Team:SCUT China/Human Practices
Synthetic biology has produced countless achievements and products since its birth. But what we found is that even though biological technology is advancing very rapidly, we still don't have a very intuitive sense of how biotechnology has changed our lives. We considered and investigated this problem, put forward the optimization theory of socialization and marketization of synthetic biology project. The theory takes the nature of the project as the core, explores the social significance of the project in combination with the actual situation, defines the direction of social practice and investigate. "The bivariate respondent classification method" is proposed, which is according to the respondents’ understanding of professional knowledge and the degree of relevance to the product as the classification standard. It provides a guarantee for the comprehensiveness of the opinions obtained in the social survey of the project. At the same time, put forward the project propaganda and science popularization strategy of "spreading science by culture", which can provide some ideas to solve the problem of achievement popularization.
We communicated with our secondary PI Lin Zhanglin. Synthetic biology has enormous potential, he points out, but to unleash it requires socialization and marketization. This has inspired us even more to develop a versatile pragmatic socialization theory of synthetic biology in general -- so called VerPras Theory. ( Click Here: read more about the interview with Prof. Lin)
Cognize our project:
Our project, " VerProS: A versatile Promoter-Toehold Switches pool for optimizing adaptability of multi-gene system in E. coli " is a transcriptional regulation pool which is an irrational design achievement, applied in industrial. The transcriptional regulation pool can improve the production and avoid the problem of repeated construction. Its applicability is wide and it can greatly reduce the manpower cost. It is a project with a high application bias -- it has a high application value, but it needs a series of preliminary auxiliary research before it can be applied to other projects. As a regulatory tool, it is necessary to prove its effectiveness. Therefore, we selected the acid tolerance problem in the amino acid fermentation industry as the regulatory object to verify the tool based on the actual situation in the laboratory.
Analysis of applifund-dualityWhy we do this? -- Click to learn more about the VerPraS theroy
Define the path of our project:
The VerProS pool developed by the team can be used to optimize the flow problem in the prokaryotic fermentation production process, so as to improve the yield, resistance and other functions. The acid tolerant problem in amino acid fermentation industry was selected for regulation. In the amino acid fermentation industry, improving the acid tolerance of fermentation strains was conducive to improving the yield and reducing pollution emissions. The acid resistance problem selected by the team could significantly increase the cost and reduce pollution emissions after being solved. With the increasing pressure on environmental protection and the increasingly fierce competition among enterprises, the social demand to solve this problem cannot be ignored. At the same time, the amino acid fermentation industry is now worth more than $10 billion, and many people's lives are closely related to it. Every small optimization of the production process has the potential to generate huge economic and social value.
Analysis of product positioning and social needs:Why we do this? -- Click to learn more about the VerPraS theroy
Collect multi-opinions of our project:
The team have taken "relevance to the project" and "speed of understanding the project" as variables to divide all the respondents. With "advice", "recognition", "feedback" and "understanding" as the four main research objectives of the research.
Why we do this? -- Click here to learn more about the VerPraS theroy
1. Advice
The team interviewed Mr. Fang Haizhou, President of Yisheng biotechnology company. Yisheng biotechnology co., ltd. is a pioneer in the industrialization of genetic engineering technology in China, and its products have been used by more than 8 million people. Mr. Fang Haizhou has been researching biology for many years and has been concerned about the development of synthetic biology. He has a certain understanding of synthetic biology and iGEM. Mr. Fang Haizhou pointed out that the product and the research achievements are obviously different. If we want to apply the product to the actual situation, in addition to proving the effect of the system, you also need to combine the market demand to develop a product that can be applied quickly.Therefore, after further consideration, we chose to make the VerProS into freeze-dried powder to realize its rapid application in modern industry.
Read more about the interview
2. Feedback
The team interviewed COFCO NHRI senior engineer Wang Xiaoyan. COFCO NHRI is a leading supplier of diversified products and services in the agricultural and food fields in China, with an important position in the amino acid fermentation industry. Wang Xiaoyan engineer in the group for a long time as a research and development work, accumulated a wealth of field production experience. Miss Wang pointed out to us that in the production of amino acid fermentation, they really need strains with strong acid resistance. Although our results can prove the performance of the tool in acid resistance regulation, in actual production, acid resistance does not have a significant impact on the cost. If the increase of acid resistance leads to the reduction of production, it is not worth the loss. We should screen with the premise of guaranteeing the production. The opinions of Miss Wang made us realize that there is still a long way for us to successfully carry out our research results to the society. We will adjust the direction in the future and continue to screen the dominant strains.
Read more about the interview
3. Recognition
The team interviewed Dr. Wu Guangen from the school of medicine of Sun Yat-sen University. Dr. Wu Guangen's main research area is oncology medicine, and his conversation with us reveals the possible new directions of our tools in the future. Dr. Wu Guangen pointed out that there are also different proportions and permutations of tumor cell markers in tumor medicine, and from the perspective of philosophy, our system may play a considerable role in tumor marker screening. But at the moment our system can only be used in prokaryotes, and Dr. Wu has shown that excellent eukaryotic regulatory elements are essential if our system are to be used in a wider range of applications.
Read more about the interview
4. Understanding
In addition, our team conducted a survey on the general public's knowledge of synthetic biology and the recognition and recognition of the project. We understand that the public understanding of synthetic biology is still lacking and that there is still an urgent need to explore methods of scientific popularization and project publicity.
Read more about the questionnaire
Enhance awareness of our project:
With the concept of "Use culture and art to propagate science", the project team established Sarasvati design co., Ltd to explore the cultural design methods of science communication. Sarasvati design co., Ltd. is a company based on modern Internet and media technology, based on the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, focusing on science communication. "Cultural communication science" as the core concept of the company, according to the needs of customers, use artistic transformation to make customers’ research and products can be conveyed in a richer and more vivid way, so as to provide more professional, rigorous and artistic design services. Customers purchase services, we provide customers with a variety of planning, design services, so as to achieve profits, and take science into people's lives, promote human development. At present, Sarasvati has received more than 10 orders from synthetic biology field, sports science field and other fields, accumulated relevant design experience, and is actively exploring how to more effectively communicate the design method of science now.
Learn more about our entrepreneurshipWhy we do this? -- Click here to learn more about the VerPraS theroy
Direct tomorrow of our project:
Based on previous experiments and research experiences, our team formulated the following socialization directions:
1. Pay attention to yield and screen high-yielding strains on the basis of existing achievements;
2. Focus on rapid application, prepare the system into freeze-dried powder and other forms that are easy to pack, transport, store and apply;
3. Keep exploring for further application of the system in the field of eukaryotes;
4. Explore demonstrate methods and explore more easily understood project display methods.
We will not stop after this competition, but will combine all our past experience to further optimize and adjust the project, in the pursuit of creating products that can really bring change to people's lives. Whatever worth doing is worth doing well.
Why we do this? -- Click here to learn more about the VerPraS theroy