Main article
We would like to begin by thanking all of the experts who took the time to meet us and enlighten us with their perspectives on the difficult thematic of bioethics and synthetic biology with regard to communication and responsibility. Although they are not all quoted in the following article, talking with each and every one of them was crucial in helping us explore the practical and ethical issues we were confronted with. In alphabetical order:
- Gaia BarazzettiEthicist, researcher at University of Lausanne, specialist in bioethics
- Lazare BenaroyoEthicist, researcher in ethics linked with genomics at University of Lausanne
- Aurélie CoulonJournalist at Le Temps, section science
- Denis DubouleScientist, researcher at EPFL, specialist in embryology
- Delphine DucoulombierScientific mediator at l'Eprouvette, the public laboratory of University of Lausanne
- Xavier GravendTheologist, catholic chaplain at EPFL
- François LefortScientist, researcher in agronomical microbiology at hepia HES-SO, member of the Parliament of the State of Geneva
- Jean-Christophe MérozLegislation division at Swissmedic, Federal agency for therapeutic products
- Oliver PeterScientist, head of the high-throughput screening group at Actelion Pharmaceuticals
- Didier TronoScientist, researcher at EPFL, specialist in virology
- Christian VezPastor, protestant chaplain at EPFL
Interaction and Communication in Scientific Research
By Cyril Pulver and the 2015 EPFL iGEM team i
The stakes are high when it comes to science communication - an intricate process in which scientists expose their work and the media relay this technical information for the general public to perceive. This is especially true in Switzerland, where direct democracy and referendums allow the population to vote on very specific questions, scientific topics included. Research in synthetic biology could have come to an end had the 1998 federal popular initiative “for the protection of life and the environment against gene manipulations (initiative for genetic protection)” been accepted. Indeed, production, acquisition and handing-over of any genetically modified animal would have been prohibited [1].
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Highschool students' visit
Start of the day
Since iGEM is encouraging young students to get into the lab and engage in innovative ideas using Synthetic Biology, our aim for this day was to get this mindset across to high school students. In order to do so, we contacted three different schools in our region. The Gymnase d’Yverdon, Collège de Candolle and Gymnase du Bugnon keenly sent us students interested in biology and eager to find out about synthetic biology.
In fact, we found out that, even though the students had advanced biology courses, the material taught does not include synthetic biology. Throughout the day, we did our best to show these students a different side of the field of biology and convince them that we can hack life!
Presentation
We welcomed the students with a presentation that consisted of three parts. The first one was about iGEM, the modalities and principles of the competition, the number of participating teams, the contribution of each team, etc. The second part was about Synthetic Biology. After introducing them to common lab techniques and procedures, we talked about our project, Bio LOGIC.
After the presentation, we seperated them into three groups for three different activities.
Ethics debate
The future use of novel technologies is a matter that every scientist with integrity has to think about. To make the students reflect about actions and consequences we prepared an ethics debate during which we gave the students a role with a specific opinion. The goal was to make them think of opinions that diverge from their own and to make the activity more fun with a little drama. At the end of the debate, we took some time to discuss the activity withouth the roles. We were pleased to see that what we had opened their eyes on different aspects concerning the responsibilities linked to research in the field of synthetic biology.
Lab immersion
Even the most renowned scientist started by pipetting water, this is why we prepared a few activities in the lab to let the students see how it is to work in the world of synthetic biology. After giving them safety guidelines and safety equipment we made them plate chromophore cells to introduce them to cell manipulation techniques (you can see the 3 best results below), run a gel colony PCR to teach them about plasmids, PCR and gel size separation. The last proposed activity was a workshop using a website to design logic circuits.
Mini iGEM
As we wanted to give them an overview of how the competition works, we made them imagine iGEM projects. In this activity, small groups of students worked together to create iGEM projects and then explained them to the other groups. They were asked to think about feasibility, usefulness, safety and ethics. During the brainstorming, each group was coached by one of our team members. We introduced the concepts of kill switch, biobricks, motility, transcription pathways, transporters and bio-informatics to them. The ideas that they shared with us were surprisingly smart and imaginative for students who had received little technical and background information on the matter. Some teams even brought up and discussed projects that had already been realised in previous iGEM competitions.
Mini iGEM projects
| Name |
Description |
| Famousse |
Famousse ("Mousse" means foam in french) is a gun that sprays an isolating material to fill walls. The fluid consists of bacterias that produce foam once in contact with oxygen and of yeasts that make CO2 holes in the foam. After a while, the foam solidifies and bacterias and yeasts die by apoptosis: the isolating material is finished. |
| RIDG pill |
The RIDG pill (Régulateur intelligent Des Graisses or Intelligent Fat Regulator, IFR pill) is made out of bacteria that detect, once in the intestine, if the person suffers of obesity or anorexia thanks to hormone receptors. In case of obesity, the bacteria would respond to that input by secreting proteins that block lipid transporters in epithelial cells. In case of anorexia, the bacteria would secrete hormones that would make epithelial cells create more lipid transporters. |
| PestiBac |
Bacteria substituting pesticides. These bacteria live on the leaves of the plants and secrete repelling substances. These bacteria have sensor in order to die if not in contact with the target plant or if they came in contact with animal's saliva. In addition they are modified to have a shorter lifetime, in order to limit population growth. |
| Luciolight |
Luciolight is a Street Lamp made out of bacteria that copy biological circuit of fireflies. |
| Bacteriolavage |
Bacteriolavage is a bacterial washing system to clean clothes with less water waste. Bacteria synthesize enzymes that degrade lipids and sugars in smaller particles that are more water-soluble, so that less water is consumed. Students used the concept of magnetic bacteria developed by the 2014 iGEM Berlin team to efficiently remove bacterias from clothes once the wash was finished. |
| Killpilus |
Killpilus is a permanent hair removal cream. Bacteria contained in the preparation kill hair follicle stem cells. The team searched the internet for receptors specifically expressed in those stem cells to avoid off targets. For safety reasons, bacteria would commit suicide by apoptosis after one hour. |
| ConchitaColi |
ConchitaColi cells digest dust and produce scented molecules. After the washing is finished, bacterias move towards a luminous bin where they die by apoptosis. |
| Healing+ |
"Healing+" is a system to repair wounds. Mammalian cells circulating in the blood detect intrusion of pathogens and respond by mobilisation of collagen and platelets in wounds. |
| easyFer |
"easyFer" ("easyIron") is a system that uses an iron detecting biosensor to simplify the iron detection in the blood. |
