Integrated Human Practices

Understanding Our Problem

Exploring Environmental Perspectives

There are several pipelines of environmental effects that comes with lighting, such as manufacturing and the source of power for the lighting. With LEDs currently being the most efficient light source, there has been widespread implementation of this technology. However, LEDs has its imperfections as there are limited resources to study the product's life cycle. One thing is for certain however, embodied carbon and the mining of heavy metals are signficantly detrimental when assessing the product's sustainability.¹ Mining for these metals also has detrimental effects on wildlife habitats and waterways through pollution.²In addtion, approximately 87% of all electricity supplied in B.C. comes from hydroelectric sources. While a renewable resource like hydroelectricity has obvious benefits over fossil fuels, there are certainly unintended consequences to some of these renewable resources.³ Hydroelectricity does not pollute the water or air, however, it has environmental impacts on natural habitats surrounding the dam area and changes how the environment is used by wildlife.⁴) The downsides of hydroelectric include: expensive to build, limited water reserves, drought potential and other environmental consequences that do not align with environmental goals of renewable energies.(5,6)

A real-life example of viewing hydroelectricity through a destructive lens is Site C dam in British Columbia.⁷ Some of the main reasons as to why the dam is being opposed by environmental activists are:

• Climate impacts - Carbon stored in trees and wetlands that are valuable carbon sinks would be destroyed releasing significant amounts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.⁸
• Ecological impacts - “Among other impacts, the Site C dam will destroy habitat for more than 100 species already vulnerable to extinction, including bird, plant, butterfly, bee and mammal species—this at a time when scientists warn we are facing a biodiversity crisis,” says Sarah Cox, author “Breaching the Peace”.⁸
• Infringing upon Indigenous rights - The dam would sever the land rendering it unfishable for a generation and destroy sacred sites and burial grounds used by the Indigenous peoples a report found.⁸

Approach to Social Attitudes in Science

Our team quickly recognized the stigma surrounding GMOs and biotechnologies due to misinformation and a lack of education for the general public. To tackle this, our aim was to first off understand the level of hesitancy in the Okanagan region compared with the rest of the world, and develop educational workshops and tools related to our project Life Bulb. As a first year team, we believed our region may be less accepting of synthetic biology given the lack of understanding within our community, prompting us to explore the issue further. In addition, our team values working towards Truth and Reconciliation in Canada and amplifying Indigenous voices for more conscious community integration. We collaborated with an Indigenous artist to design an artwork inspired by Life Bulb, combining the values of the Sylix Okanagan Nation with iGEM. In doing so, our team opened up a bidirectional conversation on the importance of First Nation perspectives in STEM research which is an unfortunate underrepresentation in many cases.

DEFINING A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION

As one may see, it is not always apparent the negative impacts of certain energy sources like hydroelectricity. There are many factors to take into account when evaluating energy impact and this is exactly what UBCO iGEM has done with Life Bulb. We have considered the environmental and societal impacts of renewable energy's “dark” side and aim to use Life Bulb to put a new generation of renewable light under the spotlight, using current synthetic biology solutions.

UBCO iGEM aims to reduce the high energy consumption, GHG emissions and environmental impact of electrical lighting and other sources of energy. We chose to work with cyanobacteria due to their strong ability to photosynthesize, quick doubling time, and their ability to be genetically engineered with high efficiency. Our team fell in love with this excellent model organism from the start, and saw major benefits in terms of scalability, versatility and characterization of circadian control for control over bioluminescence in during the day and night.

CYANOBACTERIAL EXPERT FEEDBACK

Experimental

Our team met early on in April as well as several times in May with PhD student Rene Inckemann from the Maxx Planck Institute, who specializes in engineering chloroplasts in phototrophs and is a Representative for the iGEM Plant Subcommittee. He reassured our team to select the fungal bioluminescent pathway given the advantages over bacterial bioluminescence. He loved the future expansion of utilizing circadian promoters, which he directed our team towards a catalogue of promoters. Inckemann strongly urged us against using a co-culture within Life Bulb, given the difficulty of establishing a harmony. Furthermore, he advised us to select one of several cyanobacterial strains, in which we ultimately went with Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 given the characterization and transformation efficiency. Our team also asked about a proposed DIY photobioreactor setup in our lab, given that we were not equipped for working with phototrophs. He voiced his approval of our cultivation strategies and emphasized the importance of uniformity in light absorption. Lastly, he presented us CyanoGate toolkit and MoClo assembly standards which our Dry Lab ultimately adopted in plasmid design.

