Team:CSWProteens/humanpractices

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Revision as of 02:39, 18 June 2014

H U M A N P R A C T I C E S

Although it has it roots in the long established discipline of molecular biology, the field of synthetic biology is still in its infancy. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of the public has no awareness of this emerging field. An informal pool of the student body at our own school in the Western suburbs of Boston (ground zero for synthetic biology) confirmed this notion. Consequently, the goal of our Human Practices effort was to enlighten the student body of our secondary school about synthetic biology and to promote interest in synthetic biology and iGEM to younger generations of students. To better prepare us for the effort, described below, we surveyed the literature and developed a briefing document for distribution among the iGEM team at CSW. The major points made in the briefing document are summarized in bullet points herein:

Providing individuals with a fundamental knowledge of synthetic biology allows each person to form fact-based opinions, hopefully forestalling the development of misconceptions
The level of support for synthetic biology research will receive depends on public opinion.
Government regulations and public policy are driven by the beliefs and viewpoints of the public. If the public are not educated on the benefits and risks of synthetic biology they cannot make informed decisions regarding its support.
Research in this field has enormous potential for the advancement of technology, including medicine, pharmaceuticals, food and agriculture, the environment, and alternative energy.
The potential benefits of the technology must not be overhyped for this risks both creating excessive public anxiety and unrealistic hopes.
It is perfected reasonable and expected for the public to have concern about unforeseen, unintended consequences that might occur from synthetic biology
Emphasize that a variety of government and private organizations study and monitor the potential risks of synthetic biology

A major proponent of synthetic biology is iGEM - the International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition - which is an international collaboration to advance synthetic biology. For the human practices component of our project, we shared our enthusiasm for synthetic biology with our school community. There is an annual festival of light and art at our school called Illuminarium, to celebrate the springtime. A the event, students present their various artworks, such as film, photography or sculptures. We thought that we could show E. coli that had been transformed with pPRL (a purple pigment-producing plasmid) and pGRN (a green pigment-producing. We are grateful to BioBuilder for the kit that allowed us to do the transformations. We explained the process of transformations and the goals of synthetic biology. We also informed the community of our project through posters and conversation. Many students had never heard of iGEM or synthetic biology, and their enthusiasm after speaking with us was apparent.

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-        <center>For the human practices section of our project, we shared our enthusiasm for synthetic biology with our community. There is an annual festival of light and art, called Illuminarium, to celebrate the springtime. We educated students at Illuminarium by presenting a transformation using the E.Chromi kit. We included the  pGRN (a green pigment-producing plasmid) and pPRL (a purple pigment-producing plasmid) plasmids to transform the E.Coli and presented two plates with the two transformations. We explained the process of transformations and the goals of synthetic biology. We also informed the community of our project through posters and conversation. Many students had never heard of iGEM or synthetic biology, and their enthusiasm after speaking with us was apparent. <p><p>
+<p>	<p>Although it has it roots in the long established discipline of molecular biology, the field of synthetic biology is still in its infancy. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of the public has no awareness of this emerging field.  An informal pool of the student body at our own school in the Western suburbs of Boston (ground zero for synthetic biology) confirmed this notion.  Consequently, the goal of our Human Practices effort was to enlighten the student body of our secondary school about synthetic biology and to promote interest in synthetic biology and iGEM to younger generations of students.  To better prepare us for the effort, described below, we surveyed the literature and developed a briefing document for distribution among the iGEM team at CSW.
-<b>Future:</b><p>
-Originally, we had planned to do labs with middle schoolers in the area since middle school is typically the time when people learn about base pairs and DNA. We thought that showing them what one can do with science and biology would be a helpful way to contribute to the public and plant seeds in young minds. Since synthetic biology is a new technology and will be integral knowledge in the future, children should have more exposure to it. However, the schools that we contacted were participating in and practicing for the MCAS tests, and we were unable to adjust their schedules to have us in their classrooms. In the next year, we hope to share our ideas and passions with the greater community and help expose more people to synthetic biology.
+The major points made in the briefing document are summarized in bullet points herein:
-</center>
+<ul>
-      </td>
+<li>Providing individuals with a fundamental knowledge of synthetic biology allows each person to form fact-based opinions, hopefully forestalling the development of misconceptions</li>
+<li>The level of support for synthetic biology research will receive depends on public opinion.</li>
+<li>Government regulations and public policy are driven by the beliefs and viewpoints of the public. If the public are not educated on the benefits and risks of synthetic biology they cannot make informed decisions regarding its support.</li>
+<li>Research in this field has enormous potential for the advancement of technology, including medicine, pharmaceuticals, food and agriculture, the environment, and alternative energy.</li>
+<li>The potential benefits of the technology must not be overhyped for this risks both creating excessive public anxiety and unrealistic hopes.</li>
+<li>It is perfected reasonable and expected for the public to have concern about unforeseen, unintended consequences that might occur from synthetic biology</li>
+<li>Emphasize that a variety of government and private organizations study and monitor the potential risks of synthetic biology</li>
+</ul>
+     A major proponent of synthetic biology is iGEM - the International Genetically Engineered Machines   Competition - which is an international collaboration to advance synthetic biology. For the human practices component of our project, we shared our enthusiasm for synthetic biology with our school community. There is an annual festival of light and art at our school called Illuminarium, to celebrate the springtime. A the event, students present their various artworks, such as film, photography or sculptures. We thought that we could show E. coli that had been transformed with pPRL (a purple pigment-producing plasmid) and pGRN (a green pigment-producing.  We are grateful to BioBuilder for the kit that allowed us to do the transformations.  We explained the process of transformations and the goals of synthetic biology. We also informed the community of our project through posters and conversation. Many students had never heard of iGEM or synthetic biology, and their enthusiasm after speaking with us was apparent.
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