Overview

Throughout the design, execution, and implementation of our project, Human Practices was a key factor. With opinions from the public, fellow iGEMers, and professionals, we were able to make sure our project is headed towards the right way, and will generate our intended results.

Background

Consult Public Health Expert on Algae Issue Solutions

After initial brainstorming and deciding to tackle algae pollution issues, we found trouble identifying which specific problem to tackle, and in what way it could be manageably addressed. We reached out to Prof. Juan Zhang at Southeast University School of Public Health for suggestions.

As an expert in environmental hazards and specialist in toxicology, Prof. Zhang educated us on the danger of microcystins. She showed us her lab’s previous work in sequencing a natural microcystin degrading bacteria, Sphingopyxis sp. m6, and encourages us to build upon their findings. She also introduced us to Dr. Ding, who specialized in microcystin biodegradation and offered to instruct us in this season.

Aware of our own goals and limitations in one iGEM season, we researched the background of microcystin biodegradation and settled on heterologous expression. Furthermore, we came across an article studying an extracellular enzyme display system to degrade chemicals in the environment, and wished to integrate this system to our design.

We then demonstrated to Prof. Zhang and Dr. Ding our preliminary design. With their assistance, we outlined the experiments required in each stages of our project. Dr. Ding and Prof. Zhang later became the PIs of our team.

Learn Environmental Conditions at Qinhuai River

As residents near Qinhuai River, we suffered a lot from harmful algae blooms. During the initial designing of our project, our team went to Qinhuai River in Yuhua District to investigate the algae pollution and environmental conditions there.

We found that typical treatment during a harmful algal bloom revolves around eliminating the cyanobacterial cells. For example, the ship below sediments algae and kills them in the water. However, cyanotoxins are largely released into water and cannot be addressed this way. There is a big risk that the toxins go to municipal or drinking water treatment plants, and our project will become relevant in this scenario.

Moreover, we were allowed to retrieve a small sample of 10 mL to measure the environmental conditions to replicate in experiments, including pH and temperature. (Due to the river protection office’s regulations, our team was not allowed to retrieve large quantities for experimental use without qualifications.)

Investigate Public Knowledge of Algae Pollution

We conducted a survey on public knowledge of algae-related pollution to guide educational activities. By analyzing the answers, we found that

1. About 92% of the respondents have somewhat heard about algae, while 83% know of harmful algal blooms (HABs).
2. Among all the negative impacts of algae and HABs, harming aquatic animals and blocking photosynthesis of other aquatic plants are better known of. For algae’s potential uses, most people know their function as energy, oxygen producer and source of nutrition.
3. When it comes to negative impacts of cyanotoxins, however, about half of the answerers do not know the impacts, which indicates that cyanotoxins are relatively in lack of public attention. People also know little about ways to deal with HABs.
4. About 70%-90% of our respondents know water treatment methods such as physical sedimentation and filtration, disinfection or chemical degradation.
5. 43% of respondents approve synthetic biology and 28.6% wish to learn more about it before making a judgement. We hope to provide quality information to them and help them make an informed decision.

Based on the discoveries above, we concluded that although people may have general knowledge of algae pollution, they are not provided with sufficient and detailed information to further get acquainted with the problem, which means wider education and publicity is of vital importance. They were further addressed in our Education page.

Public Attitude

Initiate Freshwater Bioremediation Alliance

Together with XJTLU-CHINA, we initiated the Freshwater Bioremediation Alliance (FBA). Water environment protection is what bond us together: Nanjing_NFLS, XJTLU-CHINA, Nanjing-China, CHINA-FAFU, GXU-China, UM_Macau, NPU-CHINA have all devoted this season to addressing all kinds of threats to our precious water environment.

At our first meetup, teams introduced their projects and shared visions on future cooperation within the Alliance. Afterwards, we summarized each team’s project introduction and suggestions into the following document. (NPU-CHINA joined the a few weeks later than other teams. Their introduction was added later into the document.) We used this document to promote our alliance to other teams, academia, and communities.

