Team:Waterloo/Practices
Policy & Practices
Commercialization
This page explores why we chose this field to go into as well as other applications of the technology that was being developed in the lab over the summer. The report found on the page has delved into the crop market and algae market for potential use of the CRISPieR Seed that would be our product for commercialization. You can find more information on the Commercialization page.
Human Practices
This page explores the various ways through which the Waterloo iGem team has investigated the social, ethical, commercial and legal implications of the CRISPR-Cas9 system. The goal has been to research deployment of our seed construct by exploring patenting regulations, analyzing a detailed approval process outlined by Health Canada and by assessing the safety concerns of genetically modified foods from an environmental standpoint. You can find more information on this topic on our Human Practices page.
Opinions
The members of the team took a moment of self-reflection to discuss their personal opinions on the ethics involved with genetic engineering of foods. You can read their anecdotes on the Opinion page.
Survey: Attitudes toward gene editing and GMOs
Our team has worked on administering surveys on the subjects of both gene editing techniques and GMOs. These surveys look to provide us with more insight into the perspectives held by the Waterloo and Waterloo University community, on variables such as food preferences, genetically edited crops, knowledge of CRISPR-Cas9 technologies etc. More information on the data analysis can be found on our Survey page.
Education: Outreach to university, high school and elementary school students
You can read detailed descriptions of our outreach activities on the Outreach page.
An iGEM Critique
On the 10-year anniversary of University of Waterloo's participation in iGEM, we decided to reflect on the state of iGEM as an educational and scientific endeavour. We feel that iGEM should either focus on its educational mandate and increase accessibility to the competition or recognize that foundational changes are needed if iGEM aims to have significant scientific impact. You can read the full statement from our 2015 project as An iGEM Critique.
Safety
A summary of the work Waterloo iGEM did to address safety concerns for our 2015 project can be found on the Safety page.