Human Practices

Topic Overview

At least half a billion people worldwide depend on Cavendish bananas for jobs and food security, with even more supported by the robust economy. Currently, there are no effective methods to protect bananas from F. oxysporum’s onslaught, so we have taken it into our own hands to create a solution that can protect banana plants from infection. Eventually, there will have to be permanent and sustainable measures to protect monoculture crops from similar threats, but we hope that our solution will be good enough to buy more time to save bananas from devastation. For more details on our topic, visit our description page.

Our Goal

Because the public survey we created showed that 84.1% of the general public is unaware of this Fusarium wilt, one of our prime objectives in human practices is to raise awareness of the ongoing banana crisis; to achieve this, we actively engaged with our local communities and collaborated with other iGEM teams. We took it upon ourselves to educate the public on this relatively unknown topic using social media as well as in-person presentations. To have a lasting impact on our communities, however, we need to make sure our human practice efforts exceed simple surface-level communication.

To integrate our human practices, we interviewed several experts and stakeholders to better understand the impact our project can have not only on bananas but on the ecosystem as a whole. This not only helped us shape our solution into what it is now, but it also helped us develop a more effective marketing plan to tackle the banana economy.

HP Overview

Collaborations

We collaborated with other iGEM teams such as Korea_HS, Stony_Brook, UiOslo_Norway, and Thailand_RIS on various projects. With team Korea_HS, we participated in their Instagram reels project, which helped us educate the public in a simple and engaging way. In addition, we wrote an article to submit to team Stony_Brook for a public journal archive, where any member of the public will be able to gain a better understanding of how synthetic biology can be used to solve world problems. With team NYCU_Formosa and KCIS_Xiugang_Taipei, we co-hosted a BioArt workshop to introduce synthetic biology to fellow students; educating the younger generation on iGEM and the possibilities of synthetic biology. Please see the collaborations page for more details.

Partnership

In order to reach a wider audience and help non-English speaking communities all over the world understand the impact synthetic biology can have on their lives, we conducted an infographic translation project; in which teams submitted a brief introduction to their project with pictures/diagrams, similar to that of a poster. We teamed up with Korea_HS, Thailand＿RIS, and UiOslo_Norway to translate other teams’ infographics into Thai, Korean, Norwegian, and Mandarin. We hope by doing this, non-English speakers will be able to learn more about synthetic biology and its potential to change the world we live in. This project serves as one of our many approaches to raising awareness of the importance of synthetic biology, surpassing multiple language barriers that have previously prevented certain populations from learning about biotechnology and its implications. Please see the partnership page for more details.

Education & Communication

We used Instagram as a platform to share with the public about our project through a series of posts. Additionally, we collaborated with the team KCIS_Xiugang_Taipei and NYCU_Formosa to bring our educational presentations to Kang Chiao International School and the various classes within the school, hoping to raise awareness of our topic among more audiences. We also created educational videos for classes we weren’t able to visit. Overall, we engaged the public in various ways, spreading awareness on the potential of synthetic biology and sparking interest in the iGEM competition. Please see the communication page for more details. Please see the communication page for more details.

Podcast

To have a personal connection to our audience through talking and chatting, we created the GEMS_Taiwan podcast. However, as we planned for the podcast we wanted to make greater impacts on our society and discuss much more than just our project’s topic. Our podcast now includes a wide range of topics including the uses of synthetic biology and the ethics/morals behind it. Furthermore, our podcast team drew up plans to expand the discussion into other fields such as food sustainability. To make more impact on the community, our podcast team hopes to continue this biweekly podcast after the competition. Please see the contribution page for more details.

Entrepreneurship

In order to distribute our product to every farm in Taiwan, we created the Entrepreneurship page to better plan out our strategy for selling the product. We did research on regulations regarding genetically modified organisms to ensure that the product can be used in Taiwan. We also did market analysis with the Marketing Plan and wrote an econ model so we can predict how our product will do in the market. Moreover, we made a prototype to support our product, making it easier for people to use in banana plantations. Please see the entrepreneurship page for more details.

Integrated Human Practices

Public Survey

Overview

We used public surveys to collect the general public’s opinion in an attempt to better understand how we can draw people’s attention to the fusarium wilt crisis. We utilized Google Forms to create a questionnaire that helped us understand the demand for bananas and the public’s opinion on fusarium wilt. The types of questions flow from basic questions to more complex topics, which helped us evaluate the public’s opinion on the issue we focus on; this way, we could create a more responsible and publicly favored solution.

