Human Practices

    With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, more and more people are using perfumes. Thus, we first went to off-line perfume shops to have a grasp of customers' preference and explored the reasons for people enjoying some kind of aromatic compounds. and how to acquire these aromas. Then we interviewed Doctor Wu from China Boton Group and had an understanding of fragrances commonly used in perfumes Based on these results, we settled to further study the most popular aromatic substance 2-Phenylethanol (2-PE) wildly applied in fragrance industries. However, the literature we referred to demonstrated that extraction from natural volatile oil components of rose flowers fails to satisfy the needs of the market while chemically synthesis is largely rejected by consumers and IFF society (International Flavors & Fragrances) due to safety and health issues. In response, we determined to have access to 2-PE sustainably through biological synthesis. This feasibility was supported by doctor Wang from Bloomage Biotechnology Corporation Limited. We designed and conducted the experiments to acquire high yield 2-PE according to the guidance and strategies given by Dr. Xu, an expert from Zhejiang University. We also conducted an online and offline survey as to public's awareness and acceptance of synthetic biology and 2-PE through biotechnology. During all the above activities, we always followed the professional's knowledge and ensured the information security of the participants.

    In the whole HP activities, each part is complementary to each other, forming an organic whole.

    Regarding our HP program design, each part of the activity has a clear goal. We make the best use of the HP's results to improve our project by what we want to achieve. As the project progresses, we divide our HP's goals into three sections by task type: Background, Public Engagement, Project Design and use these as a guide for our activities. In addition, to ensure that our HP activities were normative and ethical, we consulted with relevant people to guide the design of our activities.

    1. Prospect of perfume industry sparked our interest

    Our members saw and shared two pieces of news articles about perfume industry from the internet with us. Having a glimpse of perfume market, we marveled at the dramatic increase of market sales (from 5.4 billion to 13.6 billion during the 6-year period from 2015 to 2021) and the prospect of the perfume industry. We were intriguing and wondered what in perfume gave off scent. Thus, we put the focus on perfumes and aromatic substances.

    2. A survey about perfumes and aromatic substance conducted in offline shops

    Our team set out to some off-line perfume shops like L'OCCITANE, MEET HOUSE to conduct a survey in 15 July 2022. From the salesmen, we knew that compared to the scent of cherry blossom and jasmine, the smell of rose was more popular, thus perfumes giving off rose scent had a better turnover. As to the ingredients of the rose perfume, instead of directly extraction from roses, the industry tended to synthesize these gradients like 2-PE and then blend them manually to avoid large consumption of roses and sophisticated process.

    Through this part, we found the most welcome perfume and realized the wildly appliance of synthesis of component of perfumes.

    3. Interview with Doctor Wu from China Boton Group gave rise to the idea of synthesis of main substance of rose perfume (2-PE).

    To better understand which chemical substances are usually found in the perfumes that are widely used today? And by what means are most of these substances obtained? On 24 June 2022, we interviewed Dr. Wu from China Boton Group, he told us that substances like alcohol, ester or some compounds with benzene ring are usually utilized. Among these aromatic substances, he pointed 2-PE, an alcohol compound, is a high-value compound widely used in the food, fragrance, and flavor industries. As to how to obtain this fragrance, he said that high-quality 2-PE is primarily extracted from the volatile oil components of rose flower, with its market price reaching $3500~6000/kg, which suffers from economics and scalability issues for sustainable production.

    Chemically synthesized 2-PE, despite its low-cost and high conversion rate, is largely rejected by consumers and IFF society (International Flavors & Fragrances) due to safety and health issues. Thus, this kind of compounds can be obtained from microbial synthesis method. Inspired by this interviewed, we determined to produce 2-PE through biotechnology.

    4. Visit Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden to be aware of the limitation of natural resources for perfume

    On 23 June 2024, members of our team visited Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden in Nanjing to consult on the situations about roses cultivation and blossoms, hoping to get a true and objective understanding of the difficulty of getting 2-PE from natural roses.

    The museum in the garden showed us that roses like well-drained, loose and fertile loam, only blossom under sunlit at least 8 hours a day. The supervisor of the garden told us roses need good care, if not taken seriously, they may easily get sick and unable to blossom. From what he said, we got to know that roses cultivation needs good weather and much labor force. We also discovered that some species from France bloom only once in a lifetime, so that it's impossible to provide enough roses for extraction and the price for this must be outrageously high.

    5. A questionnaire about people's acceptance of perfume with 2-PE synthesized by microorganism

    We distributed an online questionnaire on the issue of perfume with synthesized aroma to the public so as to have an insight of customers' understanding of synthetic biology and their acceptance of aroma produced by microorganism.

