"How could we test the efficacy of our products?"

Integrated Policy and Practices

There are significant ethical considerations with the production of genetically engineered food supplements. We were particularly interested in investigating which of our two possible approaches for increasing butyrate would make a more ethical product and also how we would be able to show efficacy of either in humans.

To find out about how health benefits are usually tested, we consulted experts in the Schools of Nutrition at the University of East Anglia’s Medical School who have expertise in designing human intervention studies to determine the health benefits of foods and dietary supplements. We then designed a theoretical feeding trial that would test the efficacy of our products.

You can learn more by clicking on the image on the right.

"What do people know about modified starches? "

Education and Public Outreach

Lots of people think carbs are bad and make you fat. We are interested in whether people were aware of the wide use of modified starches so we took a display of starches to our city’s landmark Science Communication Day, “Science in Norwich”.

To demonstrate some of the properties and uses of starch such as caking agent, binding agent and crosslinker we make some fun products from starches. We made these from gluten free starches and ingredients from our kitchen cupboard so that they were safe and available to everyone.

You can learn more by clicking on the image on the right.

"Communicating the Anxieties and Awesomeness of Bioengineering - A Workshop for Scientists and Poets”

Being in Norwich we are lucky enough to live in a city which doesn’t just host a world-leading scientific research park, but is a UNESCO City of Literature. We worked with the Science and Writing Trust (SAW), to hold a workshop for established poets at the the amazing Dragon Hall, a beautiful medieval building and home to the Norwich Writers Centre.

At the workshop we talked about our project, iGEM and bioengineering with established and published poets. They (and us!) conducted writing exercises guided by the published poet, Esther Morgan in which we expressed our emotions, concerns and awe of science. This workshop resulted in a collaborative collection of poems by writers and scientists.

You can learn more by clicking on the image on the right.

Practices 4

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You can learn more by clicking on the image on the right.