Distribution

To spread our public survey to a wider audience, we utilized Instagram to help spread our public survey; not only did we make public posts, we also privately messaged multiple iGEM teams to help fill out our public survey. During our collaboration meetings, we also invited other iGEM teams such as team Korea_HS, Stony_Brook, and Thailand_RIS to help spread our public survey to their local communities. This helped diversify the responses we got. Not only that, members of our team also sent the public survey to families and friends in an attempt to increase the age range of responses. To engage with our local communities on an even more personal level, the entire HP team took to the streets of Da-an Park and Taipei 101, asking strangers to fill out our public survey and educating them on the banana crisis. In the end, we received 1595 public survey results.

Analysis of Public Survey

Below is an in-depth analysis of the responses from our public survey. Our public survey consists of 95.2% of respondents from Asia, with 2.7% in North America. In addition, 29% of respondents aged from 36 - 45 years old; 31.8% of respondents were aged from 46 - 55 years old; the remaining 39.2% from both sides of the age spectrum. Because our public survey had a high percentage of respondents from Asia, our interpretations of the data will be based on east Asian regions. The age of our respondents are much more diverse. The responses reflect people majorly consume 1-2 bananas a week and 13.1% of people consume 3-4 bananas a week.

The result of the weekly consumption of bananas by people reflects the fact that bananas are one of the fruits with the highest demand worldwide (Figure 8), increasing our incentives to help solve fusarium wilt in bananas. The reason underlying the consumption of bananas shows health benefits account for such high demand (Figure 9). According to the two graphs, public demand for bananas is large, with consumers preferring this fruit for its nutritional value.

When we were designing our public survey, we would like to know if the public is aware of this disease. We notice that a significant amount of the population (84.1%) is still unaware of this banana pandemic (Figure 10). Oblivious to the fact that the entire banana industry is once again at risk. Despite wreaking havoc on banana plantations, this occurrence is still invisible in the public’s eyes. As a result of this public survey, our team has designed our educational slides to have an extensive background and introduction to this issue. Our team has also conducted weekly posts to engage social media in an effective manner.

When our team considered different possibilities of solutions, we identified two main pathways, either instill immunity within the plant or prevent infection outside the plant itself. This public survey helped us in deciding between the two different pathways. Up to 67.1% of people distrust genetically modified plants (Figure 11), and most feedback from our in-person interviews also showed similar results. Due to the majority preferring “natural” fruits without any genetic alteration despite not being able to cite any reason for this bias, we were left with only one solution, to ward off F. oxysporum outside the plant instead of altering the plant itself.

From the results of our public survey, we were able to gear our output toward a more favorable solution. However, a future public survey could include further information on public opinion regarding our solution. To allow swiffer responses, our team sacrificed detailed questions for more simple, approachable questions.

Expert Interviews

Given the wide range of factors involved in our solution, it will be helpful to get opinions from professionals who have experience researching Fusarium wilt or in economics. Aware that the first iteration of our solution may be unrealistic in terms of applicability, we asked for expert feedback on our project and modified it accordingly to increase viability. Through the course of our project, we interviewed Dr. Hsuen-Chen Wu (National Taiwan University, Department of Biochemical Science & Technology), Dr. Andre Drenth (University of Queensland, Center for Horticultural Science), Mr. Huan-Yu Chen (Taiwan Banana Research Institute), and Dr. Li-Yu Liu (National Taiwan University, Department of Agronomy, Biometry Division).

Dr. Hsuan-Chen Wu

Background

Dr. Hsuen-Chen Wu is an associate professor at the Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, National Taiwan University (NTUBST). Being the PI of the lab we work in, he was one of the first experts we got in contact with. With a strong background in synthetic biology and biofabrication, he provided us with valuable technical advice during the early stages of our project.

Interview

To understand our topic further and gain more insight into different solution pathways, our team came into contact with Dr.Wu, who helped us construct a general concept of our solution.

