Team:ASIJ Tokyo/Engagement

Human Practices

Raising awareness about the development of gene editing techniques and the future use of iPS stem cells was an integral aspect of our project. We addressed the three aspects of human practices (integrated practices, educational outreach, and collaboration

Collaboration and Integrated Practices	Education Outreach
DNA Fingerprinting with ASIJ Summer Passport Program June 21st, 2018: During the ASIJ Summer Passport program, iGEM students helped to educate middle school students taking a forensic science course about utilizing fingerprints for crime investigation. We talked about the use of gel electrophoresis and explained the function of restriction enzymes and electricity for the experiment. Finally, we let everyone in the group use the scientific procedure to discover their unique fingerprints.	DNA Fingerprinting with ASIJ Summer Passport Program June 21st, 2018: During the ASIJ Summer Passport program, iGEM students helped to educate middle school students taking a forensic science course about utilizing fingerprints for crime investigation. We talked about the use of gel electrophoresis and explained the function of restriction enzymes and electricity for the experiment. Finally, we let everyone in the group use the scientific procedure to discover their unique fingerprints.	GOA Online Presentation September 17, 2018 iGEM students talked to Medical Problem Solving I students on Global Online Academy (GOA) about future treatments with immunotherapy, gene therapy, and cell therapy with iPS stem cells. GOA is a collection of online courses that are in schools in over 24 countries, allowing us to reach a broad and multinational group of students. In our presentation, we implemented a case study with A1AD Deficiency to showcase our use of CRISPR editing in our iGEM project and future use of organ buds.
Talk with Dr. Kagimoto June 4th, 2018 The iGEM team met with Dr. Hardy Kagimoto, founder of the Japanese biotech company Healios. During our meeting with him, we learned about the possible future implications of iPS cell technology and the development of this new industry in the context of Japanese regulations. We were inspired by his work and wanted to know how we could also contribute to this field of research. The talk with him was our initial inspiration for starting this project.