    The number of completed questionnaires was 1022. Over 70% of people have a preference for perfume, among which about 85% of people enjoy rose perfume. As the diagram show, only 50% people knew synthetic biology and even fewer people have a positive attitude towards bio-derived aromas. However, nearly 60% people would give it a try to buy perfumes with aromas from synthesized by biotechnology at lower price but the same function.

    6. Making solid fragrance from 2-PE and getting feedback from passersby

    To get a direct response to fragrant products with 2-PE of customers. Our team members made solid fragrance from 2-PE and showed the scent and products to passersby.

    The number of completed questionnaires was 1022. Over 70% of people have a preference for perfume, among which about 85% of people enjoy rose perfume. As the diagram show, only 50% people knew synthetic biology and even fewer people have a positive attitude towards bio-derived aromas. However, nearly 60% people would give it a try to buy perfumes with aromas from synthesized by biotechnology at lower price but the same function.

    Most passersby hardly could distinguish between synthesized aroma and natural aroma. They recommend to lower the addition of 2-PE for the scent is too strong and they told us it would be awkward to make others feel uncomfortable. They enjoyed the scent of our product and were willing to buy it if it was for sale. Thus, we could draw a conclusion that out products with synthesized aroma are welcome and have a bright prospect.

    7. A survey conducted in China Customs to understand the limitation of appliance and addition of 2-PE

    For better understanding the utilization of 2-PE in our country, our team members contacted the Customs of Jiangsu Province, China, and conducted an online interview with the official on 22 June 2022 to get some information about the standards and regulations as to the food and fragrance industries.

    The officer in China Customs told us that our country stipulates the amount which mustn’t be exceeded of edible fragrance for being blended with essential oils permitted and cosmetic flavors respectively. National standards strictly regulate the use of additives, for instance, if it is used in food, you can refer to the national standard 2760-1996, which include the health standards specified in the use of limits. In order to ensure the safety of chemical additives in food or cosmetics, the first thing is to refer to the relevant national standards. Never add any prohibited additives which aren't exist in the lists. Secondly, additives allowed to be used in the corresponding products should not exceed their limit amount according to the relevant national standards. In addition, the production process of cosmetic chemicals itself must be safe and compliant, preferably in line with the requirements of green environmental protection, and under the condition of ensuring product quality, try to use less additives as much as possible.

    8. Determination of feasibility of producing 2-PE through microorganism in aspect of companies by consulting Doctor Wang from Bloomage Biotechnology Corporation Limited

    On 24 July 2022, our team leader and some members carried out an interview with Doctor Wang from Bloomage Biotechnology Corporation Limited who is an expertise of microbial synthesis. From the aspect of the company, he told us that microbial production is a sustainable method which can be scaled up to meet the needs of the market. A mature biological production route can not only lower the price and make the most profit but also contribute to the protection of environment. In the conversation, we also knew that like other aromas like vanillin and benzaldehyde which have realized large-scale production, 2-PE synthesized through microorganism can also be acceptable and serve as the same function with natural aromas. He highly affirmed the prospect of 2-PE and thought that this substance can be applied to perfumery but also add flavor to cosmetics. He hoped to collaborate with us in the future.

    9. An interview with Dr. Xu from Zhejiang University about strategies for improving 2-PE production

    In order to effectively produce 2-PE, we consulted Dr. Xu jiaqi from Zhejiang University through on-line meeting, hoping to learn about methods in the field of synthetic biology to solve the 2-PE production problems.

    Dr. Xu pointed out that 2-PE produced by microorganism is of same function with those extracted from roses, the key point lies in lower cost with higher production. Thus, Dr. Xu jiaqi introduced some strategies for improving 2-PE production. To begin with, she recommended Yarrowia lipolytica as the host strain, for it having strong acetyl-CoA flux and high TCA metabolic activity and the ease of genetic toolbox which is beneficial to obtain 2-PE. Secondly, to get higher yield of 2-PE, she pointed several specific strategies, such as strengthen the targeted pathway, weaken or even knock out the competing pathways and get strain adapted to its product which may have toxic effects on cell growth. Then, she mentioned the limit of synthesize 2-PE through micros is being difficult to purify the products to standards. Besides, she suggested to create a model usually used in metabolic engineering for predicting the suitable amount of substrates. In the end, Dr. Xu jiaqi also expressed her great expectation for the success of our project and welcomed us to ask her further questions.

