Team:IIT Kharagpur/Practices
BECAUSE SCIENCE IS FOR THE SOCIETY
POLICY AND PRACTICES
Meetups
True spirit of iGEM lies not in competition but in collaboration. With dawn of synthetic biology,
it became absolutely clear that future of biological sciences lies not in closed gate patenting but
in open source innovation. iGEM teams all over the world organize team meetups with other
teams where discussion, critique and feedback over the each team project is given by all. Such
discussions are extremely helpful as they provide a wide diversity of opinions and filter the
subtle nuisances before Giant Jamboree. Our team was invited for two iGEM meetups one
Indian iGEM team meetup by IISER Pune and other an Asian regional meetup organized by
NCTU, Taiwan. Both of the experiences have been very informative as well as enlightening.
Details of individual meetups are described below.
IISER Pune Meetup (July 16-17, 2015)
The IISER Pune iGEM team organized an Indian iGEM meetup during This meetup had three of the four Indian iGEM teams (for the year 2015) participate in it, namely IIT Delhi, IISER Pune and IIT Kharagpur. IIT Delhi had sent three representatives of their team, while two of our team members Harsheel and Rhushikesh represented our team there. During the first day (16th July), there was an informal discussion session among all the teams, followed by IISER Pune’s project presentation in the afternoon. While the second day (17th July) had the presentations of our team (in the morning) and IIT Delhi’s presentation in the afternoon. IISER Pune made a really comprehensive presentation, which left the entire audience in awe, and in a way left the other teams with no choice but to further improvise their presentations. All the IISER Pune team members participated and contributed to their extensive presentation, which had a significant amount of their project modelling data as well (computer simulation based work). They had also covered good ground with regard to their wet lab work, and had it divided into three sub-parts, each handling a particular aspect of the wet lab work. While IISER Pune wishes to compete in the Health and Medicine track of iGEM, IIT Delhi wishes to compete in the environment track. IIT Delhi also made a very descriptive presentation of their idea, which was appreciated by the audience. After each of the team presentations (which typically lasted about an hour), there were question-answer sessions held, where the clarity and idea of each of the teams’ projects were scrutinized. Very useful suggestions and points were raised for each of the teams post their presentations, and all the discussions (both formal and informal) were very productive and propitious for the teams, in general. We learnt a lot about iGEM through this meetup, got to meet a lot of people, and are confident that the advice and suggestions given during this meetup would definitely help us give this first attempt at iGEM our best shot.
NCTU Meetup (July 19-23, 2015)
This was the third time NCTU organized its own meetup, and this time, it kept it open for all the Asian iGEM teams. It was organized on a pretty grand scale with 30 teams (from countries like Taiwan, China, India, etc) participating in it. The two Indian teams participating in this meetup were IISER Pune and IIT Kharagpur. The option was given to teams to either go and attend the meetup in person, or to present their ideas via video conferencing (Skype). Accordingly, our team went ahead with the second option, and was allocated a video conference slot for the evening (Taiwan Time) of the third day of the NCTU Meetup (21st July). The main idea behind our team’s participation in this meetup was to get advice and suggestions from experienced iGEM teams with regard to our project wet lab, policy and practices (social outreach, meetups, collaborations, lab visits), modelling and so on. The format of the online conference was 20 minutes for the presentation and 20 minutes for the question and answer session. Harsheel, one of the senior members of our team gave the presentation of our project idea, and the questions that followed (which were pitched by the audience gathered at the seminar room in NCTU, Taiwan) were tackled by some of the senior members of the team, as a whole. Very valid questions were raised by the audience, and many useful suggestions were given with regard to how we could improvise our presentation for the Giant Jamboree, and tackle each of the factors (taken into account by the iGEM judges), so as to give our first time participation in iGEM the best we have. This meetup was indeed a great learning experience, and has geared us up for the grand finale at Boston!
