Team:Hong Kong HKUST/hp/article/kr

Overview

In this country profile, information of synthetic biology in South Korea is compiled from different on-line sources such as government website, official government annual reports, news articles, and reviews. Searches were conducted in both English and Korean media. This country profile contains information about different aspects of synthetic biology in Korea, including regulation, research, people, perception, and organization. However as specific classification of work under the moniker of ‘synthetic biology’ is still uncommon in South Korea, wherever a specific aspect of information cannot be found described under synthetic biology, we have obtained the same information under the wider field of ‘biotechnology’. Information about biotechnology may be inferred to see the general growth trend of synthetic biology and its future development. In fact, biotechnology research institutes and companies are the ones that are most likely to adopt the synthetic biology approach (Hranueli, 2013).

In general, synthetic biology is a small but rapidly growing field in Korea. This trend is guided by a comprehensive plan called the Bio-Vision 2016. In 2006, the Korean government announced the Bio-Vision 2016 as a 10 year plan aimed at developing Korea’s biotechnology capabilities into making the nation a leader in the field. Needless to say, this has also allowed synthetic biology to gain a foothold in Korea (Cho, 2006)

Synbio Map

The SynBio Map identifies and locates companies, universities, research institutions, laboratories and other centers across the globe that are active in synthetic biology research ("Synthetic biology project:," ). It is a good tool to compare the trend of synthetic biology all round the world. This map was created at the Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

On the map, 5 entries are located in South Korea. Three of them, two universities and one company, are near or in Daejeon, and two universities are located in Ulsan. This map may not depict an accurate picture of synthetic biology in Korea because some institutes such as Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology are not listed in the map. This may be due to the fact that information for the map is gathered from official websites, scientific literature, government reports, and journals etc. If the available information was not in English, it could have been hard for the organization to compile the data ("Synthetic biology project:," ).

The following table summarizes the information compiled in the SynBio Map:

Participation in the iGEM Competition

Not many Korean universities have been participating in the iGEM competition. From 2004 to 2012, only four Korean universities participated in the competition. Considering that there are 203 universities listed in the Korean Council for University Education website, 4 out of 203 universities is in fact a small proportion ("Synthetic biology based," )

The four universities are Chungbuk National University (CBNU), Korea University, Korea Advanced Institute of Technology (KAIST) , Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology. Sogang University registered in 2012, but withdrew from the competition ("Synthetic biology based," ).

Out of the four universities CBNU has been most actively participating in the competition. It was the first Korean university and also one of the first Asian universities to participate. They first entered the iGEM competition in 2006, but did not participate again until 2009. They have participated every subsequent year. Korea University joined the competition in 2009 and KAIST in 2010, and both have competed regularly since. UNIST competed in 2011 and did not return the following year ("Synthetic biology based," ).

The following table summarizes the achievements of Korean universities in the iGEM competition:

Design

After researching low power draw pumps, we decided on the Bartels Mikrotechnik mp6 Micropump. The pump uses two extremely small actuators which increase the flow of the fluid with a greater frequency supplied to the pump. Since the flow rates are so small, the pressure head associated with the filters does not exceed the 600 mbar maximum. A mp6-EVA electronic controller was also purchased from Bartels which allows external tuning of flow rate. The original controller can only be supplied with at 2.5-5 V voltage source, so a step-down was necessary to be compatible with the battery inside the device.

Material

Contamination and corrosion are always a concern in continuous operation. A benefit of the mp6 micropump is that all surface in contact with the fluid is PPSU (polyphenylsulfone) , a heat and chemical resistant plastic.

Assembly

The micropumps were received in June to perform autoclaving testing on the parts. In October, after the remainder of the device was assembled, the micro pumps were put online in the device and confirmed the ability to supply continuous flow through the entire device including the two filters, mixer, reactor and piping.

Biotechnology Industry

A survey about biotechnology market in Korea published by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, and Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization was available on-line. The statistics provided in the review may not relate directly to synthetic biology, but could provide some insight on the potential development of synthetic biology considering the fact that synthetic biology has wide applications in biotechnology industries (Hranueli, 2013).

