Team:ASIJ Tokyo/Public Engagement


Education & Engagement

Work beyond the lab

Education

Diabetes Awareness Video

As a widespread condition that affects almost half a billion people worldwide, and increasing among the Japanese population, diabetes presents a major area of study. Our team was therefore inspired to search for an effective method of glucose reduction in the bloodstream. Our project, targeting type 2 diabetes, is centered around creating an amylase inhibitor. This will lower the activity of amylase in our body that breaks down starch into glucose. Apart from our project, we believe it is extremely important to raise awareness both in our school community and in the general public about diabetes and its current implications. Through interviewing members of our community separated into five different levels, we hope we are able to achieve this objective. We hope people of all ages and backgrounds can leave this video knowing more about diabetes.

The ASIJ iGem team published this interview video to raise awareness for diabetes as part of Human Practices. Through interviewing students of ASIJ, faculty, and an alumni doctor, we gauged the true level of understanding and exposure the members of our community had with regard to diabetes. Special thanks to Flannery (G2), Isla (G3), Elise (G5), Hyewon (G8), Mr. Jacobsson, and Dr. Abe for making this HP project possible!

Back to School Night (September 23)

At ASIJ’s annual Back to School night, we gave a presentation on synthetic biology and our iGEM project to parents. This was another useful round of practicing presenting our project as well as communicating with the general public on the ethics behind genetic engineering. We also received feedback and have questions asked by an audience without biology background to make sure our presentation is clear and makes sense to a wide range of listeners.

Presentation on DNA Fingerprinting for ASIJ Summer Passport Program (June 25)

At ASIJ summer school, iGEM students helped to educate middle school students taking a forensic science course, specifically on utilizing fingerprints for crime investigation. After discussing about the function of DNA in our body, we talked about the use of gel electrophoresis and demonstrate how restriction enzymes and electricity are used in the experiment with simple graphics and videos. At the end, we let everyone in the group use the scientific procedure to discover their unique fingerprints.
Building off last year’s presentation at ASIJ summer school, we tried to engage the students by incorporating investigative questions which students had to answer or make an educated guess.

Presentation on Synthetic Biology Research to Japanese High School Students (October 5)

Dr. Yamamoto arranged for our ASIJ iGEM team to present in front of a panel of high school students from Super Science High School Program and professors at the Chiba Institute of Technology. We presented in Japanese in front of students who had a basic biology background, and also to professors who were skilled in the field. We were able to receive many good questions from the audience that challenged our thinking and allowed for us to expand our project.
At the event, we had a question about denaturation in the stomach. Based on suggestions from Dr. Yamamoto, we realized that if our improved 0.19 inhibitor has a stronger attraction with amylase, the complex becomes more stable, and thus, there is a high possibility that it is not denatured in the stomach. However, since the process of denaturation is hard to predict, he advised that we conduct experiments to see if the 0.19-amylase complex denatures at pH 2. However, due to time constraints, we were not able to conduct these experiments.

Math Modeling Course Details

Course Introduction

Learn how to mathematically model enzyme kinetics! In this course, students will learn to comprehensively understand the background of enzyme kinetics, the concept of equilibrium, the law of mass action, the derivation of enzyme kinetic equation, how to model enzyme kinetics through the Simbiology package in MATLAB, and how we used the skills taught throughout this course for our ASIJ iGEM 2019 mathematical modeling.
We hope that you enjoy this course and will find the skills useful for iGEM and beyond.

Course Outline

1.1: Introduction
1.2: Requirements and Prerequisites
2.1: Introduction to Enzymes
2.2: Competitive Inhibition, Noncompetitive Inhibition, and Uncompetitive Inhibition
2.3: Graphs of Product Formation - Non-Inhibition
2.4: Graphs of Product Formation - Competitive Inhibition
2.5: Graphs of Product Formation - Noncompetitive Inhibition
2.6: Graphs of Product Formation - Uncompetitive Inhibition
3.1: Chemical Equilibrium
3.2: Law of Mass Action
4.1: Background of Henri-Michaelis-Menten Kinetic Law
4.2: Components of the Rate of Product Formation Graph
4.3: Derivation of Henri-Michaelis-Menten Kinetic Law
4.4: Derivation of Competitive Inhibition Kinetic Law
4.5: Derivation of Uncompetitive Inhibition Kinetic Law

Online Course Videos Transcript

Public Engagement

Miso Factory Visit (June 28)

To build further on our idea to incorporate 0.19-producing yeasts in yeast-based food products, our team visited a Miso factory. Interviewing the miso factory owners, we were able to learn more about their perspective on genetic modification in the food industry. Based on their statements, we learned the importance of transparency when working with genetic modifications, particularly when these modifications can affect human health; when creating additives to food, it’s important to fully explain the process to promote public confidence in the safety of GMOs.