    Our HP is not a loose activity independent of the project, but an organic whole that complements each other. All the activities of HP are related to our project design and promotion. With the discussion of team members, we decided the basic idea of HP: to further understand the background to promote the project design through HP, and use the information obtained from HP to verify the feasibility of out subject and optimize the subject design, then guide the experiment to obtain the ideal results. At the same time, public opinion is also important to us, so after the project design was perfected to a certain extent, we immediately designed questionnaires to collect social feedback.

    Of course, all our HPs are conducted in strict accordance with the relevant safety guidelines.

    How Our HP Inform and Shape Our Project

    To do a good job on a project, the part of preliminary investigation of basic information is crucial. Therefore, after being inspired by the news about the expanding perfume market, we conducted a survey in off-line perfume shops about people’s most favorite perfume, perfume of rose scent and its main aromatic substance, 2-PE. We then had an interview with doctor Wu from China Boton Group to understand disadvantages of methods acquiring 2-PE like extraction from roses and chemically synthesis lie in instability of weather, scalability and environmental pollution. Through our visit to Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden, we got a true feeling of how hard it would be to cultivate roses and how easy it would be for them not being blossoms. This information certainly provided good inspiration for our project that finding a sustainable way acquiring 2-PE. Once realized, it will produce blend perfumes with 2-PE as much as possible with no limitations.

    How We Respond to Our HP

    Based on information obtained from HP and brainstorming within the team, as well as consulting with professors and experts in the field, we determined the general direction of the project: to find a solution to effectively and sustainably acquiring 2-PE to satisfy the needs of the increasing perfume market.

    How Our HP Inform and Shape Our Project

    In order to effectively acquire 2-PE, we have contacted companies and met with professor from Zhejiang university. In the conversation with Doctor Wang from company about microbial synthesis, we stuck to the feasibility of producing 2-PE through microorganism and sticky problems we may face. From the conversation, we got to know that like the other aromatics having realized industrialization, 2-PE can also be obtained through microbiology in larger scale which had a bright prospect of appliance in cosmetics and food industry. The produced 2-PE would have the same function as the extraction one. However, we faced the problem of 2-PE purification solution after fermentation. As to the strategies of microbial synthesis, Dr. Xu jiaqi pointed out that stain choice, metabolic engineering strategies and model creation all played important roles in achieving high titer 2-PE.

    How We Respond to Our HP

    The information obtained at this stage was the key to the design of our project. Since there had been many successful cases, we determined to synthesize 2-PE through engineered microorganism according to Doctor Wang’s insight. As to the design of project, we followed the advice of Dr. Xu, first chose Yarrowia lipolytica as the host strain, then conducted experiments using strategies recommended by Miss Xu. It is worth noting that models we had designed greatly contributed to the 2-PE production through improve Ehrlich pathway efficiency.

    How Our HP Inform and Shape Our Project

    The analysis of the questionnaire results provided us with an understanding of social awareness and attitudes toward synthetic biology and the acceptance of fragrant products with 2-PE produced by microorganism, proving the relevance and necessity of our study. Consistent with the results of the questionnaire, the survey we conducted showed the acceptance of solid fragrance by showing them to passersby. The feedback we got that the scent was too strong inspired us to explore the proper addition following standards stipulating the amount of 2-PE addition. Thus, we consulted officer from China Customs to more focus on what food or cosmetic product can it be added to and the maximum amount of 2-PE addition.

    How We Respond to Our HP

    Since the public feedback had no relationship with our project design, so we did not have the means to feed it directly as we did with the results of the expert interviews in our design. However, we used this valuable social survey data when establishing partnerships with companies. To make the most of the information in the questionnaire, we used it to communicate with companies in biology. Based on the analysis of the information, we were able to reach a consensus that led to a partnership.

    In the process of project promotion and improvement, we always put safety in the first place. The vision of our project is to produce 2-PE through synthetic biology and apply them in food and perfume industry. Once these new methods are used on a large scale, any slight potential safety hazard may turn into a problem that seriously endangers public safety. Therefore, the demand for safety is at the highest position in our project. This was reflected in the questionnaires we distributed to the public, which clearly explained the issue and investigated the public's acceptance.

    When implementing the project, we wanted to protect the interests of our users (perfume shops, biological companies, general public, etc.) to the greatest extent possible. This can be fully reflected in our HP design: we adopted the advice of many industry experts. And during the HP process, we were touched by the real harm caused by antibiotic abuse, which strengthened our determination to solve this problem.

    Because our project used mature technology and dids not directly edit the genes of animals and plants, it would not introduce ethical issues

    When running HP campaigns, we focus heavily on translating others' suggestions into the design of our themes, thus creating a closed loop between others' expectations and our designs. These positive feedbacks are shown in the figure below.