Team:TU Darmstadt/Human Practices

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Human Practices

Introduction

Thinking about how a project could potentially affect the world is something every iGEM team should consider and explore. During the entirety of the year we did just that. We talked to other scientists, much more experienced than us. We visited industry giant Evonik and made sure to educate society by teaching at schools and enter conversations on other occasions as well. To us, it was extremely important to listen to concerns society might have and address them accordingly. Other than this, we wanted to make sure our approach was something that could very well be a realistic idea for monomer and polymer production in the future. As complex as Human Practices is, as complex was our approach to tackle it.

Education and Reaching out

iGEM projects do not work in a vacuum. Most of the time, they tackle real life problems and try to give solutions to difficult challenges. Even though, a majority of these approaches will never really be applied, it is important to investigate safety and the question what good it will do. This year, we focused on the manufacturing of PLGA and PLGC. Both of these polymers consists of monomers that are currently derived from petrochemicals. These chemicals rely on limited resources like petroleum. It is important to establish sustainable alternatives better for the environment. Our approach uses microorganisms as one possible option to generate the needed monomers. The good thing: microorganisms are an endless resource and their potential for the manufacturing of many other substances is something that will become more and more important as time passes on and as limited resources are growing scarce. We, as scientists working on this subject, see a lot of potential and good in what we do, others around us might not. Through Human Practices we wanted to get in touch with as many different people as possible and explore problems we might not have considered before. We also wanted to see if our project has potential and if it is something useful for the future.

Our Human Practices approach can be separated into two main categories: the aspect of education and the outreach towards scientists and industries.

Education

Synthetic biology tends to be an often scary and not well understood subject. As scientists working in this field, we recognize its risks but are also aware of its undoubtedly high potential. To us, it was important to show the less scary side and take away some fears the general public might have, while also teaching the importance of safety. Striking a good balance between these aspects is absolutely necessary, so that those we taught are able to spot risks but don't shy away from something potentially helpful.

This year, we went so several schools in our area to take over a couple of lessons. We designed our presentation to be very interactive. While we talked about biology and iGEM in general, we focused heavily on our project and synthetic biology. A good amount of time was spent discussing worries the students had. With regards to our application as nanoparticles, they feared micro-plastics and medication leaking into the groundwater. A big concern was also the dose of medication released from the nanocapsules into the bloodstream. Though, in general they seemed very open towards synthetic biology and its application in the production of materials. We were able to ease some of their worries regarding left over bacteria in the produced monomers.

Through our connection with Compugene, we were invited by ProLOEWE to spent a few days at the Hessentag 2018 in Korbach, Germany. Hessentag is we week long, annual event arranged by the german state Hesse. Its main focus is the representation of the different aspects and regions in the state. Each year, the Hessentag gathers hundreds of thousands of people from many different walks of life. We took this opportunity to talk about iGEM and our project with the general public.

A less interactive, but just as important experience was our appearance on Radio Weinwelle. Two of our members went on air for an hour and answered questions regarding our project, who we are and what iGEM is. Our goal was to break down our points to the most important aspects while still conveying everything we deemed important. We greatly appreciated the opportunity and had lots of fun during the show. The hosts even told us, they had never heard of synthetic biology in such a positive and informative way before. We genuinely hope we could fulfill our mission to bring light to a topic generally misunderstood.

Reaching Out

Exploring whether or not our project is plausible quickly became another focus in our Human Practices work. For this cause, we reached out to several scientists from all over the world that had worked with certain organisms or were experienced with the expression of our specific genes for the production of monomers.

One of the biggest helps came in the form of our contact with Evonik Industries, a company focused on the production of specialty chemicals. Since they are experienced in PLGA production, we took the chance to strike up a conversation about the procedure and what they are looking for in the needed monomers. They invited us to their location in Darmstadt. Their input caused us to focus and address certain aspects we previously would not have.

While we set foot in the industry aspect, we also deemed it important to talk to scientists who had previously worked with organisms or enzymes we planned to use. We had long back and forth e-mail conversation with Outi Koivistoinen, the author of the paper we based our glycolic acid production in S. cerivisiae on. She helped us by providing us with her plasmids and strains from said paper. She gave us valuable feedback for this specific part of our project and offered solutions or alternatives to certain approaches. In regards to caprolactone production in E. coli, we got in contact with the working group Bornscheuer. Their help was much needed and highly valuable for our work with the enzymes CHMO and ADH. We came in touch with them and Vishnu Srinivasanurthy specifically, through one of our professors from the biology department at TU Darmstadt. Furthermore, we explored the possible implementation of organism Pseudomonas putida by contacting various experts.

Something that is usually done by iGEM teams at our university is a presentation in front of the departments of biology and chemistry. This year, we had the opportunity to present ourselves twice, once in July and the second time a few days before the Giant Jamboree. The first event allowed us to show our idea and get feedback from professors or other students. It highlighted aspects we had to work on but also validated us in our approach, since the response was so positive. The second time is mostly to show what we accomplished. It also gives us the chance to practice our presentation for the Jamboree itself.

Integrated

Exploring different ways to get in touch with various groups of people is one thing, another is listening to their concerns or feedback and implementing these things into the design of the project. During our Human Practices work, we encountered many different individuals. Their input helped shape our way of thinking and influenced certain aspects of our project.