Team:UNAM-Genomics Mexico/Safety
From 2010.igem.org
Line 235: | Line 235: | ||
=====What does survey 2 evaluate?===== | =====What does survey 2 evaluate?===== | ||
- | It evaluates the final conception and opinion about SB and the talk It will help | + | It evaluates the final conception and opinion about SB and the talk It will help us know whether our talk was helpful in providing a working definition for SB to the audience. |
Survey 2 is based on four questions: | Survey 2 is based on four questions: | ||
* What did you understand by synthetic biology? | * What did you understand by synthetic biology? | ||
+ | This question is the first hit to know if Synthetic Conquest of Mexico mission has achieved the principal objective. We expect differential results compared whit the preliminary survey, trying to get our point to people of the concept of synthetic biology as bioingeneering. This question unlike comparable question in survey 1, if concept is far from the main idea it will be classified as other. | ||
+ | |||
* Select the option that best suits your vision about engineering living organisms. | * Select the option that best suits your vision about engineering living organisms. | ||
** Nowadays it is possible to engineer living organisms | ** Nowadays it is possible to engineer living organisms | ||
** Nowadays it is not possible to engineer living organisms | ** Nowadays it is not possible to engineer living organisms | ||
- | ** | + | ** Other |
- | * Do you think synthetic biology | + | For this question we expect to know if people got the reality of current synthetic biology whit available tools and techniques. |
+ | |||
+ | * Do you think synthetic biology will change our lives in the upcoming years? | ||
** Yes, in ___ years. | ** Yes, in ___ years. | ||
** No. | ** No. | ||
+ | Once proven if Synthetic Conquest of Mexico has put the first step in minds of students, we want to know if they feel tangible the reality of synthetic biology in their current of future life. The option to put years probably shows the impact or reasonability of our presentation. | ||
+ | |||
* Do you support the advancement of synthetic biology? Mention your opinion with positive and/or negative points. | * Do you support the advancement of synthetic biology? Mention your opinion with positive and/or negative points. | ||
+ | Going deeper in the minds of students, we try to investigate if personal, objective and maybe religious ideas, supports or impede the development of Synthetic Biology in Mexico and World. The purpose to put positive and/or negative points we now if students got the knowledge of potential and limitations about synthetic biology. | ||
+ | |||
* Write down any comments you have about the lecture or topic. | * Write down any comments you have about the lecture or topic. | ||
+ | Here we expect to know if they found interesting, boring, shocking, boring, etc… the lecture. This question covers the performance of lecturer and opinion about lecture. | ||
=====Assumptions in survey 2===== | =====Assumptions in survey 2===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * The reader will start from the first question downward. | ||
+ | * There is no influence from surrounding takers. | ||
+ | * The answers reflect a permanent point of view of the taker. (i.e. Takers are not influenced by mood or other external factors) | ||
+ | * The survey is unbiased since the taker doesn't have choices to select from. | ||
+ | * Most people heard lecture. | ||
<html> | <html> | ||
Line 276: | Line 291: | ||
As a result, the data obtained from the survey takers can be analyzed according to many variables and many internal controls are present while surveying twice, thus our study workflow can be generalized and data from different studies with the same structure can put together into studies of a larger public. | As a result, the data obtained from the survey takers can be analyzed according to many variables and many internal controls are present while surveying twice, thus our study workflow can be generalized and data from different studies with the same structure can put together into studies of a larger public. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ====Dynamic and explaining of Lecture:==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Work tools: | ||
+ | ** PowerPoint presentation. | ||
+ | ** Blackboard for specific explaining. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Places: | ||
+ | ** Classrooms | ||
+ | ** Forums | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Guideline of lecture: | ||
+ | ** Lecture begins with different concepts about life, the purpose of this is given the first hit to students changing or getting an abstraction about what is life. | ||
+ | ** Explaining molecular concept of genes and how this make functions. | ||
+ | ** At his moment we elevate imagination of student, creating expectations to them about many genes are many functions. | ||
+ | ** After moment 3, comes reality with parallel arguments between computers and cells, and how these bioparts can create a biomachine. | ||
+ | ** Then, ideas about how to change, measure, to understand and knowledge a biomachine are explained with simple concepts of Restriction Enzyme, Statistics and Mathematical Model. | ||
+ | ** What is iGEM competition, some shocking examples and own project. | ||
+ | ** Drawback issues, purpose and summary about synthetic biology were reminded. | ||
+ | ** Thanks. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
<html> | <html> |
Revision as of 22:27, 27 October 2010
![](https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/4/41/UNAM-Genomics_Mexico_Logo_light_minimal_banner.png)
Safety
Identifying Safety Issues
Probability
Could there be an unplanned event or series of events involving your project, resulting in either death, injury, occupational illness, damage to equipment or property, or damage to the environment? How likely is that going to happen?
