Project

• Overview
  • Data Page
  • Accomplishments
  • Post-Jamboree
• Human Practices
  • Initiative
  • Interviews
  • Design
  • Killswitch
  • Regulation
  • Kill Genes
  • Safety
• FRED
  • Toxin Sensing
  • Electroreporting
  • Modelling
  • Device Prototype
• OSCAR
  • Decarboxylation
  • Decatecholization
  • Flux Analysis
  • Bioreactor
  • Upgrading
  • Desulfurization
  • Denitrogenation
• Synergy
• References
• Attributions

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Welcome to the iGEM Calgary Human Practices Page! Have you heard about the environmental debate surrounding oilsands? Well, majority of the toxic byproducts are contained in what are known as tailings ponds in the environment. One of the major toxins in the tailings ponds is naphthenic acids, which is essentially a mixture of many carboxylic acids. Naphthenic acid poses a huge risk factor to the environment, and current methods for its detection is expensive, time-consuming, and labor-intensive. Thus, We have constructed an efficient solution using genetically modified bacteria to better detect and detoxify naphthenic acid in tailings ponds.

The Calgary 2012 iGEM team saw safety, ethics, and human practices as one of the most important elements in clearly developing our project. When it comes to fighting current environmental issues with genetically engineered bacteria, safety is our top priority. We wanted to fix the problem that toxic oil sands byproducts imposes on our environment without escalating current issues with our bacteria. To this end, we have carefully designed a two-step security mechanism strictly prohibiting the genetically engineered bacteria from leaking into the environment. Our project FRED concentrated on effectively detecting these acids while the project OSCAR focused on removing the toxic components of these toxic acids and converting them into usable fuels.

Outreach

Before developing the synthetic biology systems, we aimed to ensure that each component is to be developed with the concerns, priorities, and opinions of oil sands professionals and political leaders in mind. Through various interviews with specialists, outreach activities, the development of physical and genetic safety elements, and the production of a synthetic biology video game, our group complimented the wetlab work with relevance to our community and end users. To read more about this please click here.

Interviews With Experts

In order to determine the relevance of producing a device capable of detecting and breaking down naphthenic acids (NAs) in the tailings ponds, our group conducted a series of interviews. Individuals within Alberta's oil and gas sector with various different backgrounds shared their knowledge and experience with us. The purpose of these interviews was to obtain a general impression of what kind of safety or ethical concerns these individuals had. This work allowed us to better define our project for its intended use. To read more about this please click here.

Design Considerations

Through the interviews conducted, our group concluded that in order for the remediation system serve in the oil and gas sector, safety and controls have to be incorporated into every part of our design. We divided these systems into two major components: Physical or Engineered Considerations, and Genetic Considerations.

Physical/Engineered Considerations

In order to develop bioreactor or biosensors, the physical device must contain components to ensure that the genetically modified organism (GMO) that we produce is self-contained and has limited exposure to the external environment. It was imperative to ensure that any accidental contamination of our organism into the environment did not occur and the risk of our synthetic elements becoming available to other organisms was minimalized. Additionally, in the case of both technologies, the largest risk was the accidental contamination of the tailing ponds with our modified organisms. While the gravity of the consequences is relatively unknown, we recognized it was possible that our synthetic organism may outcompete natural organisms in the environment. Therefore we designed a series of systems including a bleach solution for our biosensor, and a closed bioreactor system with UV treatment to ensure our organism would not escape. To read more about this please click here.

Genetic Considerations

While the physical design considerations served as indispensable first steps to ensuring the containment of our systems, we believe it is also necessary to add a second layer of defense to our systems. This took the form of a killswitch, which selectively destroys the genetically engineered bacteria in the rare case of their escape from our biosensor or bioreactor. We accomplished this task by designing a system under the unique conditions that our systems would be used in. Challenges which we faced included the cost of supplimenting a large bioreactor with somekind of auxotrophic system (i.e. if the cells would die without this component such as an amino acid or other essential metabolite, this would be very expensive) and also the very toxic sludge we were attempting to put into our reactor. We developed a novel inducible system for containing our organism. More information can be found here.