The report states that in 2011, out of 921 biotechnology businesses that responded to the survey, the three main biotechnology industries were biopharmaceutical industry (274), biochemistry industry (196), and biofood industry (206). Other biotechnology industries include bioenvironmental industry, bioenergy industry, and bioelectronics industry etc ("Domestic biotechnology industry," 2013).

The report also suggests that biotechnology business in Korea is growing. In 2011, around 35,600 people were employed in the biotechnology industry and within that group around 22,100 people were researchers. This number represents a 3.4% increase compared to the number of researchers (21357) in 2010. Also, the total market value of biotechnology industry in 2009 was around US $4.0 billion, growing annually at 17.6%. In 2011, the total market value had risen to US $5.5 billion ("Domestic biotechnology industry," 2013).

Food Tanks

Requirements

Food storage vessels for long-term field deployment must be durable, corrosion resistant, and autoclavable to prevent initial contamination. To avoid damage to electronic components necessitates a leak-proof design.

Design

A battery of six one liter cylinders was chosen for its modularity and ease of fabrication.

Material Selection

The choice of materials depended on the cost and durability of that material. Since we have had prior experience with polycarbonate, we decided it would be best to continue to use polycarbonate as the material for the containers. Polypropylene was used for the end caps because it was chemically resistant and cheap.

Assembly

The food tanks were all machined in-house at the Rhodes Hall Machine shop. The polycarbonate clear tubing was glued together with the polypropylene via a super silicone sealant adhesive to form a clean and strong seal.

Housing

Requirements

The requirements that we found necessary for the chassis to operate were keeping it water-proof and impact resistant. Ultimate deployment would be in harsh environments and necessitates protective measures to prevent water supply from damaging electronic components

Design

The design went through several iterations during the semester. After multiple home-design options, we concluded a Pelican heavy duty case would provide the support and safety we required. Not only was it sturdy and water-proof, but it was also large enough to be buoyant in water with up to 180 lbs of load.

Material Selection

The polycarbonate material for the Pelican case was ideal in terms of stress and other parameters to handle the harsh wilderness.

Assembly

Modifications to the Pelican case were performed to meet the of electrical components and supply of water samples to device. A 15 W solar panel was retrofitted to the lid of the case to provide replenish power supply. Inlet/outlet ports were drilled to allow piping system coming out of the top to serve as inlet and outlet ports for the water to enter and exit the device. A joint piece between the solar panel and power adapter was fabricated to serve as waterproofing connections from the Pelican case. Aluminium honey-comb plating was included and cut to size using water-jetting to act as both a housing for food tanks and batteries, and provide structural suppor.

Power

Requirements

To be deployable for the of target six months of operations requires an autonomous electrical source in the wild without human repair or maintenance, recharge and store energy for extended periods of time. A rugged device must also be able to survive bear attacks and tree falls, all while being environmentally friendly and light enough to allow for floatation.

Design

After a series of designs, we chose a LPG Series gel electrolyte valve-regulated lead acid battery (LPG12-100) from Leoch with a 15W mono-crystalline solar power panel from Instapark. While lead acid batteries have the highest charge time and the lowest specific energy density, they are by far the most reliable and durable batteries. Commonly used in boats and in conjunction with solar systems, they are reliably sealed, well characterized, and easy to charge and operate with microcontrollers and other complex circuitry. With a wide operating temperature, the model is also insensitive to occasional deep discharge and has a high charge acceptance, key features for unpredictable solar recharge conditions in the field. It is shock and vibration resistant and can be used in any orientation. Out of all the proposed systems, this model also provided the best current output and voltage necessary to power the rest of our mechanical and electrical parts. It also came cheap. The maximum current draw of the battery is 0.89A and was shipped with a 12V charger controller, which prevents overcharging.