Market

Our team met with Elliot Roth and Ryan George from Spira Inc. They specialize in engineering spirulina for production of biosynthetic dyes and dietary supplements. We were particularly interested in learning more about how they market their products and learning more about the cyanobacterial industry. In order to assess feasibility as a product to be sold, we have to actually produce and sell a Life Bulb product, comparing the price to manufacturer and how much it will sell for to see if it will actually be sold for a profit. They told us to also consider scaling up and economic feasibility of that. There are many considerations like importing, research, and scalability which they expressed concerns about. In product design, we were advised to commit to simple consumer photobioreactor designs as they are easier to pump and maintain overall.

GMOs AND BIOLUMINESCENCE SURVEY

Overview

To truly understand what it would be like if our product were in the homes of average people, we wanted to survey the general public to get a better idea about perception of numerous topics including GMO acceptance, bioluminescence, and iGEM itself! While designing the product is the most central part of our Life Bulb, it would be inconsiderate of our team to design if people were afraid to use it, motivating us to ask for public opinion!

Development and Feedback (RISe)

We first started with asking for feedback from Dr. Hutchinson, a Psychology professor at UBCO who is also the administrator for our school’s SONA program, used for psychology research participation! She was impressed by our survey formatting, and suggested we talk to RISe (Research Information Systems), to get some more feedback to enhance our survey and make sure it was safe for us to use and followed university guidelines. After much back and forth, they helped us write great assent and consent forms as well as ensure that the demographic questions were inclusive without being intrusive (allowing surveyors to choose not to answer a question). Without them, our survey would not have been nearly as polished as the finished product was! This process emphasized the importance of highly conscious social science research, in which we ensured our survey was not misleading, provided necessary background for informed consent and was accommodating to the general public with simple language.

Outreach

To get the best results possible, we required a wide range of responses, not just from the Okanagan. While using social media was a great way to get in touch with participants all over the world, we also reached out to teams we had collaborated with in the past to take it and share it with their friends and families! Teams such ASU iGEM, UBC iGEM, iGEM Calgary shared to their large followings as well as the iGEM Global Slack which combined served to provide a balanced set of global perspectives.

Survey Data

The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for the Likert scale to determine statistical significance. The null hypothesis was that the median ranks of the groups are equal. A p-value was produced to determine the validity of the null hypothesis.

Hypotheses

1. Perspectives on GMOs are more negative in the Okanagan than elsewhere.

We believed that there may have been a correlation between living in the Okanagan and not been as accepting towards GMOs, since we have very large farming community that boasts growing organic, non-GMO foods locally. Our null hypothesis was that the median ranks of the two groups (individuals who live in the Okanagan and individuals who do not live in the Okanagan) would be equal when analyzing the data. However, it was determined using the Kruskal-Wallis Test that p > 0.05, meaning the null hypothesis was accepted. This concludes that there was not enough of a difference between Okanagan residents and the rest of the world.

2. The level of education an individual possesses influences their perspectives on GMOs, with individuals with lower levels of education having more negative perspectives on GMOs and individuals with higher levels of education having more positive perspectives on GMOs.

We were curious to see if education had any impact on how people saw GMOs, and hypothesized that it could be the case that with higher education, participants would understand more about GMOs and be less cautious of them. Our null hypothesis is that the median will be equal for all of the groups divided by the education level. After performing the K-W Test, we received a p value of 0.9, which confirmed our null hypothesis and told us that the level of education an individual has does not determine their perspective on GMOs overall.

3. Knowledge about iGEM positively impacts the perception people have on GMOs.

We wanted to see if those with a knowledge of iGEM would possibly have a more positive outlook on GMOs. Being in the competition would give you a front seat to what GMOs are, and perhaps knowing someone participating in the competition would make it easier to identify GMOs as something that could be used for good, and that weren’t inherently bad for you. Our null hypothesis is that the median ranks are equal among the three groups (individuals who have heard of iGEM, individuals who have participated in iGEM, and individuals who just learned about iGEM). The K-W Test gave us a p value of 0.02, which is lower than 0.05! This means that for this hypothesis we were able to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the median rank between the three differed by enough of a significant amount that there could possibly be a correlation between the two variables. Specifically, when participants had been part of the iGEM competition now or in the past, they had a much more positive outlook on GMOs than those who had only heard of it as well as those who knew nothing about iGEM.

