Team:HokkaidoU Japan/Collaborations
Collaborations
Exchange Meeting with LZU-China
On July 16, 2015, we had exchange meeting with iGEM Team from Lanzhou University, LZU-China, at Hokkaido University. We each had a presentation on what project we were going to work on through the summer.
After that, we held a "nomikai", Japanese casual style party.
Synthetic Biology Regulation and Rights by Tec-Monterrey
Introduction
It has been concerned about wonder if the GMO emitted into the environment effects the Biodiversity from its’ born. To solve this problem, in 2000, at Montreal, Cartagena protocol was adopted. Cartagena protocol was adopted for that,
”In accordance with the precautionary approach contained in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the objective of this Protocol is to contribute to ensuring an adequate level of protection in the field of the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health, and specifically focusing on transboundary movements.” and Japan entered into it in 2003.
This regulation about gene recombination is so important to us who treat GMO and we have to consider the content of it with the increase of GMO crop yield.
So we, Hokkaido University team, participated in online forum held by Graph gene team in Mexico.
Purpose of this forum
This online forum was held by Graph gene team in Mexico and for shaping policy for our discipline of biotechnology/synthetic biology. This online forum imitates the real discussion from parties and observers to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD, part of United Nations). Next conference and meeting of the Parties of the Cartagena Protocol will be taken place in Mexico, so they held this online forum like their government. Hokkaido University team participated in this forum and posted our opinions on every set topic.
Our opinions
We provided the following opinions to each Topic.
- Topic1. Operational Definiton of Synthetic Biology
- Topic2. Benefits of an open source approach; who benefits?
→One team member said about Definition that Synthetic Biology is the academic field whose object is synthesis of materials which is more useful than natural products for human beings by using some genes derived from different organisms. Another member said about Account for Synthetic Biology that because it becomes easy to investigate by standardizing various factors, you’ll get more chances and time to create new ideas. That is the benefit of Synthetic Biology.
In addition, another one proposed interesting analogy about difference between molecular biology and synthetic biology. That is, when you think about the recipe of delicious apple pie, there are two ways. One is going to the cake shop which is famous for delicious apple pie and guessing the recipe of that shop. The other is making apple pie by yourself, changing each step of the recipe and selecting the best one.
These two ways are applicable to investigation ways of biology. The former, reductive approach is applicable to molecular biology. Just guessing the recipe of apple pie is easy, however it may be bothersome to try to analysis the complex organisms at the molecular level.
And the latter, architectonic approach is applicable to synthetic biology. Because of making by yourself, the complete apple pie has infinite possibilities. In addition, if the recipe is standardized and shared by everyone, that delicious apple pie is available in the world. This philosophy is just Synthetic Biology.
→Someone said that all people who experiment with the use of plasmid vectors reap benefits. It's because by open source, the operations are simplified and become smoother. In addition, if world-wide standardization comes true, exchange of genetic parts‘ll become easier.
And other said another opinion that common people or companies who have never studied biology so much reap benefits. It’s because, by open source, they feel something familiar to genetic modification technology and use this technology easier, common people will get much more chances to come up the ideas and possibilities to append new decisions to their projects or businesses by using genetic modification.
Another one point the basal matter, "anyway, now SynBio is not enough level to be suitable for the business. To overcome that matter, I think automatization of experiments is absolutely imperative. No matter how simplify operations of experiments by open source, if people who actually experiment don’t understand means or mechanisms of the operations, they can’t understand the whole context or may fail many times. If automatization of operations of experiments comes true, I think SynBio is put to practical use in a real sence.”
Conclusion
We had meaningful discussions about each topic and helped to enhance the contents of Human Practice of Graph gene team.
In addition, we had a meaningful opportunity to think of the regulations of GMO.
iGEM Academy by UCSF