Materials

We were greatly concerned with the toxicity of some gel lead acid batteries, which is why our initial prototype actually did not feature one. However, other less toxic battery systems are not as robust and have a smaller operating temperature range, with some prone to short-circuiting. Valve-regulated and tightly sealed, all components of the LPG12-100 are fully recycle and specially designed for outdoor usage. The solar power panel has its mono-crystalline solar cells embedded in transparent vinyl acetate behind tempered glass with heavy back sheet.

Assembly

We would like to give a special thanks to Professor Bruce Land, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell, for his advice and guidance. The battery was easily integrated into the chassis of the device without alterations.

Potentiostat

Requirements

The potentiostat is used to provide and maintain a voltage potential between the working and reference electrode of the reactors. It also interfaces with the counting electrode to provide a measurement for its current flow. This measurement is recorded and sent to an Android device.

Inputs

Reference Electrode (RE)

The reference electrode is one of three electrodes in reactor solution. This electrode measures the potential of the solution, which is mostly water with salts and nutrients. The potential measured by this electrode sets the reference potential for the rest of the potentiostat.

Working Electrode (WE)

The working electrode sets the voltage differential for the reactor solution and causes current to flow through the reactor.. The target potential of the WE depends on the bacteria in the reactor. The calibrated potential should create favorable living conditions for the bacteria. For our Shewanella, we must provide 0.2 - 0.3V above the reference electrode voltage.

Counting Electrode (CE)

To counterbalance the current injected into the solution, the CE acts as a current sink. As bacteria in the reactor grow, they will generate a different amount of current that will be measured by the CE. The generated current, in our case, is between 0 and ~100 uA.

Power Supply

We power the system with the 12V battery, and by using an op-amp voltage follower and resistive voltage divider, we define a voltage reference for the system. In this, ground is 6V, so 12V is 6V above ground and 0V is -6V below ground. The +/- 6V references are used as the sources for the electrical system.

Electrical Design

We designed this system using operational amplifiers (op-amps), due to their robustness in different operating conditions in comparison to a passive resistor and capacitor based system; we used LM353 integrated circuits to provide these op-amps. This system into four parts: desired voltage differential specification, reference electrode voltage measurement, working electrode output, and counting electrode current measurement. We base this design from a freely available potentiostat design created by Elliot Friedman and Alexander Hartoto, available here.
As seen in the above diagram, the system uses various op-amp configurations to accomplish our task. The desired voltage differential is set using a resistive voltage divider and a potentiometer, configurable for different voltage requirements through potentiometer tuning. This differential is added to the reading from the reference electrode using a voltage summing op-amp. Another op-amp is connected to the reference electrode to act as a voltage follower. This voltage is then inverted using an additional inverting op-amp, with equal feedback resistances to provide no gain. This lets us set our potential. Lastly, we measure the current from the counting electrode by connecting it to two op-amps configured as a non-inverting current to voltage converter. This provides our voltage output for the microcontroller, in the range of 0 to 5 volts.

Microcontroller Design

The measurement from the electrical design is fed into an Arduino megaADK. This is an analog voltage measurement, so it is converted using an onboard analog-to-digital converter and stored in the device. Using serial communications, the measurement is transmitted via a USB interface to an Android device. We sample this measurement at 125 kHz, constantly sending new information serially.

Material Selection

Our components for this system were chosen based on the types of inputs we would receive from the electrodes and the operating range of the device - we also needed to make sure our output could interface with the microcontroller. Since the required voltage differential is specific to the engineered strain of bacteria present in the reactor, we made our voltage divider using a potentiometer to provide variable resistance. This can be calibrated based on the requirements of the device. In order to choose the conversion factor between the voltage output and measured counting electrode current, we also had to depend upon the current range of the reactors, expected to be from 0 to 60 micro amperes. We chose a megaADK Arduino development board with an onboard Atmel ATmega2560 microcontroller to process this voltage input. This board provides us an easy Android interface for sending data and includes a 10-bit analog to digital converter, which gives us a measurement resolution of 97.7 nano amperes.