The Night of Art and Science was held in Groningen for the sixth time in the past six years. The edition of this year was organised by the Groninger forum. The aim of this night is to give people the chance to amaze themselves by the unique combination of art and science at different special locations at the citycenter of Groningen. Our location for the night was the Minverva Acedemie building, by day the art students have classes over here but tonight it was our stage. Together with prof.dr. Gert-Jan Euverink we talked about synthetic biology. He is an expert on biotechnology and watertechnology. And also a very captivating speaker, he really impresses the crowd with his talk. It was a really fun night with lots of interesting questions from the audience. Our first official outreach activity is a fact!
Template:Team:Groningen/CONTENT/EVENTS/Events
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Night of Art and Science
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Lab tour high school students
Today Lianne Wieske visited our lab with 10 VWO students from the Hondsrugcollege Groningen. Last year Lianne was an iGEM member herself and today she was giving a tour at the Linneausborg with a group of third year VWO students. Obviously Lianne is really enthusiastic about iGEM and she gave us some time to tell the students about iGEM and our project.
So we gave the group a little tour around the lab and we explained our ideas. They seemed to be really interested and at the end of the day they all wished us luck for the Giant Jamboree in Boston. We hope that it will help us.
Lianne thank you for stopping by with the enthusiastic students!
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Biology class for high school students
Today Marieke and Bente went to the Gomarus college in Groningen. We got the opportunity to tell the class something about synthetic biology, our project and iGEM. After a short introduction about who we are and what we came to do, Marieke told the class everything they needed to know about synthetic biology. After that i told something about iGEM and our project. They seemed really enthusiastic especially about our project. They already knew a lot about alternative energy sources which proved to us that alternative energy is a big topic in the Netherlands. At the end of the lesson they wished us luck with our project. Thank you Gomarus College for the time they gave us and the genuine attention of the kids!
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Ethics class for high school students
On the 11th of June we (Harm en Marieke) visited Gomarus College in Groningen to tell something about sustainable energy and some ethics about our project. We started with an introduction about sustainable energy and why the Netherlands is so keen about this topic. After that we talked about our project and our goals and how we incorporated synthetic biology in blue energy. Further we discussed the ethics behind our project. Is it okay to put GMOs in a power plant? And their opinion on GMOs overall. The opinion of the teacher was to be careful with all GMOs, hence they could also create environmental disasters (according to him). We explained that used GMOs for industrial purposes are thoroughly checked before usage and the chances that they will cause harm are very little. Overall the lesson was a success, and ended with an invitation to see our lab!
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Lecture, lab tour and card game for high school students
A group of 6 VWO students from the Celeanum gymnasium Zwolle had a day programme in and around our building with Science Linx. Luckily there was some time left to spend with us. So we could talk about synthetic biology, iGEM and our project. Maybe we have created some future iGEM members!
Because there were so many students we divided them into two groups. The first group started with a little lecture about synthetic biology and our project. The students were very interested in synthetic biology and our project during the lecture. We also told something about the previous project from iGEM Groningen to show that synthetic biology can be used in different industries. We followed the lecture with a tour through the lab. The student were very impressed with our lab. We showed them where we did our cloning, biofilm growth and the measurement of the our biofilms. Although they could not perform a little experiment they were very enthusiastic about the lab and our project.
Proceeding with a lab tour so they could see the machines and other equipment that is necessary for cloning work and working on our project in general including the test set up for the biofilm.
The second group started with our card game. They are very lucky people because they were the first people that could play the card game. After a long process of developing and testing that we did ourself the final moment was there and we could show it to the public. After a short introduction about synthetic biology and ourself we explained the card game. Most of them were really interested although the game is a little difficult. After a while most people started to get it and they became fanatic!
Then we switched the groups and we played the game again with the other group while the first group was in the lab now.
A really interesting day the kids had really cool questions and gave us great feedback on the card game so thanks a lot for the great day! Also thanks to Science Linx for this opportunity!
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Presentation at the GBB symposium
2 September was the annual symposium from the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB). During this symposium young ambitious PhD students and professors can present their latest work. iGEM Groningen was kindly invited by the GBB, to give a presentation about their project Blue Bio Energy. The presentation was given by our team member Wiebrand de Boer. Wiebrand presented in a clear way, what resulted in an interested audience. We received many questions suggestion about our project. Not only about the pro’s and cons about Blue Bio Energy, but also on how to improve this project. After the presentation there was time to talk with the audience in person and to go further into detail. This led to interesting discussions and conversations.
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Presentation for Chemistry students
Today we went to our neighbours in the Chemistry building where Hanneke gave a talk to her fellow students about iGEM and our project. The study association of Chemistry and Chemical engineering invited us to give a talk for their members, so we did!
We noticed that iGEM wasn’t commonly known so first we talked about iGEM in general later on we talked about our project and the students were really interested. After the lecture we talked some more about all the aspects of iGEM, which parts Hanneke and Bente are responsible for in the project and about what we liked most about iGEM. They seemed to agree with us that one of the nicest parts is that you’re able to choose your own project!
We brought our card game, unfortunately we had no time to play it but the design was really appreciated.
At the we even got a gift! To keep up the working spirit in the office the board of the study association gave us candy and to open official envelopes we got a letter opener. Thanks to the board of the Chemistry association for inviting us and the nice gifts.
