Team:Bielefeld-Germany/HumanPractice/Biosafety Motivation

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<h1>Biosafety Motivation</h1>
<h1>Biosafety Motivation</h1>
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<a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany">iGEM-Team York_UK</a></div>
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<p><a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/HumanPractice">Human Practice <br>Overview</a></p></div>
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<p><a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany">iGEM-Team NRP-UEA-Norwich<a></p></div>
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<a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Human_Practice/Experts">Experts</a></div>
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<a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany">iGEM-Team UC-Davis<a></div>
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<a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Human_Practice/Conventions">Conventions<a></div>
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<a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany">---</a></div>
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<p><a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Biosafety">Biosafety<br> Overview</a></p></div>
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==Abstract==
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Beside the research into the project it is important to collaborate with other iGEM teams to support them. This support can be carried out in different ways, for example an exchange via a skype interview or characterize the other part of the other team. In the following description we list our collaborations between us and other teams.
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<a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Collaborations">Collaborations<a></div>
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<a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Human_Practice/Media">Media<a></div>
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<a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Human_Practice/Day_of_Synthetic_Biology">SynBioday</a></div>
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==iGEM-Team York_UK==
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[[Image:IGEM_Bielefeld_2013_collaboration_York_UK.jpg|left||250px]]
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<p><a href="https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Human_Practice/Student_Academy">Student<br> Academy</a></p></div>
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Because of the fact that both teams do research into microbial fuel cells we get in touch and talked about our projects. We get to know that York had problems with cloning the mtrCAB cluster and invested a lot of time to solve this problems. Because of the fact that time was running we decided to help York. We already designed our MFC and tested different constructions which one is the best to use. We constructed a MFC specially adapted to the requirements of York and wrote an instruction how to operate with the MFC. In addition we put nafion membranes, gaskets, carbon electrodes and injectors into a package and send it to York. We hope that this support helped York to generate good results and finish their project.
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==iGEM-Team NRP-UEA-Norwich==
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[[Image:IGEM_Bielefeld_2013_collaboration_NRP_UEA_iGEM_2013.jpg|left||250px]]
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The iGEM-Team from Norwich developed a biosensor which enable the identification of antimycin-producing strains of streptomyctes. Therefore they asked us to send them soil samples from Bielefeld. Of course we took samples of soil and send them to Norwich. The interesting soil samples of Bielefeld are shown below. We hope that our soil samples helped Norwich.
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[[Image:Sample_33.png|left|thumb|200px|'''Figure 1:''' Sample No. 33]]
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[[Image:Sample_34.png|center|thumb|200px|'''Figure 2:''' Sample No. 34]]
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[[Image:IGEM_Bielefeld_2013_collaboration_Mutterboden.jpg|left|thumb|550px|'''Figure 3:''' Soil from which the samples were taken]]
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==iGEM-Team UC Davis==
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<br>
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[[File:IGEM_Bielefeld_UCDavisBanner.jpg|left|250px]]
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==Abstract==
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One important part of our project is the design of safety systems. It is essential to reduce risks which could possibly endanger the environment or the public. Especially in Germany the discussion about genetically modified systems is always present in the media. The German public is very skeptical about genetic engineering for example in food. A [http://www.gentechnikfreie-regionen.de/hintergruende/studien/umfragen.html survey] was published by "BUND" which shows that 75% of the thousand asked Germans want labels which declare if a product is produced without genetic engineering.  When these consumers had the opportunity to choose between two products, one with the label and one without it, they would prefer buying the one with the declaration. “Die Welt”, one of the biggest German newspaper, published an [http://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/article112053115/Deutschland-versperrt-sich-dem-Fortschritt.html article] in 2012 about the fact that Germany should use genetic engineering and should not defeat it. The German public is concerned about genetic engineering because they don't know much about it. Movies strengthen this fear when showing that genetic engineering is a huge risk which can cause a super-virus which transforms humans into zombies like in “28 days later”.
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<br><br>
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As Meyer reported in 2013: “On 20 May 2010, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute announced the creation of the first synthetic bacterium, whose genome had entirely been synthesized in the lab. At a press conference, biologist Craig Venter stated: “This is the first self-replicating species that we’ve had on the planet whose parent is a computer.”(ABCnews, 2010). Only a few weeks later, the movie Splice was released in the United States (US). The film tells the story of two young scientists who engineer new synthetic creatures in the lab by combining DNA from different organisms. The concomitance of Venter’s alleged breakthrough in synthetic biology (SB) and the movie’s start in the US cinemas at almost the same time can certainly be seen as pure coincidence. Although it goes without doubt that the film makers have largely been inspired by research currently done in the field of SB and even advised by a group of scientists. Nevertheless, such parallels between fiction and reality as exemplified here are very likely to influence the awareness and perception by the audience of this new and emerging field of biology”. (Meyer A. et al., 2013) This citation shows that on the one hand the film industry adresses the topic Synthetic Biology, which is good, but on the other hand this industrie represent this science in a threatening way. This arises excitement by the viewer but also fear and cast a damning light on this filed of research.
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<br><br>
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Our aim is to inform the German society that Synthetic Biology and genetic engineering is a huge advantage that has got unused potential if it is applied responsibly. Because of this we organized a Synbioday with other German iGEM teams. We asked the public about Synthetic Biology and what they think about genetic engineering.
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<p align="justify">
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There we also talked about the applications of Synthetic Biology. For example the pharmaceutical product Artemisinin, originally isolated out of a plant, can be efficiently produced in a genetically engineered yeast. Artemisinin works against malaria tropica which can now be produced in a sufficient way.
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The iGEM-Team UC-Davis 2013 wants to develop and implement an
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[http://dilbert.cs.ucdavis.edu/Depot/ experimental data depot] for biobrick characterization data and kindly asked us to collaborate with them. We tested their promoter characterization protocols on the  
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[http://parts.igem.org/Promoters/Catalog/Anderson Anderson promoter collection] J230100-J230119. The plasmid backbone of these biobricks J61002 is very suitable for promoter insertion between the XbaI and SpeI sites, which places the promoter upstream of a red fluorescent protein (RFP)gene. Through the promoter, RFP is expressed more frequently or less, while the promoter strength can easily be characterized via fluorescence measurements.
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Because of the fact that the public is frightened about genetic engineering we told them about our [https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Biosafety safety system] we use in our application. We explained that this Biosafety aspect is essential to protect public and environment when using the application outside of the laboratory. We prepared a [https://2013.igem.org/Team:Bielefeld-Germany/Human_Practice/Day_of_Synthetic_Biology#Conclusion survey] to get an impression of the public's opinion.
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Our team focused mainly on the second half of the collection, which comprises promoters with the below listed strengths.
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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align="center"
 
