Sustainable Development Impact

Starting with SDG number 2, we decided to contact the iGEM Patras team, whose project is related to sustainable agriculture, asking them to write a short text and check the impact of its SDGs:

"Even though our team comes from Greece, a country with much potential in the primary sector, we noticed important deficiencies in the field of Agriculture, such as a lack of important data regarding soil physical and chemical properties in large and isolated areas, insufficient information regarding the combination between precision agriculture tools and other technological advancements and low efficiency of crop inputs including fertilizers, tillage, pesticides, and irrigation water. Our team's project's central pillar idea is improving production quality using technology (GPS, DSS, soil-sampling drones, ML) through precision agriculture. Some of the project's primary goals are access to agricultural data even in remote and large areas, the precise prediction of soil biodiversity and crops for planting, and the environmental protection related to the reduction."

SDG number 3, good health and well-being, has been our ultimate goal since we started the design of project syn-PNOIA.

With lung cancer being the leading cancer death cause worldwide, engineering a new way for its early-stage diagnosis will undoubtedly provide a higher survival rate. Furthermore, our diagnostic test is centered around the innovative Liquid Biopsy methodology, a non-invasive technique requiring a simple blood sampling procedure. That way, it will attract more people to incorporate our test in their annual Health examination since the already established diagnostic methods lack the simplicity needed to be patient-friendly. Furthermore, our fast and accurate Linear DNA Nanostructure detection system can successfully identify target circRNA from a complex RNA sample in 70 minutes. The promotion of well-being is also supported by the low cost of our kit, costing just 25 Euros, making it affordable for patients ranging from different financial backgrounds. Please refer to our Human Practices page for our target group survey, our Entrepreneurship page for cost analysis, and the Results page for the experimental design.

Our Human Practices activities for Education & Communication fulfilled SDG number 4.

Pursuing quality education for all - girls and boys- we visited schools presenting the iGEM competition and our project as well. In addition, we promoted Synthetic Biology by trying to engage students in its concept. Furthermore, we created alternative ways to inform and educate the public regarding our project and Synthetic Biology, such as a podcast series, posters, board games, and a comic for younger ages.

In this way, we consider contributing to the education of the youngest differently and with additional means beyond the school borders.

As for SDG number 5, which supports gender equality, we have implemented several related activities.

More specifically, we have performed an interview in our podcast with a female research group taking part in the international chemical engineering competition, Chemecar, breaking down stereotypes and professing the contribution of women in science.

After all, we purposefully formed the Patras Medicine team equally consisting of males and females, and we selected two successful female scientists, professors of the University of Patras, as Principal Investigators of our team.

We contribute to the 9th sustainable goal with our innovative technique.

For this to apply, we took into account the phrase: "Promoting sustainable industries, and investing in scientific research and innovation, are all important ways to facilitate sustainable development."

So far, there is no approved method for lung cancer diagnosis through liquid biopsies using circRNAs as biomarkers. So we created a DNA nanostructure to identify these biomarkers with a specific technique that is not widely spread and is also considered innovative.

During our participation in the Pre-Aegean meetup, we hosted a presentation about Shirley Chisholm, who fought for equal rights for women, minorities, immigrants, and the poor and demanded the establishment of health as a public good accessible to everyone, as a person who inspired us to build our project. Moreover, we contacted lung cancer associations to include cancer patients in society and eliminate discrimination against them.

Thus, we accomplished SDG number 10.

In order to approach SDG number 15 and support life on land, we joined a collaboration organized by iGEM IISER Pune about World Environment Day. For this purpose, we took and sent a picture of our team members collecting waste from rural areas, making the environment a clean and safe place for living beings.

In addition, we reached iGEM Crete, whose project relates to global food security, asking them to explain the utility and impact of their project in SDGs:

"Loss of natural habitat could have devastating consequences for the planet's food supply. Our project takes seriously into consideration the need to maintain healthy crops at a time when malnutrition is increasing rapidly. Thus, it aims at an innovative method of diagnosing plant pathogens with the aim of introducing a huge advantage in agricultural diagnostics. Our proposed diagnostic method uses Lrrs instead of antibodies. This method is cheaper and much faster than the existing ones, giving the farmers the margin to save much money but also the opportunity to cultivate species that, until now, specific plant pathogens did not allow them to since the diagnosis was way more difficult."

As SDG number 16 attains, one of our primary goals is to create peaceful relationships and promote cooperation among people.

Therefore, we hosted many collaborations aiming to bring together and connect iGEM members worldwide, for instance, the World DNA Day poster collaboration. In this context, we communicated and interacted with iGEM teams from different countries via virtual meetings.

Regarding SDG number 17, we considered that an important institution of the iGEM Competition and a fundamental criterion for the gold medal is the partnership between iGEM teams

Accordingly, we developed a partnership with iGEM MetaThess having similar research subjects. Both groups contribute mainly to "Good Health and Well-being."

We also cooperated with many iGEM teams to achieve our common goal, which is no other than spread Synthetic Biology and use it as a solution to an existing problem.

Besides, this is the purpose of the competition. Hundreds of teams with the main focus on Synthetic Biology design projects with a variety of 12 tracks. Each team with its project contributes to more than one sustainable development goal, and all of the work is presented at the Grand Jamboree.