Sustainable Development
Overview
The concept of“Sustainable development” has been gradually developed and perfected,which reflecting the vision of the whole mankind for the harmonious development of economy, environment and society. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmen specifies 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) by 2030.According to our project,we make our own contribution to NO POVERTY (SDG1)、ZERO HUNGER(SDG2)、GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING(SDG3)、QUALITY EDUCATION(SDG4) SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES（SDG11）、PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS（SDG17）.
Figure 1. The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
NO POVERTY (SDG1)
To eliminate poverty, we should not simply increase the income of the poor, but help them to get rid of poverty from the root causes and prevent them from“Returning to poverty after getting rid of poverty”.Poverty Alleviation by science and technology is an important way to eliminate poverty.It is an important part of Chinese poverty alleviated developmental strategies.In order to further eradicate poverty, we went to Pingtan in Fujian province and interviewed the local agriculture sector to understand the problems and propose our own solutions to the local agriculture, which has been effected by the Sars-CoV-2 epidemic.
Taking into account the geographical characteristics of Pingtan County, our team put forward the project of “A new type of Suaeda glauca (Bunge) Bunge” after consideration of various aspects.We plan to enable farmers to collaborate with enterprises in Pingtan to develop their food and ecological values.
Suaeda glauca (Bunge) Bunge is a new type of vegetable growing in Alkaline soil.They are delicious, rich in fat, protein, crude fiber, minerals, micronutrient and vitamins, nutritional value is higher than Spirulina, Suaeda seeds are rich in linoleic acid and linolenic acid, which can reduce blood sugar, blood pressure, dilate blood vessels, prevent and cure heart disease and enhance human immunity.In addition, salinization caused by seawater intrusion is a serious ecological problem in coastal areas,it has a strong salt absorption characteristics, can be used for the ecological improvement of salinized land, especially suitable for the island of Pingtan soil for cultivation.
Relying on the center of genomics and biotechnology from the Haixia Institute of Science and Technology in Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University,we can collaborate with local agricultural institutes to promote industrial cultivation and industrial extension of suaeda by using somatic cell regeneration technology, and develop edible suaeda derivatives.We can also help farmers to promote Suaeda cultivation and suaeda seed production, and help“Rural revitalization”. In addition, we can help enterprises establish a soilless green cultivation system for Suaeda, it will further bring economic benefits to companies, create local jobs in Pingtan and help Pingtan's farmers out of poverty.
ZERO HUNGER(SDG2)
The most important thing to eliminate hunger is to ensure the area of arable land which contact directly with the production of food. On June 23,2009, the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People's Republic of China called for action to“Protect economic growth and protect arable land”,insisting on the strictest system of farmland protection, the cordon of cultivated land protection must not be touched. We are going to Pingtan to see how the arable land is being used.
We visited the local farmers to investigate the farmers to understand the use of farmland resources in the village.
During the farmers' lunch break, we helped them mow the lawn. According to our investigation, we found that a small number of farmers use the farmland for other purposes. We reached out to the village party secretary, hoping to dissuade the farmers and introduce him to our“New Suaeda” project, which we hope will help spread the project locally.
We are convinced that rather than forcing farmers to keep their land for other purposes, it is better for them to see the value of their land. In the future, as long as farmers see the economic benefits of Suaeda, it will inevitably increase the area of arable land and the problem of farmland being used for other purposes will be solved,.
GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING(SDG3)
Illness
During our research in Pingtan, we found that the local sewage discharge is very common. Some streets are full of residents' sewage, and the sanitation situation is worrying. We want to change that. The theme of our project is very closely related to pathogens in sewage. We printed out a tweet about cholera on the wechat public account platform and distributed it to farmers to read, to make them deeply aware of the possible presence of pathogenic pathogens in sewage. We hoped that through this they will be able to recognize the health risks associated with the random discharge of sewage.
Drug
In addition to damaging the gastrointestinal and respiratory systems as well as the brain and central nervous system, drug activities can also increase the incidence of criminal activities and disturb public order, it poses a great threat to social stability. Although Pingtan County is a low-prevalence area, strict prevention is never excessive.
When the amount of drug metabolite in the urine reaches 300ng/mL, the antibody binding can be used to determine whether the person is taking drugs. Therefore, our hardware can be used not only for detection of pathogens, but also for detection of certain chemicals or human metabolites to determine whether there are drug users in the detected area or whether there is a drug factory. This is undoubtedly protect a region of the residents of physical and mental health.
We finally contacted the village party secretary and introduced the hardware part of our project to him, hoping to conduct a small-scale trial here after the initial debugging was completed, use of faster outbreak alert and drug testing to protect the physical and mental health of local residents.
QUALITY EDUCATION(SDG4)
COVID-19 has had a huge impact on offline education in backward areas in the past two years. Many schools are unable to deliver classes normally, and students' education needs to be well addressed. Our team actively explore online multiple platforms, using a variety of forms of popular science education for the public, to ensure that all people can receive a good quality of education. Wechat public articles（Wechat public account）：
Wechat public articles（Wechat public account）：
Wechat is one of the largest social media in China, and we want to use our wechat account to export our educational content. We hope that the social nature of wechat can make our educational content more widely spread, to help more people get a high-quality education.
