Revision as of 06:55, 13 September 2015

Human Practices

Introduction

This year, our human practices project focused on public perception. Although the technical aspects of synthetic biology are important, spanning controversies on sociotechnical implications, biosecurity & biosafety concerns, ethics and fundamental questions about what applications of synthetic biology would advance societal goals and be considered sustainable should not be ignored. There are three impressions on synthetic biology, which bring us much concerns. People think synthetic biology is complex, risky and uncertain. We adopt a problem-solving approach in dealing with complexity i.e. debating; and an issue-based approach in dealing with risk and uncertainty.

iGEM Biosensors

In the past few years, plentiful participants in iGEM competition constructed biosensors by genetic engineering. These biosensors were targeted at a huge range of analytes with the use of various biocatalysts.

Figure 1. Statistics on iGEM projects working on biosensor, 2012-14

Exploratory Research

The primary focus of HKUST-Rice 2015 iGEM Team is to develop an KPN microbial biosensor to detect available KPN concentrations in soil, thus monitoring soil quality. It is believed that the application can be extended far beyond agricultural purposes, such as in water quality surveillance or sewage management. The team has no plan to reverse the preliminary design of the KPN microbial biosensor; this notwithstanding, the human practices team explores further including opinions from stakeholders who require soil or water management.

Figure 2. The paradigm of the interviewees’ perceptions on the in-field application of KPN microbial sensor

The paradigm above illustrates interviewees’ perceptions on the in-field use of KPN microbial biosensors in their field (Figure 2).

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Bioethical Debate

The HKUST-Rice iGEM team collaborated with the Rice University Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering (IBB) Girls’ BioScience STEM initiative program, a weeklong summer camp held each year for economically disadvantaged girls at César Chávez High School in Houston, Texas. These students were presented following the question for the debate: “Is it ethical to treat micro-organisms as a machine for the betterment of agriculture?”