiology, Dental Science at Trinity College Dublin

We were fortunate to conduct a phone call interview with Mr Coleman about his perspective on our Legionella project. He stated that decontamination against Legionella bacteria was far easier than effectively testing for the bacteria itself - most Legionella are highly susceptible to antibiotics. A rapid test would be valuable to dental practitioners to prove that their equipment would be sterile at low concentrations of Legionella bacteria. Equipment is usually sterile, however Legionella bacteria tend to find their way into dental chair units - waterlines can become dense with bacterial biofilm without regular disinfection.

Culture tests for Legionella can frequently result in false negatives, putting patients at risk when no threat can be identified. Legionella are a parasitic bacteria, both to humans and to microorganisms; they can revive themselves after being engulfed by amoeba, meaning that the amoeba cells must be lysed in order to correctly define the true prevalence of legionella in a given sample. An acid lysis step is required in order to free the Legionella, but due to the parasitic nature of the bacteria, cultures can still prove difficult to give consistent results. Disinfectant can also cause Legionella to enter a pathogenically-viable non-culturable state.

After the interview with David Coleman, we discovered a significant demand for an effective Legionella detection kit. We changed the sequence of our gRNA based upon his recommendation from an endA (highlighted in red) sensing device to a Legiolysin sensing device (highlighted in blue). The interview with David Coleman has had a foundational impact on our project, changing it at a genetic, and therefore functional level.



Before



After

Find our Designs page here

Dr Ng Khuen Yen, Professor of Pharmacy at Monash University Malaysia

In our interview with Dr Ng from Monash University, he offered us great perspective on his thoughts regarding to our Bacillus Subtilis project. He stressed that in order for us to market our product effectively, we have to ensure that the lead floatation system is low in cost and has good sensitivity towards the detection of toxic metals.

David Lloyd, FREDsense

Mr Lloyd, co-founder and CEO of FREDsense gave us amazing insights into how we could improve and advance our project, specifically in the North America market, He spoke of how lead is a pretty common problem in ageing infrastructure, especially in areas such as Michigan whereby a high concentration of lead is currently leaking out of the pipes of various infrastructures. Hence, our project has a great potential marketability value. With regards to scaling-up, he advised us that we need to consider whether do we want our project to be a field-based technology or something that can be implemented in common household. With the former option, he also warned us that we need to ensure that the operators using it would be able to know how to use them in a simple but effective manner. This is because they are used to using simpler and quicker operation lead detection systems such as taking water samples. Therefore, in order for our project to work effectively when launched, simplicity and performance are two things we have to bear in mind.