Human Practices

HP: Overview

Introduction

Last year team UAlberta worked to develop APIS, our Antifungal Porphyrin-based intervention system, for treating the issue of Nosema ceranae. After the 2018 Jamboree, we continued to deepen our relationship with beekeepers as they continued to reach out and speak with us. By consulting with the Alberta Beekeeping Commission (ABC), the organization which represents all commercial beekeepers in Alberta, and speaking with beekeepers (hobbyist and commercial) from across Canada we learned that while treatment was an issue so was detection. As a result, we knew it was too soon to step away from the issue of N. ceranae, because if we did then we wouldn't be serving our stakeholders: the beekeepers. We developed the Beetector with beekeepers in mind every step of the way, and as a result not only consulted them but worked with them to develop our project. Our Integrated Human Practices details our work with beekeepers from project proposal to prototype testing.

Team UAlberta is also passionate about community-based engagement, so we developed and executed our public education project which focused on educating the public about our project and synbio to learn about their concerns and address them. While the majority of reactions to our project were very positive, there was a common concern about GMOs, particularly about GMO regulations in Canada. Rather than dismiss or try and explain away these concerns, we decided to address them fully and conducted a policy review of GMO regulations in Canada. This policy review examines Canada's GMO regulations and provides suggestions for improvement. Finally, we wanted to improve the STEM field as a whole by making it more inclusive, so we hosted our Girls in STEM night which aimed at breaking down the barriers women and gender minorities face when pursuing education and employment in STEM. All our community-based engagement can be found on our Public Engagement page, as it details who we spoke to, the mediums we used to connect with the public, our policy review, and our Girls in STEM night.

The issue we are tackling and why it matters

We selected the issue of N. ceranae, after consulting with beekeepers and learning that it is a serious issue that puts the Alberta beekeeping industry in jeopardy, as N. ceranae can kill honey bees directly but also weakens them to other stressors. And, because there is no on-site detection method, N. ceranae is a silent killer. As such, we worked on creating a treatment for this parasitic fungal infection last year, and this year we decided to continue our work from last year, and create a detection system. This is important as Alberta’s bees have economic and environmental importance. Alberta is the largest producer of honey in Canada, contributing to 45% of Canadian honey production in 2016 [1], and is worth more than $82 million dollars [2]. Furthermore, the beekeeping industry has social significance as it supports jobs, families, and communities, in addition to ecological significance as Alberta’s bees act as important pollinators. Therefore, in addition to honey bees’ environmental impact, they also contribute to industries that depend on pollinators, such as canola, soybeans, blueberries, apples, cranberries, and carrots, which have over $10 billion in sales annually. This makes our projects’ lab work directly tied to the apicultural community that we are serving. It was important for our team to make sure that there is a direct relationship between the community and the scientific aspect of our project. Furthermore, it was crucial to consider the community, that is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and the world, and the impact we would have.

Summary

The various Human Practices projects we have undertaken directly reflect the desire, commitment, and determination to both help the apicultural community, improve the STEM community, and serve the public. This year, our main goal with Integrated Human Practices was simple, to speak to experts to see how we could create a detection system for N. ceranae that would best serve the beekeeping community. Our goal with public engagement was to not only educate the public but learn from them, and help address their concerns. While making our community (the STEM community) better for everyone!

References