4. The general public feels safe having genetically modified light and bioluminescent decoration in their household.

For this test we used the Likert Scale for ranking the responses given by the respondents. The Likert Scale is ordinal data, but for the purposes of this analysis, we will assume it is continuous data using the mean distribution scale. It follows a mean distribution scale of: Strongly Disagree (1.00 - 1.80) Disagree (1.81 - 2.60) Neutral (2.61 - 3.40) Agree (3.41 - 4.20) Strongly Agree (4.21 - 5.00)

5. The general public is interested in art that showcases bioluminescence.

We used the Likert Scale again for this test, using the same parameters as hypothesis 4). Our test revealed that the mean rank was 4.378, which shows that overall, participants strongly agree that they would go see an art showcase, which proves that there is an interest in bioluminescent art!

6. The older generation (60 and up) feel more negative about GMOs than the younger generation (59 and younger).

We were curious to see if age had any impact on how people saw GMOs, and hypothesized that it could be the case that with age, participants would be a bit more cautious of GMOs due to past conceptions they grew up with, while younger participants would be a bit more open to GMOs as an idea. Our null hypothesis is that the median will be equal among the two groups (younger/older generation). After performing the K-W Test, we received a p value of 0.7, which confirmed our null hypothesis and told us that the older generation does not necessarily have a negative view of GMOs over the younger generation

Conclusions

The hypothesis that gave us statistically significant data was hypothesis 3), which was that participants who had or were competing in iGEM had a much more positive outlook on GMOs. While our other hypotheses didn’t come to fruition, it gave us some insight into how the general public sees GMOs and bioluminescence! Through these results, we can expect that if our project made it into the consumer space, that there would be a demand for it, and that the Life Bulb would not be completely met with caution on the market.

BIOLUMINESCENT EXPERT FEEDBACK

Experimental

During our team visit to the UBC Vancouver campus, we met with Paige Whitehead of Nyoka Design Labs who specializes in cell-free bioluminescence in sustainable glow sticks using biodegradable plastics. They provided us with significant advice on measurement our cells, in the case that we validate a proof-of-concept. Paige recommended we use Image J software to measure illuminance, photomultiplier tubes and other methods.

Hardware

In our meeting with Nyoka, they primarily held a focus on durability, sustainability, and cost-benefit relationships regarding materials and hardware design. Being a company themselves, they brought up important factors about the casing of the hardware. They themselves had a biodegradable casing for their product, however, we both concluded that it wouldn't work for our application. We needed something that was durable, long-standing, and sustainable. This meeting with Nyoka allowed us to refine our goals for hardware design and is a large part of why we prioritized durability and sustainable material production when choosing materials for the Life Bulb. They particularly love our pitch idea of a "high-stakes Tamagotchi" for the interactivity and marketing aspects, strengthening our arguement for an educational tool to reduce the stigma surrounding GMOs and biotechnology.

LIGHTING EXPERT FEEDBACK

Understanding the lighting industry

Our team was acutely aware of the environmental impacts of renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric in BC, however we were unaware of another issue hidden beneath the surface. Embodied carbon is the carbon impact due to the manufacturing processes of products, such as LEDs, especially those that require the mining of rare-Earth metals.

Our meeting with Leela Shanker from the Greenlight Alliance opened up a whole new world of lighting modelling and design. She offered valuable insights into the future of sustainable lighting design, architectural considerations, and methods used by professional lighting designers in the industry. In terms of hardware, she challenged us to think about the impact of our light in various settings. Leela pushed us to consider the importance of aesthetics in lighting design, and how they impact the way we perceive spaces with different kinds of lighting. She gave us perspective into the context of different light sources such as bright intense lighting for her city of New York to provide safety. Based of this feedback, we refined our plan for the implementation of our lighting and decided the ambience lighting would be more suitable decorative outdoor lighting to provide a quiet, serine space away from the distractions of our busy society. For our consumer lamp model, we aimed to make it aesthetically pleasing and neutral, and a calm, glowing source of light that could be used for families to come together over. This is reflected in many of the softer edges and curves of our outer hardware design, along with environmentally-friendly materials compared to LEDs. An interesting revelation for our team was how complex the human circadian rhythm is, and the psychological effects of lighting design. We were urged not oversimplify this in Life Bulb, as circadian rhythms depend on the quantity of light, duration, and regular interval cycling.

