Safety

The Central iGEM team works incredibly hard to ensure that all team members are working in a safe environment; working with non-pathogenic E. coli.
Team members are to wear personal protective equipment - lab coats, gloves, safety goggles, close-toed shoes, and pants - when present within the lab environment. Long hair is to be tied back and our hands are to be washed before and after entering the lab. Food and drinks are strictly prohibited in our lab zone. Due to our lab being located in the back of a biology and chemistry classroom, housekeeping was a primary concern, and the lab was constantly well maintained.

A fire extinguisher, first aid kit, and eyewash station are located within close proximity to the lab bench. All students participating in Central iGEM have WHMIS training and are tested yearly. All members of the team respected the lab and the potential dangers that were present. With awareness of the safety, and proper attention towards protocols, all procedures were performed smoothly. All work performed in the lab, was under the constant supervision of CBE staff.

Ethics

Antiangiogenesis is a conceptually sound form of treatment. Ingestion, the method of delivery, has low risks associated with it because it is one of the least invasive treatment options available. It ensures that the bacteria will safely and simply pass through the digestive system, without risk of any remaining in the body. The possible host bacteria include lactobacillus, bifidobacterium, and bifidobacterium breve UCC2003.

Lactobacillus naturally exists in many bodily systems (ie. digestive, urinary, and genital), and bifidobacterium grows in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of humans. Therefore, these bacteria will not be attacked by the body’s immune system due to the commonality of these bacteria in the soma. Bifidobacterium breve UCC2003 has been tested (Ishii et al..., 2014) on mice and and has shown that, when ingested, it is able to translocate from the GI tract, to the tumour cells. It has also shown that it does not cause sepsis, as it is can only travel to the immunosuppressed region of the body- the tumour. The host mice remained healthy throughout this experiment, entailing the immune tolerance towards this bacterium, with total elimination from the body in 5 or less weeks.

Although E. Coli could be potentially harmful when introduced to the human digestive system, lactobacillus and bifidobacterium are possible bacteria to be used in the future for Central iGEM’s project. These bacteria have been proven in clinical trials (Ishii et al…, 2014) to be safe for ingestion.

Outreach

The use of synthetic biology is not firmly established nor practiced in the medical field, so people tend to have negative views of it simply because it is something that remains unknown. The Central iGEM team participated in several outreach opportunities, where they explained the concept of synthetic biology to various members of the public. These experiences have been extremely beneficial to each member of the group, providing a real life connection to a generally conceptual project.

Cancer Support Group

The team spent time knitting scarves and brought them to a cancer support group in Calgary. Our team was deeply affected by the experience of speaking to these people who were experiencing the negative effects of chemotherapy. Many of them strongly indicated that they would choose to be taken by cancer than to undergo chemotherapy treatment again. This discussion led to several questions among Central iGEM, with the main one being: Is the outcome of this form of treatment worth the side effects? The women in the support group also shared personal stories about their battle with breast cancer, which evidently led to a very heart-felt experience for the team.

Colorectal Cancer Run

On Father’s Day, the team helped out at the Push for Your Tush run for colorectal cancer. Central iGEM volunteered at the run by manning water stations along the 10km route. The iGEM team had conversations with several cancer survivors that were present. A common opinion held by many survivors present at the run was that chemotherapy, as well as other popular cancer treatments, were not worth the severe side effects.

TELUS Spark

A few of the team members did a presentation on synthetic biology for children at the Calgary’s TELUS Spark Science Centre .They explained the project to the public and received stunning feedback from visitors of all ages. Results from surveys taken at this event show that the majority would be willing to use a bacterial form of treatment instead of chemotherapy, even when taking into account the the risks of mutation. The majority also believe that this form of treatment is ethical for human use.

Meeting with Dr. Schaffer

Dr. Schaffer, a gastrointestinal specialist, met with the team and discussed the project in order to find alternate approaches to this form of treatment. He informed the team that it is possible to safely release the project bacteria directly into the colon, and that a non-toxic promoter would be preferred over pLac.The benefits to keeping the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract is that there would be no need for a kill switch, due to the fact that the body would rid itself of this bacteria on its own. The majority of the bacteria would remain within the body for less than twenty four hours, with only a small portion remaining for a maximum of three days. It was an amazing opportunity for Central iGEM, as it gave them one-on-one experience with an expert in work similar to their project.