iGEM SORBONNE
NAWI
Human Practices
How the world impacted our project
The work carried out during the competition reflects the continuous ping-pong between the team, the general public and the various stakeholders. By enlisting the support of local actors and specialists, we wanted to demonstrate how our project is relevant and responsible to the world. We seek to integrate the knowledge and expectations of local actors into our project through our various activities. Furthermore, dialogue and cooperation are the essence of our project. Indeed, we wanted to contribute to the iGEM community by interacting with other teams and sharing our ideas. As the direct target of our project, we also wanted to combine communication and public awareness. It was therefore essential for us to intervene with Sorbonne University students and the general public in order to raise awareness of synthetic biology and the issues at stake, but also of the various problems to which our project seeks to respond, through the organisation of events and meetings.
In order to build a project that is as close as possible to the real problems of iron deficiencies and agriculture, we contacted experts in these fields from the very beginning of our project. It is partly upon their insight that we built our project goal. They also allowed us to evaluate the feasibility of our project, whether it be on the technical or the legislative aspect, to make it more acceptable, efficient and good for the world.
We contacted a Ph.D Chief Scientific Officer who works in a start-up specializing in the development of microalgae for use in consumer products. He agreed to help us with our project by sharing his expertise in molecular microbiology, industrial biotechnology and team management.
He works in a start-up specializing in the development of microalgae for use in consumer products (food and drink).They use the green alga Chlorella as a major component of their ingredients. They create "a neutral-tasting, highly nutritious and competitive, functional plant-based protein ingredient".
How did he help us?
He quickly agreed to help us with our project. He knew the iGEM competition as he had already helped teams. As you may have noticed, we share the same objective with the start-up : to use super nutritious microalgae as a food source and to produce them in a sustainable way. We are therefore very grateful that he agreed to share his expertise with us and it helped us a lot to see our project from another angle: that of a start-up.
We sent him a brief presentation of our project and the questions we would like to ask him: about him, the company and more specific questions such as the large-scale cultivation of micro-algae, the techniques they use, the safety laws on the sale of these products in England and around the world, microalgae market...
He told us about his experience as a CSO in the company. He gave us lots of advice on how to set up a start-up: be bold, try to meet people and expand our network because "that is where opportunity comes from". Working with a good team is also very important. As he said he was "lucky enough to pick its team". It's important to divide the activities into departments. Giving these teammates some freedom allows for better productivity. It is also important to know how to manage money and to foresee potential future expenses (in 3, 5 or even 10 years). Prediction is key.
On the biological side, he gave us articles to read to improve our culture media and find the optimal conditions as well as leads on bacteriofermentation. According to him, it's better to waste money on synthesized vectors than waste time on cloning. He also explained to us the steps we have to take so our organism could be recognized as Generally Recognised Safe. It's a minimum two years process and we have to fill an application on the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) website.
Finally, he gave us advice on how to present our project. It is important to create a good story around our project and to have a global vision.
One of the problems of our project concerned the digestion of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the metabolization of its iron content.
In order to answer these problems, we met with Jean-Pierre Grill, senior lecturer at the CRSA (Centre de Recherche Saint-Antoine), specialised in microbiota and the intestinal system. Digestion of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to access its iron content is not a problem. It is a plant cell, whose wall is composed of polysaccharides. These polysaccharides are resistant to digestion and absorption in the small intestine, but undergo partial or complete fermentation by the colonic microbiota.
However, this interview raised several questions about our project:
In order to verify these questions, we could cultivate our algae in a Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME) media with neutral pH, in presence of the microbiota, in a little fermenter. This experiment could show us if our microbiota is using the iron produced by our GMO, and also if our algae lead to dysbiosis. We could also take these experiments in a complete SHIME system, which is the most representative in vitro model for the combined simulation of the physiological, chemical and microbiological properties of the gastrointestinal tract.
Moreover we need to think in what form we want to distribute the seaweed: powder, candy, tablet. This could have a real impact on the dose provided to the person.
We also had the opinion of Philippe Seksik (team leader, researcher and gastroenterologist) on our project. He found a real interest in this one, first-of-all for those who are changing their diet, but also for patients with cancer who usually suffer from anemia due to their treatment. Furthermore, he told us that there was no problem with the iron dose administered. Indeed, the body self-regulates its iron content, aiming to achieve a constant homeostasis. The only contraindication is for people with genetic diseases affecting iron metabolism. So we should write some indications on our product packaging.
Lorie Hamelin is a bioeconomy researcher and laureate of the "Make our planet great again" program. She gave a conference during the Toulouse meet-up about "The challenges and opportunities for industrial biotech in a transition to a low-carbon fossil economy". This topic, which was related to our project, was very instructive. It gave us some ideas on how to improve our project but also reinforced the impact that our project could have on the world.
Who is Lorie HAMELIN?
Lorie Hamelin is a bioeconomy researcher, PI on the Cambioscop project at TBI/INSA, Federal University of Toulouse and laureate of the "Make our planet great again" programme. She made an appearance at the Toulouse meet-up [link to Toulouse meet-up page for more information] where she gave a talk on "The challenges and opportunities for industrial biotech in a transition to a low-carbon fossil economy". This conference dealt with the problems linked to the use of fossil origin carbon, the challenges involved (bioeconomy, carbon management, life cycle assessment, land use changes, renewable energy) as well as the possible alternatives.