BIOARTIST EXPERT FEEDBACK

Design

Considering the large emphasis on artistic expression through Life Bulb, and potential to educate the public in a creative manner, we reached out to Corinne Takara from Okada Design, a bioartist and STEAM educator. She emphasized we frame our technology through an artistic view, merging the beauty of bioluminescence with community awareness and education. In doing so, we are inspiring others to become passionate about the endless opportunities of synthetic biology and bioengineering whilst engaging with various groups in our region! Corinne stated that novel genetically-modified bacteria that can glow in the dark is inherently cool and eye-catching to the general public! After telling her about our collaboration with Les Louis, the Indigenous artist, she was thrilled that we were telling our story through traditional stories and amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities. She urged us to consider the cradle-to-grave life cycle, from production to waste that needs to be detailed. Lastly, Corrine inspired our team to develop a milkman system for Life Bulb in which the product is entirely taken care of through a renewal service.

INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY INTEGRATION

Overview

As part of our proposed implementation, we found it vitally important to put a spotlight on the Sylix Okanagan peoples of Kelowna, amplifying their voices in synthetic biology research through traditional artforms, as a means to proper community integration consulting with those who were here first. Indigenous peoples are commonly known to be the world’s greatest conservationists, conserving over 30% of the entire Earth’s land, but when it comes to receiving credit, they are the least likely to get any. They allow wildlife to be so abundant because they restrict access to sacred areas, designate wildlife sanctuaries and have an off season for hunting. At UBCO iGEM, we chose to highlight this symbiotic way of living with nature, and it is what inspired our team to create Life Bulb! To ensure that we took all the appropriate steps to such a sensible collaboration, we consulted with some important Indigenous peoples on our campus and in our community. We must also note that our university was built on the unceded territory of the Sylix Okanagan peoples, making it possible for us to learn and even complete this project!

Sncewips Heritage Museum

To begin this venture, we reached out to the Snecewips Heritage Museum in hopes that they could provide us with connections to Indigenous artists to help us design our Life Bulb, and Coralee Miller was kind enough to respond!

Coralee Miller (Sylix Artist, Museum Docent)

Coralee is not only an artist herself but also the Museum Docent at Sncewips. After presenting our pitch, she was in favour of our project, expressing overall approval, stating that she took issue to how light pollution not only affects our cities but also wildlife. In addition, she emphasized the Indigneous appreciation for sustainability and commended the carbon-negative, cyclical nature of Life Bulb as means to combat the climate crisis. She was the first Indigenous person we spoke with and her support truly aided our efforts in continuing this outreach. Notable feedback integrated included considering adequate commission for an artist, and she assisted in sharing an advertisement for Life Bulb on social media to help recruit someone. Several days later, we connected with a renowned local artist via email, which led us to meeting Les Louis!

Les Louis (Sylix Artist)

Les Louis reached out to us almost right away after posting the advertisment and seemed very invested in the project! After conversing via email we were able to meet over video call and explained the entirety of our endeavors at UBCO iGEM. We exchanged some mock-ups designs our team had designed with ideas he had already come up with, in a bi-directional conversation. We learned more about Les' primary medium, wood log carvings which he refers to as story poles, each one telling a traditional Indigenous story, passed down orally for generations. He explained the intensive process and time commitment required to create such elaborate sculptures. We proposed as future project that our team could integrate bioluminscent cyanobacteria within a hollowed out log carving, contained within our photobioreactor to allow the glow to shine through! Lastly, we let him get to work on a make-shift blueprint for a potential design of our Life Bulb, in which we made several adjustments in the design process.

Les recounts the story of the Birth of Sunlight as told by the Sylix Okanagan people. "The stumps represent the moon and stars, and the other the sun and plants. The storyboard is a story about how the animal people wanted to explore the upper world as they had heard from Bald Eagle that it had everything in abundance they could want. All the animals thought of a plan, everyone shot arrows up to make a ladder, all failed except Chickadee, who had a powerful bow and arrows, s/he shot arrow after arrow up into the sky until the arrows made a ladder, having shot arrow into arrow... the image is representing Chickadee making the arrow ladder up into the sky, thus the clouds representing the upper world, Coyote is standing there unimpressed as he felt he should have been the one to achieve that, they are both standing on the earth lines, There are mountain images, lakes, and a river, all just representing life."
~ Les Louis