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!Biobrick number
 
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!Measured relative <br> promoter strength
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23119
 
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|n/a
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23101
 
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|0.7
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J2308
 
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|0.51
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J2309
 
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|0.04
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23111
 
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|0.58
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23112
 
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|0.00
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23113
 
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|0.01
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23114
 
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|0.10
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23115
 
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|0.15
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23116
 
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|0.16
 
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|-
 
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|BBa_J23117
 
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|0.06
 
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|BBa_J23118
 
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|0.56
 
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|}
 
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We carried out an extended, 18-hour experiment, monitoring cell density through absorbance measurement and promoter strength by way of fluorescence emission. The results are shown subsequently.
 
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==References==
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*BUND (Mai 2011): Forsa-Umfrage: [http://www.gentechnikfreie-regionen.de/hintergruende/studien/umfragen.html Mehrheit der deutschen Verbraucher findet die Kennzeichnung "Ohne Gentechnik" sinnvoll].
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*Die Welt (December 2012): [http://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/article112053115/Deutschland-versperrt-sich-dem-Fortschritt.html Deutschland versperrt sich dem Fortschritt].
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*Meyer A. et al. (2013): Frankenstein 2.0: Identifying and characterizing synthetic biology engineers in science fiction films, In: Life Sciences, Society and Policy 2013, 9:9, [http://www.lsspjournal.com/content/9/1/9/comments doi:10.1186/2195-7819-9-9].
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[[File:IGEM_Bielefeld2013_Collaborationgrowth.png|center|600px|thumb|'''Figure1:''' Absorbance at 700 nm of <i>E. coli</i> DH5&alpha;-strains with transformed Anderson promoter familiy members]]
 
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Please note that we monitored the optical density at 700 nm wavelength, because the UC-Davis team was concerned about interferences of OD600 measurements with the fluorescence measurements.
 
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To determine the relative strength of the used promoters we looked at the fluorescence signal of RFP. With increasing promoter strength, transcription should be enhanced and more RFP will be expressed. This results in a higher fluorescence signal.
 
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[[File:IGEM_Bielefeld_2013_Andfluorescence1.png|center|600px|thumb|'''Figure1:''' Fluorescence emission at 615 nm of the stronger Anderson promoter family members (excitation at 588 nm). The values in brackets indicate the relative promoter strength compared to J61100, which was given the value 1.]]
 
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[[File:IGEM_Bielefeld_2013_Andfluorescence2.png|center|600px|thumb|'''Figure1:''' Fluorescence emission at 615 nm of the medium Anderson promoter family members (excitation at 588 nm). The values in brackets indicate the relative promoter strength compared to J61100, which was given the value 1.]]
 