Surveys
iGEM mandates organizing of surveys as public outreach practice for all participating teams and
for a good reason. Advancements in Biotechnology in recent years have created a buzz in
blogger communities, newspaper reports and science and technology television shows. A lot of
ideas have faced severe opposition on grounds of ethics, religion and simply uninformed
knowledge. Rise of GMOs in agriculture and medical care brought forward debate on the table
where many raised rejection of these products because of unfamiliar nature and impact of
convoluted ideas presented in scientific fiction. Since all iGEM teams are tinkering with the
biological entities to manufacture artificial life forms which can perhaps be in future transferred
as a routinely used technological platform like smartphones, computers and internet. It is
important that public’s opinion be sought, their contributions considered and their information
gap improved.
Inspired by a plethora of surveys conducted by previous iGEM teams we developed some ideas
of our own. Since our project is based upon development of a household level device capable of
detecting microbial food spoilage which itself functions upon a synthetic bacteria (an improved
strain of E.coli DH alpha). The improvement is attributed to introduction of a single plasmid
possessing a luxR-AHL quorum sensing detection system which upon presence of AHL (Acyl Homoserine Lactones)
beyond threshold level initiated the transcription of reporter gene and thus determining if food
product in question is spoilt or not.
We launched two surveys. One of them essentially focused on Food Spoilage , and the second survey was aimed at gathering data to help newbie iGEM teams get the necessary information to get ready for future participation in iGEM.
Food Spoilage Survey
Our first survey was in the form of a questionnaire to know how often people face the problem of food spoilage and what solution they take to deal with that. This data will help us to modify and optimize our product accordingly. We received an overwhelming number of responses for this survey (>450). Based on the information collected, we also performed the following series of statistical analyses to draw critical and relevant inferences from the point of view of a sustainable and efficient implementation of our project idea.
Reviews by the survey takers
"Great survey!would be very useful ,if installed in food stores like McDonald's and kfc etc. Good luck!" "It is a good concept" "Your initiative is good.it is very useful to all obviously." "It is a great initiative. Let's hope it solves the problem of food spoilage." "Good luck iGEM team for your upcoming short innovation" "Biostrip to detect food spoilage! seems to be a great and innovative idea." "Its very good idea. We should fund this. Keeping in mind it should be affordable to everyone." "Well 1st of all great work you guys are doing. Proud of you guys as an alum of Biotech, IIT Kgp."
Suggestions
"I wouldn't buy a detector, as I never had problems with spoiled food not being identifiable as spoiled." "As a food technologist I haven't heard about this. If food processors can put expiry date then what different can GMO do? why will consumers pay extra? Consumer acceptance can be a big problem in India." "Be specific in detecting fungal/bacterial spoilage. Because most of our food of acidic nature is damaged by fungal partners and food with high water activity by bacterial members. So, target a specific group that covers wide food products." "First of all would you pack the spoilage detector in the food packages before being purchased by consumers? Or would you have a spoilage detector for individual consumer's detection for example after opening of the food package? Would it be safe to use? How about disposal? Regarding the iGEM Groningen design in 2012: How would you make an applicable, useful and simple detector for food e.g. in the fridge? If you put your detector into the fridge at time 0, how fast would you know if the food is spoiled or not, regarding the design of your detector. E.g. bacteria based detector needs bacteria to grow and produce certain compound resulting in the detectable colour. Would the lower temperature have an effect on the time of compound production and therefore the spoilage detection? For the best results at the competition, rethink and discuss your application strategy with as many people as possible. Take the critique of the design and try to make it better. Be prepared to answer all of those questions and to defend your application design at the Jamboree (judges are very straightforward with the questions). Good luck with the project! Regards from Tjaša, Wageningen 2014 BananaGuard." "Well 1st of all great work u guys are doing. proud of u guys as an alum of Biotech, IIT Kgp. "If there was an easy, quick and trustworthy biological food spoilage detector how much will you spend to buy it?" I am confused Are u talking about the machine replaceable strips. Please mention. All the best and jeetkeana...." "I wouldn't pay a cent to buy something that will let me know if something is spoiled or not. In my experience (I cook), I have till date been able to detect if a food is gone bad or not pretty effectively. A strip or any other innovation on this arena, I think will not do any good as it is in fact, redundant. Nature has already done this for us. All you're doing is appealing to the eyes, which I believe would not really serve the purpose."
