EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & OUR FOCUS

Korea may be famous for internet startups and K-Pops, but not for synthetic biology. Synthetic biology has a huge potential for improving the welfare of humanity, but being such a young discipline, at the same time has many issues yet to be resolved, including ethical, legal concerns and safety issues. In US or EU, thus, it is not uncommon to see close cooperation between the government and private enterprises to create an ideal research environment and efficient legal and regulatory framework.

No such environment exists in Korea, at least up to the level of efficiency found in US or EU. We have concluded that the policy makers and important players (such as colleges and research institutes) must be better informed of the new field so as to provide an environment that is favorable for the advancement of synthetic biology while safe enough to prevent hazardous events. We have also identified that it is necessary to promote fundamental concepts of synthetic biology to younger generations, including high school students and younger.

Keeping these social environment of Korea in mind, Elan Vital Korea has established 5 goals for our human practice activities:

1. - first, enhancing public awareness of the synthetic biology;
2. - second, promoting the importance of the field to policy makers, research institutes and journalists;
3. - third, promoting the public awareness of the importance of the early detection of contagious pathogens;
4. - fourth, putting safety first for our projects;
5. - and finally, close cooperation and co-work with other iGEMers in Korea.

First, we continuously and strenuously strived to enhance the public awareness of the synthetic biology, especially among younger generations. We have participated in Korea Youth Expo and operated a booth (from May 22 to May 24), and worked hard to communicate with participants in 2015 Science Festival (from July 27 to August 2). We offered basic education sessions on DNA and synthetic biology, and conducted surveys to better understand the level of general awareness of the synthetic biology and iGEM. Based on the information and data we gathered from them, we have developed the long-term education plan for primary and secondary school students. We have reached the National Science Teachers’ Association of Korea, with more than 2,400 science teachers as its members, and established a communication and cooperation network. We have provided some materials for use for education including blogs, Youtube videos, lecture videos, booklets, brochures and simple DNA extraction kits, etc.

Second, we have learned that policy makers and education and research bodies in Korea are not sufficiently informed of the recent developments of the synthetic biology, which resulted in lack of proper safety guidelines and articulation of legal, ethical and environmental implication-related discussions and awareness. In an effort to change the condition, we have drafted the report of our findings and suggestions, and sent our concerns and recommendations to politicians (including members of the National Assembly of Korea) in charge of science and technology-related policymaking. In the process of researching the current policy environments and developing recommendations, we have contacted universities, research institutions and small- and medium-size enterprises in order to better understand their concerns. We have also contacted journalists, who function as major contact point to the general public. We have distributed summaries of the synthetic biology and iGEM. In the process, we have persuaded some of them to be our sponsors.

Third, we have developed the public awareness strategy for our project, “Early Detection of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Using Quorum Sensing”. Incidentally, Korea has been hit hard by MERS virus as late as June this year, which greatly heightened the public awareness – and fear – of the contagious pathogens, as well as the need to learn more of the cause and cure for those dreadful diseases. We began our public awareness campaign by researching and studying the current methods of detecting and tackling the antibiotic-resistant bacteria from Korean CDC, hospital guidelines and related research papers. We have discovered that, compared to the strict and detailed action plan in place by the US CDC, the Korean CDC has not – yet – established networks of hospitals and nursing homes that need to be closely monitored and promptly intervened as need arises. Based on this finding, we have drafted letters and papers and sent them to Korean CDC and safety committees of hospitals. We plan to continue our efforts on this area.

Fourth, we have put the strongest emphasis on the safe implementation of our project. Our project belongs to Risk Group 1, but we have observed the lab safety rules and guidelines very tightly, and promoted the importance of observing the lab safety based on deeper understanding of the biosafety guidelines. We have developed the Youtube video explaining the biosafety levels, and encouraged people in lab environment to watch it. Finally, in an effort to promote the spirit of cooperation, sharing and mutual contribution of iGEM, we have reached out to other teams joining the iGEM Jamboree, and hosted regional meet-up. Even before and after the regional meet-up, we held discussions and mentorship with Korea University team on lab works and iGEM experiences. We also met with HAFS team and provided assistance on parts submission and using BioBricks and other materials included in the Kit. We have shared with them our failure and misunderstanding we had experienced last year which, we hope, would be entertaining if not informative.