Team:Calgary/Project/HumanPractices

From 2012.igem.org

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<h2>Overview:</h2>
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<h2>Overview</h2>
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<p>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 acidsNaphthenic 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.</p>
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<p>Have you heard about the environmental debate surrounding oil sands? In Alberta, this is a heated debate involving many groups and many perspectivesTailings ponds in particular frequent our media on a regular basis, often attracting much negative publicity within Alberta and also worldwide for their effect on surrounding ecosystems.  This is a controversial topic, where environmental groups and other activists who want to see change are pitted against industry leaders and political figures who value the economic importance of the oil sands.</p>
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<p>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. 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. </p>
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<p>Our project has a lofty goal: aiming to convert some of the toxins present in these tailings ponds into useable hydrocarbons. Obviously, this would be a desirable outcome for many interested parties.  Before undertaking this however, we need to make sure of a few things. We need to know that we are tackling a useful problem and that synthetic biology is in fact a tangible and realistic strategy to use.  We also needed to ensure that each component of our system was developed with the concerns, priorities, and opinions of oil sands professionals, political leaders, policy makers and environmental activists in mind. Finally, in order to really make a difference, we needed to do this in a safe way and needed to find a way to relay what we’re doing to a broader audience.</p>
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<a class="hublink" href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Calgary/Project/HumanPractices/Collaboration">
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<p>Welcome to the human practices component of our project where we address all these issues.</p>
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<h2>Click below to learn more!</h2>
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<a class="hublink" href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Calgary/Project/HumanPractices/Collaborations">
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<h2>Collaboration</h2>   
<h2>Collaboration</h2>   
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<p>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, click here!</p>
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<p> In order to assess if FRED and OSCAR have a real application in the oil and gas industry, we became involved in a synthetic biology dialogue with the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative (OSLI).  Here we discovered that <b>biosensors and tailings ponds remediation</b> were two potential platform technologies which the oil sands could use, suggesting our project has relevance in the oil sands.</p>
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<h2>Interviews With Experts</h2>
<h2>Interviews With Experts</h2>
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<p>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. 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. To read more about this, click here!</p>
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<p>In order to determine the relevance of producing a device capable of detecting and breaking down toxins in the tailings ponds, our group talked to some experts in related fields to try to get a sense for the relevance of a synthetic biology approach in the field, and how to design our system in the best and safest way possible. This allowed us to make </html>'''informed design'''<html> choices for our system!</p>
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<h2>Physical/Engineered Design Considerations</h2>
<h2>Physical/Engineered Design Considerations</h2>
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<p>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, click here!</p>
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<p>Based on findings from our conversations with experts, we wanted to design a contained and safe biosensor and bioreactor. We took care in designing enclosed systems with structural safety mechanisms in place. In addition, we worked around these restrictions to maintain a </html>'''structural design'''<html> with expense and productivity in mind.</p>
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<h2>Genetic Killswitch</h2>
<h2>Genetic Killswitch</h2>
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<p>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 by clicking this box.</p>
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<p>While the physical design considerations served as indispensable first steps to ensuring the containment of our systems, we also felt it necessary to implement genetic safety mechanisms. 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. Keeping both our environment and industry concerns in hand, we developed a </html>'''novel ribo-killswitch'''<html> system for containing our organism using exo/endonucleases.  </p>
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<h2>Safety</h2>
<h2>Safety</h2>
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<p>We take great care in making sure our project is safe for not only the environment, but also to all of the team members working on FRED and OSCAR. There are a number of considerations that we have taken from the sections above in order to ensure that FRED and OSCAR comply with safety regulations. Every member is trained in WHMIS and Biosafety I.</p>
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<p>We take great care in making sure our project is safe for not only the environment, but also to all of the team members working on FRED and OSCAR. There are a number of </html>'''safety considerations'''<html> that we have taken from the sections above in order to ensure that the construction of FRED and OSCAR was done in the safest way possible. </p>
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<h2>Outreach</h2>   
<h2>Outreach</h2>   
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<p>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, click here!</p>
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<p>Speaking to many of our industry experts, we learned that many of them knew very little about synthetic biology. We designed a </html>'''diverse outreach program'''<html> to interface with our community.  We targeted a variety of audiences in fun and creative ways. </p>
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Latest revision as of 03:14, 4 October 2012

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Human Practices

Overview

Have you heard about the environmental debate surrounding oil sands? In Alberta, this is a heated debate involving many groups and many perspectives. Tailings ponds in particular frequent our media on a regular basis, often attracting much negative publicity within Alberta and also worldwide for their effect on surrounding ecosystems. This is a controversial topic, where environmental groups and other activists who want to see change are pitted against industry leaders and political figures who value the economic importance of the oil sands.

Our project has a lofty goal: aiming to convert some of the toxins present in these tailings ponds into useable hydrocarbons. Obviously, this would be a desirable outcome for many interested parties. Before undertaking this however, we need to make sure of a few things. We need to know that we are tackling a useful problem and that synthetic biology is in fact a tangible and realistic strategy to use. We also needed to ensure that each component of our system was developed with the concerns, priorities, and opinions of oil sands professionals, political leaders, policy makers and environmental activists in mind. Finally, in order to really make a difference, we needed to do this in a safe way and needed to find a way to relay what we’re doing to a broader audience.

Welcome to the human practices component of our project where we address all these issues.

Click below to learn more!

Collaboration

In order to assess if FRED and OSCAR have a real application in the oil and gas industry, we became involved in a synthetic biology dialogue with the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative (OSLI). Here we discovered that biosensors and tailings ponds remediation were two potential platform technologies which the oil sands could use, suggesting our project has relevance in the oil sands.

Interviews With Experts

In order to determine the relevance of producing a device capable of detecting and breaking down toxins in the tailings ponds, our group talked to some experts in related fields to try to get a sense for the relevance of a synthetic biology approach in the field, and how to design our system in the best and safest way possible. This allowed us to make informed design choices for our system!

Physical/Engineered Design Considerations

Based on findings from our conversations with experts, we wanted to design a contained and safe biosensor and bioreactor. We took care in designing enclosed systems with structural safety mechanisms in place. In addition, we worked around these restrictions to maintain a structural design with expense and productivity in mind.

Genetic Killswitch

While the physical design considerations served as indispensable first steps to ensuring the containment of our systems, we also felt it necessary to implement genetic safety mechanisms. 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. Keeping both our environment and industry concerns in hand, we developed a novel ribo-killswitch system for containing our organism using exo/endonucleases.

Safety

We take great care in making sure our project is safe for not only the environment, but also to all of the team members working on FRED and OSCAR. There are a number of safety considerations that we have taken from the sections above in order to ensure that the construction of FRED and OSCAR was done in the safest way possible.

Outreach

Speaking to many of our industry experts, we learned that many of them knew very little about synthetic biology. We designed a diverse outreach program to interface with our community. We targeted a variety of audiences in fun and creative ways.