Videos（bilibili）：
As the main organizer, we hold joint teaching activities on the Internet with the Tsinghua team and other teams. We collaborated with Tsinghua University to make a promotional article before class, which was read by 1564 people. We collect what students want to know, and by using word clouds, we get a clear picture of their interests, which helps us to ensure that most people get a good education.
Fafu organized teams from BIT, XMU China, Jiangnan China, OUC China and Nefu China to transform difficult experimental principles and processes into vivid comic forms, to enable the public to better understand the knowledge of synthetic biology through comics, increase the audience of synthetic biology.Chinese and English versions are available in PDF below
English:
3D model（QQ）：
In order to help them understand this aspect of the content, after much thought, we decided to use 3D scanning modeling instead of shooting video. The 3D model overcomes the limitations of video by allowing users to choose their own angles and zoom in and out to see what they are interested in.
We use 3D Scanner App, ipad Pro, iphone 13 Pro Max for 3D scanning modeling... Total for PCR room, clean bench, ... ... a total of nine scenes or experimental equipment for 3-D scanning modeling. There are two types of files exported: . USDZ. . gltf, which is widely available on iOS and Windows.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES（SDG11）
Our hardware can be installed near the sewer inlets of cities and communities to detect specific antigens or substances in the sewage, thus providing a good early warning for the whole cities and communities and a good health security for the residents of the cities and communities.
Drugs are harmful the dangers of drugs are more than we can bear. Taking drugs can be extremely harmful not only to the addict themselves, but also to their family and society. It also places a great burden on the police and government as to how to screen drug users. To reduce people's fear of drug users and to reduce the burden on the government, we want to create a new detection device based on the epidemiology of sewage and this year's random peptide pool. To explore the current detection mechanism, we approached Mr. Wu. He says: There are four commonly used ways are used to test whether a person is taking drugs, they are urine tests, blood tests, saliva tests and hair tests. Among them, hair testing is most commonly used in court trials, saliva testing, and urine testing are used for screening. Therefore we can also use the random peptide library to screen proteins or peptides that interact with drug metabolites, and then use our hardware for detection. So as to achieve the existence of drug users in the localized detection area.
Our project is very promising. If feasible and implemented, it will save a lot of labor as well as money. Most importantly, it will bring a sense of safety and health security to the entire community. This is very good for a city.
In addition to providing security to the residents of cities and communities, our system is modular and simple compared to traditional disposable (or short-lived) detection devices, cost-effective, and can be used repeatedly and in real time. At the same time, the device itself is compact and does not take up much space in the sewer; the materials used to manufacture the system are recyclable and reusable. Of course, in some areas where other pathogenic microorganisms are needed more, we can also replace only parts of the system to achieve the purpose, without causing waste, and can greatly improve the utilization of resources.
The long-term use of our hardware is sustainable, economical, convenient and has excellent benefits for a city or community.
PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS（SDG17）
In this part, I think it's about how to unite like-minded people around the world to implement the goals ahead and make the world a better place by 2030. We are not alone in our struggle to achieve sustainable development. We have partners from almost all over the country, so that we can benefit not only our local area, but the whole country and even the whole world. Here are a few of our iGEM teams working together towards this goal.
In April, we befriended BIT and we both want to improve people's lifestyles. We will investigate the problems in society through human social practice, and then use science to help people live better. We exchanged ideas for conducting HP online and implementing it properly in the 2022 season.
As a member of the grassroots, we are well aware of the hardships in the lives of people at the bottom. We go deep into the villages and investigate the obstacles to development and the challenges they face. After summing up into a report, we travel to government, companies and hospitals to find solutions.
The economy is a diverse set of influences, of which education is an important part. In 2021, we (FAFU-China) educated the groups of universities, secondary schools, and elementary school in a proper way. We found that it is still not possible to take care of all aspects of the society. Therefore, in 2022, we first conducted a questionnaire survey of the society. It was found that the rural areas are extremely behind the urban areas in terms of access to higher education.
In order to bridge the gap between urban and rural areas, we at FAFU went to the villages and used our knowledge to solve the confusion in the lives of villagers. The two-day rural research was very successful and the villagers were more than happy for us to come back and visit again at a later time.
During our research, we found that almost every villager had a cell phone and the Internet in their homes. We wondered if modern education could be made available to the rural areas through the Internet. In late July, FAFU organized six iGEM teams from BIT and XMU-China in the China region to prepare a synthetic biology comic book together. We conducted regular progress reports, and at the end of September, we finished this excellent comic book. After releasing it on WeChat public platform, audiences from all over China, viewed our comics.
At the same time, we also conducted an online public service course. At the end of July, we were invited by the Tsinghua team to co-organize an online science lecture, in which FAFU was responsible for writing the questionnaire and the statistics, as well as degrading the content of the random peptide library. It was a very successful lecture! Students from all over China attended, even from Australia and Singapore!
In August, JLU-China invited us to co-author a Handbook to provide experience for the subsequent iGEM teams.
In October, we held a 2023-FAFU-iGEMer recruitment talk at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. At the meeting, we invited BIT and JLU-China teams to share how to use synthetic biology to solve problems in human life.