Interviewing Type 2 Diabetes Patient (September 7)

We interviewed Type 2 Diabetes patient U Thaw Kaung, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes over 10 years ago. We were able to gain insight on his change in his lifestyle after he acquired diabetes. Learning about Mr. Kaung’s frustrations and limitations from diabetes really helped us develop our project from the consumer’s point of view. In addition, we asked Mr. Kaung’s opinion on our idea of incorporating 0.19-producing yeast into miso, and integrating miso into our daily diet to Mr Kaung. Mr Kaung said that the idea had potential, but he addressed some possible limitations in countries that do not eat miso or other fermented products regularly. After receiving this criticism, we decided to take into consideration alternate yeast-based products that could perform the same function.
Check out out Q&A below!
I was told by my doctor when I was at the age of 60. Age 60 is the time when you retire from the job. I retired from my job as the Chief Librarian of the University Library at age 60 and had a medical checkup. They told me that I had Type 2 diabetes.

When I first was diagnosed with Diabetes, it was not very serious. The sugar level was just beyond the normal range. My grandmother also has Type 2 diabetes in her later years and my mother also has Type 2 diabetes. I was sort of expecting to have Type 2 diabetes later in my life.
Once I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, I had to be careful of my diet and I stopped taking sugar in my drinks, in my coffee or tea. Also, stopped eating gradually any sweet or things that were very sweet(snack, cake, biscuits).

Apart from that, I will eat meat and vegetables, but I have to cut down on rice. Rice has starch which has sugar.
When I was diagnosed with diabetes, my doctor prescribed a pill. It is called diamicron. It is a long-acting pill. You only take one pill in the morning, but also have to be careful with your diet as you don’t want your sugar level to be too much.
Later on, the diabetes got more serious as I aged. Despite the pill and the diet, I slowly progressed so I have to take a different type of pills(other pills). I also have to do blood tests and now, at present,I wear a monitor to keep track of blood-glucose level. It fits into my arm and I use my monitor to check my blood-sugar level at anytime of the day. The monitor tells me if my blood-sugar level is within the line in terms of the reading. In terms of the reading, between 5 and 7. Sometimes, it spikes when I go out and eat, the monitor tells me to try and keep it below 10.
Yes, sometimes the pills that you are taking gets out of control. I have other problems, as you see. I have a heart problem. I go to a cardiologist and she said that my heartbeat is irregular and are mis-beats.
Earlier this year, I lost control for nearly three weeks with some new medicine that Burmese doctors prescribed. I have to send emails to my Singapore doctor mentioning that I had a problem. He replied saying that we have to adjust your medicine. The doctor gave me a new schedule that was compatible with my other medicine.
When I get high sugar in my blood, I don’t have any symptoms. I only know when I test it. If the blood sugar level goes very low, below 4, maybe 2 or 3, you will feel kind of dizzy or lightheaded. That is the doctor tell you that it is more of a problem. It is worse if the sugar level go to 0 as you can lose consciousness. There will be long term consequences if your blood sugar level spikes. If the level goes up slowly, it is alright.
Fairly normal diet. I do not eat much now because I am no longer walking. In the morning, I eat one or two slices of bread or naan bread. My doctor said that this is good. I sometimes eat some Burmese food but not much. For lunch, I normally do not take much rice. I eat a special kind of rice. It is not rice but instead is unprocessed rice. Snack is a slice of cheese with biscuit. For dinner, I take the special rice.
About a year ago, the doctor in Yangon started me on insulin. In the morning, I take the pill and she said not enough for 24 hours. She gave me long-acting insulin, to take before I go to bed. I have to inject on my thigh, on my belly. I do it by myself. Not painful but I'd rather do without it. If I can replace that with diet, that would be more convenient.
Not surprised due to my relatives suffering from similar symptoms.
Mother and grandmother. I think is in my genes. I read somewhere that it can be transferred.
I think at first, if I start taking miso or any alternative medicine, I cannot entirely cut all the diabetes medicine. I have to do it by step or step. Miso is okay with me because I like miso because I sometimes drink miso soup. I don’t mind it. If you use miso, it’s just kind of a normal kind of food that I can take with my rice. If I can cut down my injection or pill, it would be very practical or useful for me. That would be very beneficial to me and would change my lifestyle. I would not able to bother with taking these pills regularly. I can just eat with my meal and it would be much more convenient.

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