Alternative Roots

Outreach

OUTREACH

Great Exhibition of the North

On the 12th July, Heather Bottomley (Team member of Newcastle iGEM) presented at ‘The Future of Nature: Engineering living systems with synthetic biology’ talk ran by Ángel Goñi Moreno as part of the Great Exhibition of the North Programme. The presentation was regarding our team’s plan to engineer root colonising microbes for the production of flavonoids that would attract nitrogen fixing bacteria to increase the uptake of nitrogen by the plant. Following this questions were asked by scientific professionals and members of the public regarding its safety, regulation as a GMO, it’s containment in the fields and possible other applications of this technology.

GrowModule 365

We were lucky enough to arrange an interview with GrowModule 365. As a company, they produce shipping containers that contain hydroponics systems. There concept adopts a new approach to farming, allowing crop production in unconventional places. The visit allowed us to see how traditional farming is being challenged and gain an insight into hydroponics systems. We gained lots of useful information from the meeting; we learned which wavelengths are most effective for increased yields, the alternative growing mediums available, the markets perception to innovative farming and which control parameters are most important. Paul Brown (Director) gave us lots of useful contacts within the industry and seemed very passionate about our project, however he did mention some areas of the market may be sceptical when it comes to eating produce that has been grown using genetically engineered microbes.

KWS Seeds

We had a Skype meeting with Chris Tapsall, Research Director, at KWS Seeds. KWS are in the top 5 of the biggest seed producers in the world. The meeting was eyeopening, we discussed consumers views towards the use of GMO's in crop production and how some markets may be more accepting of our product than others. We learn't about certain EU regulations, and methods in which a manufacturer could apply our bacteria to a seed. Chris was passionate about our project and forwarded our information to other researchers in KWS.

Growing Underground

We were lucky enough to visit Richard Ballard and Steve Dring, the owners of Growing Underground. This innovative company gave us lots of inspiration for our Human Practices. They are an indoor farm operating 33 meters below the streets of Clapham in London. They grow in tunnels that were formerly used as bunkers during the Second World War. We got the chance to tour their facilities, taste there produce, learn more about the equipment they use to grow in contained environments, the processes they had to go through to legally grow in the tunnels and finally we were able to pitch our project to them. Richard mentioned that they are currently in the process of establishing a research and development department, they are planning on conduction research into farming with biological processes. We both saw parallels between the work we were doing, and Richard was passionate about future collaboration.