At the beginning of the project, we conducted an online questionnaire and found out that the public wanted us to deal with cancer using synthetic biology. Through preliminary literature research and interviews with cancer patients, we found that early diagnosis and treatment can significantly improve the efficacy and prognosis effect of patients. Therefore, our team hoped to design a device that can rapidly detect early-stage cancer biomarkers using synthetic biology techniques which can be used in rural areas with poor medical conditions to bring better medical care to people in underdeveloped areas.
To find out whether our target group has this need, we contacted Dr. Tangming Liu, who has been working at Changning County Hospital for 19 years. He believes that if our design could be applied in real life, the effective rapid cancer detection equipment can greatly reduce the difficulty of cancer detection in rural areas, thus realizing early diagnosis and treatment for patients living in rural areas.
During the process of designing our technique routes, we consulted with many professors about the problems we encountered in the experiments to further polish our project. Meanwhile, we also enjoyed learning from other iGEMers and developed a partnership with BIT with expertise in hardware, and thanks to their help, we were able to modify the blood glucose meter.
In the second half of our project, we continuously interviewed our target users, people living in underdeveloped areas with poor health conditions. With the project in mind, we traveled to mountainous areas for investigation and synthetic biology promotion, and we contacted Dr. Wu, who works at the health office in Panjiazhai Village clinic, for further suggestions. And she greatly endorsed our project, thinking our device can make the village health centers have certain cancer screening capabilities, which can bring better healthcare to the villagers, with great application prospects.
To have a comprehensive understanding of our commercialized prospects, we contacted companies that provide rapid detection services and introduced our project to them. They commended our design and suggested we should also conduct research in hospitals and pharmacies in cities, where white-collar workers with high health pursuits are also our potential target users. Therefore, we went to pharmacies to conduct research, took notes on the existing cancer screening devices in the market, and wrote a business plan to prepare for the implementation of the product.
Apart from promoting our project, we also focused on the spread of synthetic knowledge. Combining online and offline means and ways, we achieved a satisfying outcome when introducing synthetic biology to the public.