During the interview, Professor Wu gave us an external perspective on our project coming from the place of an expert in synthetic biology. His primary concerns, being the target specificity and biocontainment of our bacteria, motivated us to perform research and adjust existing Toxin-Antitoxin Systems to fit our solution. His emphasis on target specificity and biocontainment was expected, and we discussed the limitations of our early solution theory. By using chitinase as our antifungal effector, we essentially forfeit the possibility of high target specificity. Despite our chosen chitinase chi18h8 having been demonstrated to only exhibit inhibitory effects on a few fungi, it is ultimately uncertain whether it would harm the ecosystem in field conditions. This potential for indiscriminate harm to fungi is magnified by the inability to contain the bacteria to our specific use case. These blatant flaws compelled us to search for a workable biocontainment system to mitigate the downsides brought by our solution theory of chitinase secretion. He initially suggested we look into methods to adhere our engineered bacteria to the banana root surface to provide sufficient biocontainment; we immediately began research but to no avail. Inspired by the essence of the idea - limiting the bacteria’s presence to the immediate surroundings of the root, we looked to kill-switch systems dependent on a permissive environmental factor. This series of events would lead us to the design of our Malate-driven CcdA-CcdB Toxin-Antitoxin System.

Professor Hsuen Chen Wu allowed our team to refine the proposed solution as well as different pathways to look further into. Furthermore, he introduced a toxin-antitoxin model to localize our bacteria around the rhizosphere of the banana plant root; this also ensured our solution had fewer negative impacts on the environment, allowing us to create a more sustainable and responsible bio fungicide.

Dr. Andre Drenth

Background

Dr. Andre Drenth is a Professor at the University of Queensland with an extensive research background in Pathology, Horticulture, and Forestry. We contacted him after coming across multiple of his published works on the sustainable cultivation of bananas as well as the analysis of F. oxysporum pathogenic patterns.

Interview

With a refined solution, our team wanted to understand the viability of our solution; looking to interview an expert familiar with the research of fusarium wilt in the field. We eventually came to Dr. Drenth for his field research in fusarium wilt firsthand.

After an extensive literature review on some of Dr. Drenth's work on the epidemiology, distribution, infection biology, and diversity of the pathogen F. oxysporum, we came up with several interview questions/discussion topics that serve to improve our team’s solution. He brought up multiple concerns about our proposed solution during the interview; he pointed out that the growth of the banana’s plant roots might surpass the protective bacterial barricade we designed due to a process called Root Turnover, thus leaving extended roots unprotected from the fungal spores in the soil.

Dr. Drenth’s feedback allowed our Wetlab team to construct a better implementation plan, which shifted from applying in the field to implementation at earlier stages of plant life. Other Dr. Drenth’s suggestions would go on to inspire many parts of Drylab’s economic model, which addresses the cost and impact of our solution.

Mr. Huan-Yu Chen & Taiwan Banana Research Institute

Background

Taiwan Banana Research Institute (TBRI) is an institute dedicated to the research of various diseases in bananas. It was created in the 1970s as a response to the fungal outbreak in Taiwan. Since then, the Institute has published multiple research papers regarding the mechanisms and impacts of F. oxysporum. The institute has also developed a new cultivar of Cavendish bananas that are somewhat resistant to F. oxysporum. TBRI’s extensive research background in Bananas and TR4 makes them an important source of information to help improve our project.

Interview

In addition to solidifying Dr. Drenth’s implementation feedback, our team contacted the TBRI in hopes of understanding stakeholders’ views, since TBRI has had decades of contact with local banana farmers.

Since the location of TBRI wasn’t easy to reach, we held an initial google meeting with Mr. Chen, with some questions we prepared. He provided us with lots of recommendations regarding our solution’s implementation on a banana-based institute. Specifically, applying our solution in controlled facilities in which TBRI grows its banana plantlets. Furthermore, Mr.Chen also suggested our solution be implemented at the earlier stages of plant life. Following this suggestion, we geared our solution towards the implementation of potted plantlets rather than fully grown plants. Finally, we arranged a time to have an in-person visit to the institute to gain a better understanding of their works and to gain access to their journal archive, which is inaccessible online.

In-person Visit

Given the importance of TBRI as a source of information, our team decided to travel to the institute itself to check out its facilities as well as its journal archive. Through the online interview, we scheduled our interview for August 10th 2022. Upon arrival, Mr. Chen presented a PowerPoint introducing topics including different seasons bananas grow best in, how farmers treat banana plants on plantations, and Fusarium wilts itself. He then took us around the institute for us to see firsthand wilt in banana plants. An in person visit to the institute allowed our team to witness the severity of this disease as well as the state of banana plantations after infection, both of which are difficult to be found online.

