Product Design

Nepetalactol, feral cats, and synthetic biology — three things that look bizarre and irrelevant if we put them together — can actually be mixed and fuse an unprecedented solution to an real world social problem. With creative ideas and massive research, we are confident that our applied design can assist traditional methods dealing with the feral cat problem, and the we envision a promising potential for this product to infiltrate our community creating a mutual positive lives for both cats and human.

Figure 1. Three elements of our product design

From lab to factory

— how our project naturally flows to our product design and how we obtain the product

Figure 2. Overview of the process of fermentation

GreatBay_China had succeeded in producing nepetalactol in laboratory, yet the current production level is not very high, future improvement such as continuing knocking out genes and choosing the optimum strain can enhance it greatly. The next step is to transfer the molecules from tubes to applicable and safe containers. We questioned researchers specialised on fermentation in Bluepha Lab, and through some discussion, a process is put forward.

Figure 3. Basic flowchart of fermentation

From the test tubes we transfer the co-culture solution to a conical flask allowing the bacteria and yeast to grow. Then we transfer the mixture to a fermentation tank for good fermentation. After a period of time, we are able to extract the desired molecule from this solution. Instead of the common extraction method used in laboratory, which includes adding oil to solution in test tubes, we intend to directly add oil to the fermentor and carry out the extraction in a large scale. This is more efficient, apparently, compared to the laboratory method. We realised that large-scale fermentation using engineered bacteria and yeast in industrial level is very different from labotary conditions, particularly in terms of the growth states. So before our production is applied to large scale, more explorations and studies are required. The experts on fermentations are very interested in our strains, and suggest that they are able to provide technical support to us in later improvements.

For application, our product also perfect flows in. After we obtain an amount of nepetalactol, we can add them into small petri dishes inside the cat shelter we designed— Kitty Wonderland. The design incorporates a petri dish that are easily accessible so we can fill and replenish it in the most convenient way. Besides, a fan in the shelter allows the scent to be better diffused. Safety concerns are addressed by a number of details in design and you can check our "Hardware”.

Numerous evidences show that nepetalactol is very effective at attracting feline animals. For safety consideration, before we broadly implement the shelter, we will cooperate with animal rescue team and animal protection association in government to run a few trails. For example, the concentration of nepetalactol should be determined by the result of observation.

This video shows how we came up with the idea of building our ‘Kitty Wonderland’ and how it’s connected to our wet lab project.

GBC Documentary P2

To know the specific idea and the history of the development of our project, please check the next episode. The previous episode is about stray cat problem.

From factory to your doorstep

— how our product addresses problem, benefits current process, and influences our live positively

Figure 4. Food and Trap: a traditional method of catching feral cats. Image from bostonglobe.com

Our project is closely intertwined with the human practice we have done. In particular, our synbio product offers an unique solution to the feral cats issue. From our interview with some animal rescue teams in Beijing and HongKong, we learnt that the most difficult thing to do in animal rescue is to find and trap feral cats. This is reasonable because most feral cats are very sensitive so they resist help from many volunteers. Feral cats also have a different lifestyle to us human so it requires a lot of effort to catch them. Last but not least, traditional method requires much labour to cover the different area of cats, which is costly, time-consuming, and ineffective. From our investigation we discovered that other potential solution includes attracting cats by food, or setting up trapping devices. Although these methods have some effect, their efficiencies are questioned. Trapping devices are especially doubted in ethical ways. As a result, we are confident that a cat house, surrounded by the scent of attractive nepetalactol, addresses the problem more effectively than other solutions.

Instead of us trying so hard to hunt the cats, why not let them come happily to us?

Figure 5. NTR is the most scientific and effective approach toward feral cat problem today. Image obtained from http://bronxtails.org

If implementation of our cat shelters are successful, it will merge perfectly with the rescue processes of many rescue teams. In fact, it will make their job easier and save them more time. As mentioned in our Integrated Human Practice, an sophisticated rescue process called TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) is used to deal with the feral cats problem. Our product will facilitate the “Trapping” step. With the sensor in the cat shelter, a message will be sent to local volunteers’ phone and they can check the connected camera image and see whether it is really the cats that triggered the signal. Once confirmed, they will be able to close the door of a cat shelter on their phone, temporarily trapping the cat. And the volunteers can then come to the cats. Apart from this, we plan to put a automated food-feeding machine inside the shelter so “Kitty Wonderland” can provide a relaxing and cosy environment for cats. Later on conducted an online interview with one rescue team in Beijing. The leaders, Ms. Fenghua Li, Dachui, approved our design surprisingly. From our activities in Public Engagement, we received designers and cat-lovers’ advice on some particular design of the cat shelter that will be more friendly to cats. See our Public Engagement for more details.

Figure 6. Members of GreatBay_China doing random interview with local people about opinions on our design.

In addition to the supportive application to rescue team, our product design will also have a positive implication to the local community and people. From direct interview in our neighbourhood, the idea of a cat shelter were not rejected or doubted, however, many people appreciate it. Some people pointed out that, this design will accelerate the rescue of street cats, therefore reducing annoying cries of them in the night. On top of that, in order to picture a comprehensive impact our product could bring to the whole society, at September 1st, we brought the tester to an adopting festival hosted by ‘Shenzhen Pet League’ in order to seek opinions of the wide public and allow a reasonable inference on how our product would impact the society. By interviewing passengers and other participants on the idea of placing our KW in communities, we found out that most people consider this activity with approval, while others’ main concern is the safety of cats, which we have been working on to assure for a long time.

Indeed, our applied design can have a positive impact on our lives and cats lives, but we are still careful and we are aware of some potential drawback of our design. The current version of cat shelter can be altered to be more cat-welcomed. Besides, the materials we are using do not perfectly cope with the open environment. Although hard, wood may cause fire. This can be improved by choosing other materials that have the desirable properties. We are also considering multi-layers of materials, for example, inside cardboard (cats love them) and plastic and outside waterproofing paint. We now ensure the safety of electricity by separating them in a chamber, but recharging them takes effort. Are solar cells a possible solution? Our team is always thinking possible ways to improve our design.