Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology
Chinese Academy of Sciences

Dr.Ma Hongwu got his doctor degree in Tianjin University and then worked as asenior researcher at the University of Edinburgh. With the guidance of him, theUniversity of Edinburgh got the golden prize of IGEM in 2007 &2008.

Our advisor Sun Jibin gives us great help during the preparation ofIGEM competition. He is the deputy director of Tianjin Institute of IndustrialBiotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

One of the aims of the IGEM competition is to introduce the idea of application of synthetic biology to the public. To realize our goal, our team has visited the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

After providing them with our future plan, we ask our team advisor to search for the society application. We discussed about both the advantages and limitations of our project when it brings to the factory. Their statements give us plenty of great ideas on us.

How should we treat the genetic modified creature?

Recent dedicates, many kinds of creature were created by scientists using genetic technology such as genetic manipulation and genetic enhancement. So how do these creatures especially microorganism. During the discussion, we also talk about various questions about the debatable topic, such as genetically modified organism and microbial contamination. Professor gives us plenty of new thoughts which in the field we never get in touch.

"In the age of biotechnology, a question that we are not really sure yet how to solve the ethics questions about changing the gene of any species of creature even micro-organism.It confers upon us who studied in life an enormous responsibility and that is not just the responsibility of the scientists and ethicists who are thinking about it and writing about it now. It is the responsibility of everybody. Because it will determine what kind of planet and what kind of bodies we will have in the future." said the professor.

How can we connect the library with the industry?

Our alk-sensor has innumerable applications. But what should we do to change the experiment into product and other commercial products? By cooperating with the industries company, we started to take a fresh look at our project. For example, our genetic modified microorganism can be used in the solid to repair the contaminant solid, however, the important thing is how can we control the characteristic can be unchanged and how long can be the engineered bacteria live without the supplant food and compatible living environment. Profit is no wonder the most essential question we should consider. To minimize the cost without the influence of the effect is the next goal of our team. Of course, controllability can only be improved when completely understanding the process and its consequences.

With the help of our advisor, we try to think as an engineer and follow the purpose of IGEM treat all the parts of a microorganism as the mechanical parts. Being aware of the complexity of natural systems, we know there are quite a lot of things we should do in the future.

PetroChina Dagang Petrochemical Company

Figure 1. Visit the Dagang Petrochemical Company

How can we connect the library with the industry?

Oil production of Dagang District in Tianjin has won its name in China. By communicating with engineers from PetroChina Dagang petrochemical company, we can work on turning our products into productive force, which will draw a perfect ending to our project. It will also leave some questions for future teams to answer, encouraging them to come up with better ideas.

We visited this company to get a better understanding of oil production. During the factory study tour, we communicated with engineers in the plant and found some environmental problems in the production. Then we introduced our project of producing alkanes in the bacterium E. coli, engineers put forth their suggestions to apply this project to large-scale production in the factory. This visit broadened our eyes and gave us practical knowledge, thus the significance of our project showed up more clearly.

Our alk-sensor has innumerable applications. But what should we do to change the experiment into product and other commercial products? By cooperating with the industries company, we start to take a fresh look at our project. For example, our genetic modified microorganism can be used in the solid to repair the contaminant solid, however, the important thing is how can we control the characteristic can be unchanged and how long can be the engineered bacteria live without the supplant food and considerable living environment. Profit is no wonder the most essential question we should consider. To minimize the cost without the influence of the effect is the next goal of our team. Of course, controllability can only be improved when completely understanding the process and its consequences.

With the help of our company advisor, we try to think as an engineer and follow the purpose of IGEM treat all the parts of a microorganism as the mechanical parts. Being aware of the complexity of natural systems, we know there are quite a lot of things we should do in the future.