Guide the Beginners (Second Survey)
Participating in iGEM is always a challenge, especially if a team is doing it for the first time. There are a lot of logistical, financial and technical issues among many other grueling challenges that the teams face when they start out. Being beginners, we ourselves have faced many of these problems.
Hence, our second survey was targeted at the experienced iGEM teams across the world. By means of this survey, we planned to reach out to, and help those iGEM teams which are first-time participants and those students who plan to participate in the coming editions of iGEM. The data collected from this survey will help these teams get an idea of the challenges involved and the solutions adopted by experienced teams to tackle them and successfully conquer them. The ultimate objective of this survey is to encourage even more participation for iGEM in its future editions!
Based on the questions asked in the survey, some of the nice answers we received were as follows.
- From your experience, what makes iGEM awesome?
Brainstorming to come up with ideas using theoretical knowledge and converting it into a feasible product that serves to the community issues all without any prior experience gives a lot to learn. Furthermore reading about the ideas of other iGEM teams gives a whole new dimension to the thought process. - If you were a member of the organizing team of iGEM, what changes would you like to bring about in the competition structure and why?
The competition is quite expensive; cost needs to be reduced in order for more teams to be able to participate and to increase budget for science as opposed to travel. - Has your participation in iGEM brought about any changes in your perspective? If yes, how?
Yes! It helped me understand how Biotechnology can be applied to cater different needs and to explain certain phenomenon. Moreover I have started taking curriculum seriously and started liking the class. - In your opinion, how can synthetic biology be an effective tool in affecting our lives and our future?
Synthetic biology can be used for production optimization in industries (like making ammonia though microbes which otherwise is a very harsh and energy consuming process-Haber's process ). Making low cost and highly effective products. Microbes can be viewed as miniature machines which are programmed by nature. Its ready-made and all we need to do is just provide the fuel (conditions and nutrients) and it will take care of the rest. So, employing them will surely affect our lives. - What are the problems you faced during your first-time participation and how did you solve them (in brief)?
Finding a project was hard. In retrospect, I think we should have kept it a bit simpler than trying to find a project in literature. Thinking about a problem without thinking of possible limitations is something we probably should have done back when we started out with iGEM. - Does iGEM help in improving international collaboration?
Yes, through various teams collaborating with one another and making their ideas open to everyone, it is improving international collaboration. - Do you believe that in your country the awareness about synthetic biology has improved enough to consider it as a mainstream science?
No, I think that synthetic biology and the creation of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) is still very confusing and scary for the general public in the United States. - How do you raise funds to participate in iGEM? How difficult is it to get funds from the sponsors?
We raise funds mainly from the colleges at our university's discretionary funds; other funds come from life and biotechnology companies who support us with in kind supply donations or small monetary donations. It is relatively difficult for us to get sponsors, so each year we try to contact as many people as possible in order to increase our chances of finding willing sponsors.
Interviews:
Prof. Hari Niwas Mishra
On the 3rd of September, three of our team members interviewed an eminent faculty member of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. Hari Niwas Mishra of the Department of Agriculture and Food Engineering, who is an expert in the field of Health Foods & Nutraceuticals, Innovative Food Processing Technologies and Food Safety & Quality Control. This is how it went: Team: Sir you have been working in this field for about 21 years...can you tell us about the statistics of food spoilage in the country...like how much wood gets wasted every year due to spoilage? Professor Mishra: You see, a few days ago i was reading in the news reports that ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) conducted a recent study in association with CIPHET (Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology), which involved a survey to assess spoilage incurred in food storage, handling,etc. According to the report, 48% of food grains, and 15-18% of perishables get destroyed every year due to food spoilage. Team: Can you tell us about the various techniques that are currently available for detection of food spoilage? Professor Mishra: there are old traditional techniques which include various types of plating methods, and techniques to obtain microbial counts which have been in use since decades. Among the new methods, electronic sensor based techniques are more prevalent. Nowadays, biological kits, for detecting specific pathogenic microbes like salmonella are also available. HiMedia is one such company making biochemical test kits. Team: The acceptability of GMOs by the public is often seen as an issue when a genetically engineered product is released in the market. What are your views regarding the acceptability of our product, if commercialized? Professor