Survey

A survey was conducted during the annual technical festival of IIT Madras (Shaastra), where people were asked a few basic questions to ask their knowledge about diabetes. The results of the survey were compiled and we've come to the following conclusion:

With India having the highest number of diabetes patients in the world, we, the IIT Madras iGEM 2010 team conducted a survey to analyze the views of the people on Diabetes, Synthetic Biology and Artificial Sweeteners. People are aware of the grim situation in the country with respect to Diabetes. About 65% of the survey population thinks that Diabetes results in most number of deaths a year and 89% know for a fact that Diabetes is not contagious. Insulin (78%) and sugar (48%) are the top 2 words associated by this well informed survey population. The understanding of Insulin produced by the body to maintain the blood sugar levels (blood glucose levels) of the body is crucial. It is a common myth that eating more sugar will lead to diabetes.

Considering our survey population included students of the age group 18-22 it wasn’t astonishing when 89% of them chose synthetic biology to be designing and constructing new systems running on principles of biology as opposed to synthetically creating life. 41% of them also believed advances in Science and Technology will soon result in the discovery of anti cancer drug.

Though 36% of the survey population connected Escherichia coli with Intestine, only 11% of them knew that E.Coli is used as a model organism in laboratories and 25% made E.Coli, the pathogen which causes the malfunctioning of Insulin Gene. It was quite alarming to note that 44% of this young population had safety issues with Artificial Sweeteners.

Lastly, 41% of them liked sweet curd which gives a nice hope to our product.

2010 is the second year of five-year focus on 'Diabetes education and prevention", the theme selected by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization for World Diabetes Day 2009-2013. We aim at restoring their sweet tooth and We Unite for Diabetes.

Results

Date: 30th September 2010
Place: Technical Fest of IIT Madras
Sample Size: 111

1. Which of the following diseases, you think, results in most number of deaths a year?

AIDS 17 15%
Breast Cancer 20 18%
Diabetes 72 65%

2. Is Diabetes contagious (capable of spreading)?

Yes 12 11%
No 98 88%

3. Which of the following words do you associate with diabetes?

Sugar 53 48 %
Insulin 86 78%
Death 10 9%
Obesity 20 18%
Injections 18%16%

People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

4. How many Teaspoons of sugar do you consume a day?

less than 2 27 24%
2 to 5 51 46%
5 to 10 21 19%
10 to 20 4 4%
greater than 20 1 1%

5. Who or What is “Monellin”?

a. Protein that tastes sweet 72 62%
b. The original Mona Lisa 8 7%
c. A poisonous orchid 16 14%
d. Feather of Dodo, an extinct species 4 4%

6. What is Synthetic Biology?

a. Area of science which focuses on “Synthetically” creating Life 21 19%
b. Concerns design and construction of new biological functions or systems 81 73%

7. Pick the breakthrough you think will happen first

a. Discovery of an anti-cancer drug 45 41%
b. Eradication of AIDS 21 19%
c. Extinction of human race (A Biotech experiment gone wrong) 18 16%
d. Making Bacteria play “Rock-Paper-Scissors” 13 12%

8. Heard of Escherichia coli?

a. An artificial sweetener 12 11%
b. The organization that created the first cell 8 7%
c. A virus that causes the insulin gene to not function 28 25%
d. Something to do with the intestine 40 36%
e. A model organism (like guinea pigs and rats) 12 11%

9. What are the disadvantages of Artificial Sweeteners?

a. Doesn’t taste like sugar (too sweet or too bitter) 11 10%
b. Safety issues (cancer causing, toxic etc) 49 44%
c. Not economic 17 15%
d. Difficult to manufacture 4 4%
e. Difficult to digest 23 21%

10. How do you like your curd?

sweet 45 41%
sour 9 8%
salt/doiv 18 16%
plain 32 29%

Team:IIT Madras/Perception

From 2010.igem.org

Survey

Results