There could always be some sinister series of unfortunate events that leads to disaster, however given the nature of our project, we believe that that little beyond minimal environmental exposure is the scope of catastrophe. Our BioBricks parts are mainly enzymes. These enzymes catalyze reactions that are already found in nature in a wide variety of environmental niches. As such, they are nothing new. Nature has found ways of balancing their actions, so even if they were to be exposed dramatically, the perturbation should be minimal and easily self-correcting.
Does your project require the exposure or release of the engineered organism to people or the environment (e.g. as medicine, for bioremediation)?
Our project does not require exposure or release to either people or environment. In fact, this project is meant to be tested under extreme biological, chemical and even thermal isolation. One of the points we want to prove is the fact that we can communicate information where there is no possible biological, chemical or even thermal bridge spanning our communicating entities. They will be isolated, both from each other as from the environment.
Hazard
Could your device, when working properly, represent a hazard to people or the environment?
We do not believe our device represents a hazard. If working properly, our devices will stress the host organism without generating any short-term benefit. As such, they are only an added metabolic process to the host. At most, our devices would generate a higher-than-average amount of reactive oxygen species, but not in a significant manner. Perhaps, should the reactions be extreme in number, the light emission could be a hazard to the naked eye...
Is your engineered organism infectious? Does it produce a toxic product? Does it interfere with human physiology or the environment?
Our engineered organism is not infectious, nor does it produce toxic products. The only dangerous product of our devices are reactive oxygen species, however their net production is not significant. Moreover, human physiology (as well as most other physiologies to our knowledge) is quite capable of dealing with reactive oxygen species so long they do not exceed a certain threshold.
What would happen if one or several bioparts change their function or stop working as intended (e.g. through mutation)? How would the whole device or system change its properties and what unintended effects would result thereof?
Mutation of our BioBrick parts would most likely result in loss of function. Thus, our organisms would either go blind, or stop glowing. Should the extraordinary happen and gain of function occur, we fathom our organisms would be over-taxed and they would die. Since our parts are only a net drag on the survivability of our organisms, it would require some extreme mutations to render them a selective advantage for the host. However, this risk exists for any exogenous protein in a host.
What unintended effects could you foresee after your engineered organism is released to the environment?
We can foresee the spread of the BioBrick parts through the environmental bacterial populations via horizontal gene transfer. However, since the bearing plasmid only holds a selective advantage under antibiotic conditions, we expect it to be quickly lost. Moreover, in the event our devices escape the original plasmid and hop into another structure, light communication holds no selective advantage in and of itself within current free-living populations of E. coli. Thus we feel confident our devices would over-tax their hosts and ensure death.
Try to think outside the box, what is the absolut worst case scenario for human health or the environment, that you could imagine?
The Absolute Worst Case Scenario? As if in a movie by Micheal Bay? Well...
We can image our E. colis forming a structure much like a neural network to process information as a colony instead of as a single cell. Under quite permissive conditions, they might gain a selective advantage by operating in a multi-cellular organization. If grown to 1.2 optical density in a 1 liter beaker, they may very well have more connections than a human brain. Given sufficient time, they might learn to think as a collective. Should they develop proteins that receive wavelengths of around 1mm, they might tune into Radio & Television. Thus, they might learn of and imitate the Borg Collective, posing a danger to Human supremacy of the Planet!!!
Seriously though, due to the chassis mutations required by our system, either the bacteria are producing non-stop tryptophan (which constitutes a tremendous metabolic stress), or they can not adjust osmolarity (which makes them utterly incompetent in the outside world). Morevoer, for them to sense in more than one color, both mutations need to be present, which makes the bacteria even less competent. One way or another, these cells need careful human attention to survive. Thus can the be easily controlled.
Documentation & Management of Safety Issues
Parts
Current
Work in progress.
Emergent
Work in progress.
Devices & Systems
Current
Work in progress.
Emergent
Work in progress.
Cell Chassis Enhancement
Current
Work in progress.
Emergent
Work in progress.
BioSafety Engineering
Event Tree Analysis
Coming Soon (hopefully).
Fault Tree Analysis
Coming Soon (hopefully).
Public Perception
Human Practices
These are the results for our Human Practices activities.
The raw data will be available here.
For more information about what we did, or why we did it, please select an option in the dropdown menu below.
Links
The iGEM Safety page is this one: safety page.Contents
|
iGEM
iGEM is the International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition, held each year at MIT and organized with support of the Parts Registry. See more here.Synthetic Biology
This is defined as attempting to manipulate living objects as if they were man-made machines, specifically in terms of genetic engineering. See more here.Genomics
We are students on the Genomic Sciences program at the Center for Genomic Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, campus Morelos. See more here.This site is best viewed with a Webkit based Browser (eg: Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari),
Trident based (Microsoft's Internet Explorer) or Presto based (Opera) are not currently supported. Sorry.