Mishra: There has always been a big divide in the Indian society when it comes to acceptance of any genetically engineered product. Equal groups of people are willing to accept and equal groups are against it. Most are concerned regarding the safety of the product, whether it has any side effects or not, since that has never been established in a solid manner in the past. If somehow we can establish that our product is absolutely SAFE for consumer use, then we can surely think of a long term capture of the market. Team: How do you propose we can solve these issues regarding acceptability of our product, if released? Professor Mishra:: We first need to analyse what the consumers want from our product. As in most of the food products, it is the economic and nutritional benefits that they look for...and simultaneously the product must be safe to use continuously. These days, due to high level of adulteration in food products, consumers are always in an apprehending mode and try to avoid new products. But the change has to come at some point. For that, they have to be convinced aptly. Team: Do you think that our product can be easily incorporated into the food quality control industry, given the available practices in that field? what industries can we target? Professor Mishra: yeah, conceptwise, it appears OK. But still those people need to know the exact details of how it works, the pros and cons, disposal issues (if any), which are the substrates on which it works best and several other factors. The stability and userfriendliness of the product are of utmost importance while deciding its integration into the market. You can target the local companies manufacturing analytical instruments at first...they are the ones which can try and introduce your product at a small level and then increase your influence gradually. Eg. Alpha moss, Novozymes, Fox, etc.
Professor Ritwik Kumar Layek
Some of our team members had a discussion with Professor Ritwik Kumar Layek of the Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering Department of IIT Kharagpur. We concluded that there are some enzyme parameters and other enzyme reaction kinetics data which has to be searched from existing literature.
We got to know about some platforms from where we can build our concepts on system engineering and mathematical modelling. This discussion gave us a good review from the perspective of a professor of Electronics background, which was very beneficial. We convey our sincere thanks to him and really appreciate his help and efforts.
Workshops
Institute of Genetic Engineering (IGE):
The workshop at IGE was aimed at spreading the concept of synthetic biology and awareness about iGEM. The students were quite enthusiastic and were eagerly interacting during and after the workshop. We also got a chance to visit their labs and see their work. Most of the students were new to the concept of synthetic biology and hence, were curious to know about its aspects and scope as a research field. Our workshop was followed by a presentation by an M.Sc student of that college, on the topic of synthetic biology only. After the two presentations, we had a fruitful discussion with the students and the professors. They were appreciating our project and were giving valuable suggestions. We told them that we wish to see an iGEM team from their college within the next few years. They were quite welcoming regarding the participation in iGEM. After the workshop, we had a discussion with one of the professors regarding the problem of food spoilage and it’s solutions. We also visited his lab to see his work. He was quite overwhelmed to see our participation in iGEM. He insisted us to keep in contact with their students, so that they can also participate in iGEM within the next few years.
Balarampur High School
Some of our team members went to Balarampur High school to spread awareness regarding food spoilage and synthetic biology among high school students. The students were already aware with the concept of Genetics and were fast in catching up. Our team members explained them about food spoilage and it’s causes. They were taught about synthetic biology and it’s uses in addressing food spoilage. The guide book designed by our team came in very handy to teach them and it also served the purpose to clear their doubts on various related topics. The students were quite enthusiastic regarding the whole concept of gene manipulation. Our members were following quite an interesting and fun-loving way to teach the students. The students were also taught about some ways to prevent food spoilage at their homes. The class lasted for about 1 hour and our members were very successful in converting a boring lecture class into an interactive session for the students.
Media Articles
Guidebook
Our guidebook is an essential tool we created to provide our reader an informative and easy-to-understand content to help them surf through mind-boggling oddities and platitude existing regarding food spoilage. This guidebook is uniquely crafted and designed after huge brainstorming sessions to provide our readers well-curated content from internet, magazines, and journals regarding causes, effects, precautions and symptoms of food spoilage. All the important highlights are covered under different sections, charts and infographics prepared from raw data. This organization has been chosen to make it a modular reading material making each section unique, competent and most importantly useful for the readers. We believe that our efforts would help all our readers by giving them an easy and quick access to Food Safety Practices as a gentle reminder that help exists just a tap on screen away.
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