Presentation

TBRI warmly greeted us as we arrived at their meeting room within the institute. Mr. Chen presented a set of slides introducing three separate aspects of our topic: Planting processes/ introduction to the institute, managing plantations, and the panama disease. Since bananas are bred to have small seeds, farmers replant these plants using plantlets that grow from the side of the batch. Farmers refer to these plantlets as suckers. But at TBRI, to ensure plantlets grow in a controlled environment, workers extract tissue from within the sprout to grow in small jars in the facility. If the plantlet has been infected with F. oxysporum, the fungus will be visible within the jar. This new method of planting used by TBRI allows the institute to detect F. oxysporum presence before investing time and money on an already infected plant. The institute will then distribute the plantlets to farmers at a fixed price to be grown on plantations.

Finally, Mr. Chen introduced the very cause of the banana crisis, F. oxysporum. Mr. Chen mentioned multiple ways F. oxysporum may infect a banana plant. The three main places of infection are in the plant’s rhizome, pseudostem tissues and vascular strands. While this disease does not have any impact in humans, the blockage of water causes wilt in multiple parts of the plant, even decreasing the size and yield of bananas. To combat this, the institute has developed two main types of cultivars, Taichiao no.5 and 7, both of which are somewhat resistant to fusarium wilt. It was at this point that Mr. Chen brought up the difficulties of this solution. The fusarium wilt resistant bananas produce less batches with smaller fruit sizes. With tai chiao no.7 having more resistance but less tasty bananas. So although tai chiao no.7 has more resistance to the disease, the institute has sold more taichiao no.5 as farmers preferred better selling bananas. This often forced farms to switch crops after a few years since most trees have wilted. Overtime, these cultivars would eventually become susceptible to infection, hence the continuous development of different fungal resistant cultivars.

The presentation gave us insight into two major efforts of established organizations to try and combat the spread of F. oxysporum. Our team got to understand details about how TBRI is actively trying to stop the spread and build a better future for banana plants.

Tour

Throughout the tour, Mr. Chen brought us to visit various types of banana trees and how bananas were planted using modern technology. We walked through the park and observed the farms as well as facilities. Firstly, we looked at the cutting process of the banana plantlet. The experimenters in the laboratory demonstrated how the banana plantlet was cut from the suckers system into tissues. Mr. Chen then explained that the tissues will be cultured into little banana sprouts under a constant environment, limiting the chance of Panama disease spreading. After the demonstration, we went to the screen house where bananas are quarantined in order to look for any virus existent in the banana plant. Walking past the screen house, we reached the infected farmland located at the back of TBRI. Mr. Chen teaches us how to identify the infected plant using both visual and touching methods. He cut the banana trees’ truck and showed the xylem of the tree. As the trees were infected, the xylem had fibrosis and also presented a brownish color. After that, we started to walk back to the entrance. Mr. Chen brought us to the banana seedlings order center, showing us the government price of banana seedlings. He also identified the pricing method and how the seedlings were transported. The tour ended with Mr. Chen bringing us to the “special” banana farm, showing us the banana breeds that we aren’t familiar with.

This in-person interview led us to believe our implementation should be at the earlier stages of plant life. Seeing the plantations in person allowed us to grasp the scale of our required production and directed us toward a more viable solution.

Through both the online interview and in-person visit, we grasped general stakeholder opinions, eventually developing marketing strategies and implementation plans geared towards retailing our solution to banana growing facilities such as TBRI during banana’s initial life or, in later stages, local banana plantations.

Dr. Li-Yu Liu

Background

Dr. Li Yu Liu is a professor at National Taiwan University’s department of Agronomy. With an extensive background in biometry, Professor Liu was the perfect candidate to consult on ways to improve our marketing plan and economic model. Professor Liu also served as a committee member in the Taiwan Council of Agriculture(COA) and fully understands the regulations surrounding our topic. We hope to gain insight on the regulations we would need to face for our product.

Interview

To refine our implementation and marketing plan, understand production, and learn the regulations regarding the production of our product, we interviewed Professor Li Yu Liu.

In our interview with Professor Liu, we discussed the different aspects of our product’s marketing. She informed us of the various regulations our team is required to follow with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). She recalled her time in the agricultural council where our product is to be processed. Professor Liu suggested if we were to mass produce our product it’d have to be foreign production as Taiwan strictly prohibits any production of GMOs in Taiwan itself. Furthermore, the Taiwanese Council of Agriculture has a strict set of tests that are required on GMOs before it can be commercialized. On top of that, Professor Liu discussed marketing prices for our product, mentioning the heavy costs of GMO product developments and the time it takes for each to pass the field tests.

After the meeting, we gained a better understanding of the strict regulations Taiwan has on GMOs, especially those affecting edible products. She also recommended we take a look at specific regulations in Taiwanese government policy, which we promptly incorporated into our entrepreneurship page.