She also presented the project she has been working on for a few years: the Cambioscop project, which aims to make a society without fossil-based carbon by 2050.
« CAMBIOSCOP ambition: build the most comprehensive and integrated bioeconomy strategy in EuropeHow should France develop its bioeconomy in the transition towards a «defossilized» economy? How, when, and where to invest the money? CAMBIOSCOP aims to answer this question. This will result in tailored and quantified cost and environmentally efficient strategies towards the long-term development of France’s bioeconomy. » https://cambioscop.cnrs.fr/
How did she help us?
First of all, the topic of the conference, which was related to our project, was very instructive. It gave us some hints on possible reflections and improvements to be made on our project but also reinforced the impact that our project could have on the world. In a context of increasing population and therefore need of food and intensification of agriculture, to meet this demand, it is important to find processes that produce food while avoiding the release of carbon, with a significant gain and especially limiting greenhouse gases.
Another important point that was mentioned during the conference was the use of waste biomass as a bio-nutrient. As one of our ideas is to use food waste as a source of carbon for the growth of our algae, we thought it would be interesting to discuss this with her. That's why we contacted Lorie Hamelin a few months after the meet-up to briefly present our project and discuss it with her. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for this exchange. But she sent us two articles written by Ugo Javourez, a Ph.D. student in the team, whose work focuses on waste-to-nutrition in general and how to achieve it in a sustainable way.
As it is more and more important to change our current food system, in order to meet with the future food demand and mitigate environmental impacts, “waste-to-nutrition” pathways, « transforming organic wastes, residues and coproducts into edible ingredients », are one way to respond to this challenges and reduce the dependence on the crop. In this study, they assess « the conditions under which fungal solid substrate fermentation (SSF), allowing to nutritionally enhance fibrous co-products, can sustainably be used as an alternative valorization option for agrifood co-products ».
In a context of transition towards circular and low fossil carbon economies (bioeconomy), residual biomass is becoming more popular as a key sustainable feedstock notably when it comes to supplying food products. They reviewed over 950 scientific and industrial records documenting waste-to-nutrition pathways. It includes a description of these pathways and the processes they involve. « The proposed framework aims to support future research in waste recovery and valorization within food systems, along with stimulating reflections on the improvement of resources’ cascading use ».
We made a list of local actors that it would be interesting to contact for our project. However, we did not have the time to contact them all or even to go beyond the first contact for some. In the continuity of our project, the idea would be to contact them to get their expertise on the subject.
Eolia Brissot (hematologist in the clinical hematology and cell therapy department at Saint-Antoine Hospital) and Thierry Lamireau (head of the pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition unit, Hôpital des Enfants, CHU de Bordeau) have written an article on iron disorders in children (consequences, diagnostic approaches, treatments, etc.).
First French agricultural union gathering all the productions of all the regions. They support French farmers in their projects, find solutions to their difficulties and work for the sustainable development of the farm. It would be possible to discuss with them the challenges of agriculture, the means put in place for sustainable agriculture and also to have farmers’ point of view on the production of GMOs.
Project manager at Fermentalg, expert in research and bio-industrial exploitation of microalgae for nutrition, health and the environment. It would be possible to discuss with them the different products they have set up (management and cultivation of algae, cost, development, etc.) and get the opinion of a French company in this field.
Deputy Office for Science and Technology at the French Embassy in Chicago. This service supports many French start-up projects that would like to establish themselves in the United States, either financially or by promoting exchanges with other institutions.
Europe's largest micro-algae farm with a 30-hectare agro-industrial site located in central Brittany. They also produce several products from Chlorella. It would be possible to have their opinion on the operation, maintenance and cost of a micro-algae farm and also to know the stakes and means put in place during the design of their site to preserve the environment.
We elaborated a questionnaire so that people could participate in our project by answering some questions. This questionnaire was distributed through a QR code on flyers, during events that took place in our university ("Welcome Day"and crepes sale).
We asked them to answer various questions about their relationship with food supplements, seaweed, anemia but also GMOs in order to know their opinion on the issue. We also asked them to help us choose the flavor and even the shape of the product if we could market a supplement based on our seaweed in the future.
We received 44 responses to our questionnaire.
Other interesting results
The results from the field survey done during this event in the campus indicate that 61% of the attendees would be willing to try a new algae-based food source even though 90% of them have never consumed food supplements based on green algae or cyanobacteria such as Chlorella or Spirulina. Close to 98% of the participants were familiar with GMOs and even though 36.4% have no opinion, 36.4% are in favor of the consumption and production of GMOs in France and 27.3% are unfavorable.
Thanks to this questionnaire, we have an overview of people's opinion concerning the production and consumption of GMOs in France. We also have an overview of the opinion of people who would be ready to consume them, regarding the taste and the shape of the product.
It is important to take into account the opinion of the public in the elaboration of our project in order to orientate the continuation towards the production of a product which will please the greatest number.