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Lab tour high school students
Just before the wikifreeze the last group of highschool students visited us. Four classes of the Gomarus College Groningen were stopping by this morning, they got a lecture about our project and iGEM in general. At this talk we told the basics of molecular biology, this subject wasn’t covered in class yet. So we really had to start with the basics today, which was really exciting. With the talk we gave and a tour through our lab we hope that they can relate more to the subject. And that it would be easier to remember!
They had some good questions about the carriers and our Bacillus subtilis. The carrier would be to weak to withstand the waterflow and how could bacteria do such things. After the explanation they were really enthusiastic about synthetic biology. Lets hope that they will spread the message.
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Presentation and discussion with stakeholders
All the iGEM teams from the Netherlands were invited by the Rathenau Institute and the RIVM, the ministry of Health and Environment, to talk about a congress about synthetic biology. At the first meeting we were allowed to give input and discuss what the best implementation of the congress would be. The RIVM and Rathenau Institute has used this feedback to organize the final event where every iGEM team from the Netherland gave a pitch about their project and the ethical side of their project. Before the final presentation there was one practice session at the Rathenau Institute. The seventh of September in The Hague the final pitch was given to an audience composed of policymakers, scientists and people from companies. The discussion after the presentations was very interesting, there were some critics but the scepticism about using bacteria as a membrane to generate electricity in the sea was low. The people were very charmed about the innovate ideas and the possibilities of synthetic biology. The biggest problem that came up was that people are scared of genetic modification. The first thing that pop into their mind are Frankenstein scenarios but we have written better future scenarios about GMOs and renewable energy. The audience reacted really positive on the scenarios and amount of thought put on ethical principles.
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Meeting about regulations application GMOs
The Netherlands Commission on Genetic Modification (COGEM) is an independent scientific advisory committee composed of scientists. The main functions of COGEM are to give statutory advice to the Dutch Minister of Environment on the risks to human health and the environment from experiments under contained conditions (laboratories, greenhouse, production facilities) with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and the release and marketing of GMOs, and to inform the Dutch government of ethical and societal issues linked to genetic modification.
On the 19th of August we visited COGEM in Bilthoven to discuss the ethical and legal implications of our project. Frank Van der Wilk was our host.
Frank noted that application of our project near the Waddenzee is impossible since the Waddenverdrag (Convention of the Wadden Sea) does not allow any genetically modified organisms in the protected nature reserve that is the Waddenzee. If this was not the case, there are three level levels on which genetically modified organisms can be allowed in the Netherlands.
Contained use. This covers activities involving the use of GMOs in laboratories, production facilities, greenhouses or animal houses.
Deliberate release. Any intentional introduction of a GMO into the environment for which no specific containment measures are used to limit the contact of the GMO with the environment. These are mainly field experiments with GMOs, like field experiments with genetically modified plants or clinical gene therapy experiments.
Placing on the market. Making GMOs available to third parties, whether in return for payment or free of charge. Placing on the market of GMOs is regulated in a centralised European procedure.
Since Blue Bio Energy would fit the third category, its use would have to be allowed at the European level. This would require extensive analysis of risks. If a genetically modified organism can be proven to be harmless, its escape into nature would probably be deemed acceptable. For any organism to fit this description it should certainly not be pathogenic. Sometimes the organism to which modifications are applied is already present in the environment. This is considered a strong argument in favor of allowing the modified organism, if the modifications can be shown to be harmless.
If it can be proven that modifications of an organism do not lead to a “gain of function”, chances of it being allowed on the market are further increased. In any case, it has to be proven by reasoning or by experiment that the organism is harmless to the environment in which it is released. Frank notes that our organism might not fit this description. For example, the antimicrobial properties we wish to give our biofilm might harm other microorganisms. The increased biofilm formation might also cause the bacteria to aggregate in (for example) mussels, which are an important part of the Waddenzee ecosystem (not to mention the local economy).
COGEM does not just consider strict pathogenicity of organisms, which is usually meant to apply only to people, plants and animals. Instead, they prefer to look at the total environmental impact an organism has.
Frank knows of no regulations governing the spreading of genetically modified organisms to international waters.
Finally, biological containment is considered. This would mean the engineering of some kind of dependence on the factory environment or the carrier surface, such that if the bacteria leaves the plant it will not survive. Such a construction would have to be non-reversible (it should not be deactivated by random mutations) and its efficiency has to be no less than 100% --- a small number of escaped bacteria quickly grow to a large colony.
One final consideration is the origin of the DNA that is used in the modified organisms. It is considered a big bonus if the DNA is taken from an organism found in the environment in which the modified bacteria will be released; this decreases the risks involved in horizontal transfer of DNA. In fact, if your host organism is also found in the environment, it is likely that a version of it with the extra DNA already exists somewhere in the environment.
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Presentation for the Groningen Reseachers' Night
At the exact same day as our final presentation we are going to do something special. In Groningen there will be the Researchers' Night which is part of the European Researchers Night. It is organised by FabLab Groningen, Science LinX, Groninger forum and the Infoversum and we are invited to give a talk about our project and iGEM. This wasn’t possible if we weren’t living in the 20 th century because we are going to give a live talk from Boston!
Luckily prof. dr. Gert-Jan Euverink will help us, he will be actually present at this night. So when the internet connection fails he will be able to tell some more about our project and answer the questions from the audience. Also the visitors of the Researchers Night have the ability to play our card game!
We are looking forward to it and see you in Boston!
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