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[[File:IGEM_Bielefeld_2013_Andfluorescence3.png|center|600px|thumb|'''Figure1:''' Fluorescence emission at 615 nm of the weaker Anderson promoter family members (excitation at 588 nm). The values in brackets indicate the relative promoter strength compared to J61100, which was given the value 1.]]
 
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The results show very clearly, that strains containing a plasmid with a stronger promoter are fluorescing earlier than those with medium and weak promoters. Also, the fluorescence intensity is significantly lower for weak promoters in comparison to the stronger ones. The DH5α-strain with an inherent J23101 plasmid (relative strength 0.7) did surprisingly not fluoresce the strongest, which is why a problem with plasmid stability in this strain could be assumed. Also, the unmeasured J23119 biobrick seems to hold a promoter of medium strength.
 
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The widely plausible results show, that the protocols for promoter biobrick characterization work quite well. Comparisons to experimental results from all over the world can be carried out using this method and promise a well characterized and frequently validated parts registry.
 
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This collaboration was a great chance to communicate and discuss data in an international outreach and taught us a lot about other teams work routines and standards. It was a pleasure to contribute in their project to find a way to effectively share complex experimental data and to work out routines for biobrick characterization
 
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Latest revision as of 14:20, 28 October 2013



Biosafety Motivation


Abstract

One important part of our project is the design of safety systems. It is essential to reduce risks which could possibly endanger the environment or the public. Especially in Germany the discussion about genetically modified systems is always present in the media. The German public is very skeptical about genetic engineering for example in food. A [http://www.gentechnikfreie-regionen.de/hintergruende/studien/umfragen.html survey] was published by "BUND" which shows that 75% of the thousand asked Germans want labels which declare if a product is produced without genetic engineering. When these consumers had the opportunity to choose between two products, one with the label and one without it, they would prefer buying the one with the declaration. “Die Welt”, one of the biggest German newspaper, published an [http://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/article112053115/Deutschland-versperrt-sich-dem-Fortschritt.html article] in 2012 about the fact that Germany should use genetic engineering and should not defeat it. The German public is concerned about genetic engineering because they don't know much about it. Movies strengthen this fear when showing that genetic engineering is a huge risk which can cause a super-virus which transforms humans into zombies like in “28 days later”.

As Meyer reported in 2013: “On 20 May 2010, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute announced the creation of the first synthetic bacterium, whose genome had entirely been synthesized in the lab. At a press conference, biologist Craig Venter stated: “This is the first self-replicating species that we’ve had on the planet whose parent is a computer.”(ABCnews, 2010). Only a few weeks later, the movie Splice was released in the United States (US). The film tells the story of two young scientists who engineer new synthetic creatures in the lab by combining DNA from different organisms. The concomitance of Venter’s alleged breakthrough in synthetic biology (SB) and the movie’s start in the US cinemas at almost the same time can certainly be seen as pure coincidence. Although it goes without doubt that the film makers have largely been inspired by research currently done in the field of SB and even advised by a group of scientists. Nevertheless, such parallels between fiction and reality as exemplified here are very likely to influence the awareness and perception by the audience of this new and emerging field of biology”. (Meyer A. et al., 2013) This citation shows that on the one hand the film industry adresses the topic Synthetic Biology, which is good, but on the other hand this industrie represent this science in a threatening way. This arises excitement by the viewer but also fear and cast a damning light on this filed of research.

Our aim is to inform the German society that Synthetic Biology and genetic engineering is a huge advantage that has got unused potential if it is applied responsibly. Because of this we organized a Synbioday with other German iGEM teams. We asked the public about Synthetic Biology and what they think about genetic engineering. There we also talked about the applications of Synthetic Biology. For example the pharmaceutical product Artemisinin, originally isolated out of a plant, can be efficiently produced in a genetically engineered yeast. Artemisinin works against malaria tropica which can now be produced in a sufficient way.
Because of the fact that the public is frightened about genetic engineering we told them about our safety system we use in our application. We explained that this Biosafety aspect is essential to protect public and environment when using the application outside of the laboratory. We prepared a survey to get an impression of the public's opinion.


References

  • BUND (Mai 2011): Forsa-Umfrage: [http://www.gentechnikfreie-regionen.de/hintergruende/studien/umfragen.html Mehrheit der deutschen Verbraucher findet die Kennzeichnung "Ohne Gentechnik" sinnvoll].
  • Die Welt (December 2012): [http://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/article112053115/Deutschland-versperrt-sich-dem-Fortschritt.html Deutschland versperrt sich dem Fortschritt].
  • Meyer A. et al. (2013): Frankenstein 2.0: Identifying and characterizing synthetic biology engineers in science fiction films, In: Life Sciences, Society and Policy 2013, 9:9, [http://www.lsspjournal.com/content/9/1/9/comments doi:10.1186/2195-7819-9-9].




Contents