This year, the Jilin_China team is committed to building a new type of engineering bacteria for copper, zinc and lead plasma, which integrates heavy metal ion sensing, adsorption and degradation. Operons constructed by specific promoters can effectively detect their concentrations, and the adsorbed proteins can be suspended on the cell surface through the surface display system to express in time, so as to achieve the purpose of adsorbing heavy metal ions. The use of this material is expected to solve the increasingly serious heavy metal ion pollution problem more thoroughly in the future. The project designed by us this year is about the Mini Bioproduction Circle System (MBCS) , which based on ternary microbial symbiosis with the resources available on Mars to meet the food and drug production needs of human beings. They were inspired by us that they consider that the exoplanet soils are rich in heavy metal ions, and if the project they designed is applied to the treatment of heavy metals in exoplanet soils, they can improve and optimize the cultivation of exoplanet soil plants, which will pave the way for future human space exploration. At the same time, they also let us pay attention to the heavy metal resources and pollution of other planets.
On 8th July 2022, we have an online meetup with SJTU-BioX-Shanghai. During the meeting, students from ShanghaiTech_China demonstrated and introduced this project, while students from SJTU-BioX-Shanghai introduced us how to store a lot of information for space transportation. The two projects are similar in environmental context. Through some discussion and Q&A, we determined our main cooperation directions - education and human practice. In the later HP meeting, we shared the research direction with each other and provided the current research results.
In human practice, we cooperated to conduct a questionnaire survey of the public on biological safety in space. To see more details on the result of the questionnaire, please go to the HP page; In education, SJTU-BioX attended the Science Lecture (space) held by ShanghaiTech. To see more details on the Science Lecture, please go to the Education page.
On 9th July 2022, we have an online meetup with SJTU-China. During the meeting, students from ShanghaiTech_China presented and introduced the MBCS system for the miniature biological production cycle of the Mars base, while students from XJTLU-CHINA showed the new biofilm for industrial sewage treatment. Through some deep discussion and Q&A, we exchanged views in wet lab, modeling and hardware.
On 11th July 2022, we have an online talk with USTC about the wetlab. During the talk, the culture and genetic operation of non-engineered Gram-negative bacteria are discussed. After that, we share some parts with each out in wet lab: ShanghaiTech gave USTC the shuttle plasmid pBBR1MCS-2 and USTC gave ShanghaiTech the tagRFP sequence in return. In education, USTC attended the Science Lecture (material) held by ShanghaiTech.
On 9th July 2022, we have an online meetup with SJTU-China. During the meeting, students from ShanghaiTech_China presented and introduced this project, while students from BUCT-China showed the production of cell cultured meat and the project of advocating a green lifestyle devoted to the development of eco-friendliness and health. Through some deep discussion, we reach the agreement to carry out systematic cooperation in three phases throughout the whole process of the project.
In human practice, we cooperated to conduct a questionnaire survey of the public awareness and recognition of cultured meat and the Mini Bioproduction Circle System on Mars base (MBCS). To see more details on the result of the questionnaire, please go to the HP page; In education, BUCT attended the Science Lecture (metabolism) held by ShanghaiTech. To see more details on the Science Lecture, please go to the Education page; Furthermore, we have carried out systematic cooperation throughout the whole process of the project and our wet lab. To see more details on this part, please go to the Partnership page.
In order to spread synthetic biology to high school students, we carry out a series of joint science popularization and communication activities. Eight universities are included, and we prepare 6 specific topics for the targeted students. Except for the teams mentioned above, Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan and FAFU-China all had collaboration with ShanghaiTech in a series of joint science popularization and communication activities. To see more details on the Science Lecture, please go to the Education page.