Throughout this season, we carried out the following activities together:

1. Biosafety panel & booklet (in Education)
2. Co-interview water environment expert (below in Human Practices – Implementation)
3. Water Environment Workshop in middle school (in Education)

In an alliance with universities all around China, we truly learned more about synthetic biology’s different uses in in environmental scenarios, and how we can help the public better understand what advanced science can do for our world. We gained a better understanding of bioremediation as a whole.

Learn Stakeholders’ Attitude to GMO in Environmental Bioremediation

Together with XJTLU-CHINA, We surveyed public attitudes towards using genetically modified bacteria for environmental bioremediation, hoping it would guide our further efforts in education and outreach.

Our respondents mainly consisted of people aged from 15 to 50 and were mostly high school students or achieved bachelor’s degree. The results are as follows:

1. 61.3% of our respondents are supportive of using GM bacteria to improve the environment. About 31% stay neutral and wish to learn more about the technology before making judgments. We hope to provide them with the relevant information and help them make an informed decision.
2. The advantages people know are mainly high efficiency in degrading chemicals and nontoxic products, while low energy consumption, low cost, and low labor-intensive are less known.
3. When people learned that GM bacteria may escape the container and cause unpredictable influences such as transferring foreign genes to natural bacteria strains or may influence the survival and metabolism of natural organisms, about half of the respondents expressed their concern, indicating necessity for researchers to address the issue and educate people on methods.
4. When people are informed that all biosafety procedures during the entire research and application will be made public, they become more supportive of GM technology.
5. 73% of our respondents support future education on GM bacteria.

In conclusion, we are aware that many people still have doubts about the safety of genetically modifying. This fact gives directions to us for product design, business plans, and all the experiments we take. We also have a clearer idea of future educational and communication events: it is necessary to clarify the safety approaches in novel technology to help the public understand, trust, and support the implementations. This prompted us to host the biosafety panel within Freshwater Bioremediation Alliance and produce a biosafety handbook documenting each team’s effort in dealing with safety issues. (More details in Education)

Implementation

Discuss Follow-up Experiments at CCiC

We participated in the 9th Conference of China iGEMer Community (CCiC). At the conference, we introduced our project concept, experiment design, and human practice approaches by the poster. Collegiate iGEM teams that had previous experience with algae or bioremediation helped us transform ideas in follow-up experiments into outlines of protocols. For example, they taught us quantitative PCR tips for plant cells, and suggested that 16S is usually used as the reference gene. We are grateful to have a collaborative platform of CCiC to interact with other teams!

Consulting Water Environment Expert on Implementation

Together with FBA, we consulted Prof. Shen Xia on the implementation of GM bacteria in water treatment. Prof. Shen works at Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute and her research focuses on wastewater treatment.

We learned that

1. In China, water treatment is guided and regulated by government departments. Institutes and enterprises are in charge of technical support via outsourcing.
2. Bacterial or microbial technologies are widely used in freshwater or wastewater treatment for its low cost, which is essentially half of that of physical or chemical methods. They also have the advantage of no secondary pollution.
3. Experts are concerned about the water’s flow rate and transparency when installing engineered bacteria because flow rate will affect adhesion strength and transparency is key to controlling microorganisms’ photosynthesis.

Information from Prof. Shen was very helpful to our research in targeted market, and helped us better understand the current situation in bioremediation implementation. It also directed us in drafting the business plan for our product, Microcystin Terminator.

Business Plan

Publicity

Get Feedback on Publicizing Product at iGEM’s Den

iGEM’s Den was hosted by team KU Leuven; they kindly invited professors from their college to provide feedback on our projects. First, we presented our product design and engineering. Professors then asked us a few questions, and gave back a feedback form a few days later.

Their feedback was very helpful in our future communications with various audiences, and in preparing for the final jamboree presentation. We noted the importance to focus on the purpose, function, and results of our project, so that listeners can capture the highlight of our work in a brief introduction.

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