Team:US AFRL CarrollHS/Human Practices
Human Practices
In order to solve the complex global issue of testing for carcinogenic hexavalent chromium, aspects including local community needs were considered through the consulting of experts in the field in order to ensure our system would have a positive effect.
Jim Martin
In order to consider the community our project would impact, our team met with Jim Martin, who is the lab manager at the Greene County water treatment lab. Jim was very knowledgeable in the testing of water runoff and how the EPA regulates the levels of chromium in runoff water. Martin spoke about the ongoing debate within the testing industry and regulators on how to test, what to test, and how much to test for. Currently his lab uses a spectrophotometer that changes color when hexavalent chromium is present. This type of testing gives an absolute number which is required for the EPA standard. He told us that in his time at Greene County water treatment lab that he has not had a problem with hexavalent chromium in water runoff. His lab has been monitoring a chrome plating facility water discharge and haven’t found hexavalent chromium. The facility pretreats the discharge so hexavalent chromium is not put into the environment. Jim Martin provided useful information relating to specific standards in the field, as well as some of his concerns with the EPA standards. When talking to him about our project he was concerned with how sensitive the biological sensor would be and if it would even work in the first place. He was reassured by the fact that numerous researchers and iGEM teams have historically incorporated synthetic biology into biological testing methods. This experience asked our team to consider how our testing system would apply to the industry and prompted planning to gather a quantitative measurement from the system.
AFRL Painter
The team decided to speak to an expert in the field of painting at the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) about his experience with chromium-based paints and primers. Over the length of his career he has seen the regulations increase, which he believed is for the better. He showed us many of the precautions that painters and clears go through to keep themselves and the environment safe. Some of the precautions taken include full body paintings suits, filtered respirators, and filters for the air leaving the room. All excess chromium is stored, tracked, and taken away from the building. The painting specialist told us that all of the excess runoff paint is sent off to be dealt with at an offsite location in containers. He gave us an insider view of how people use the chromium stay safe in the dangerous field. We asked him about how he could see our product being used in his work and he liked the idea of our project. He told us that, in his experience, chromium test at painting locations has been nonexistent. He would like to know how much chromium they are sending off to treatment facilities for his own safety reasons. This interaction increased team awareness of using a live microbe and prompted further discussion into this issue.
AFRL Coating Specialist
The team met with an AFRL coating specialist to discuss policy and bigger picture chromium usages in industry. She told us that chromium has historically been used in almost every anti-corrosive primer, though recently there has been an attempt to shift away from chromium-based primers. The goal is to eliminate chromium in industry, but she noted that it is very hard to get rid of something that industry uses so much of. We asked the coating specialist if she could see our product in use and she believed that this would be a great idea for a home test to know if your own water is safe. Because a home test would be an impactful implementation of our testing system, our team posed the question of how we could make our test simple (without the need for expensive and rare lab equipment) and cost effective so that homeowners might easily utilize the process.
Integrated Human Practices
This section provides an overview of how our human practices impacted the design of our project.
Input from an Air Force Research Labs painter increased team awareness of releasing a live microbe, and prompted further discussion into this issue. The team decided to use a cell free system in order to avoid certain risks. Using a cell free system would eliminate risk of releasing a genetically modified organism into either an industrial or residential environment. Additionally, since hexavalent chromium is toxic to cells, a cell free system would allow for realistic implementation without killing our system. Lastly, a cell free system would allow implementation without concern for the maintenance of live cells, meaning a more fieldable product.
Considering reports from a coating specialist on the need for a user friendly and inexpensive test, the team questioned how to create a system usable without the need for expensive or rare lab equipment and cost effective so that homeowners might easily safeguard themselves against hexavalent chromium contamination. After testing our system through multiple means with sfGFP (Superfolder Green Fluorescent Protein) as a reporter, sfGFP was replaced by Methylophaga flavin-containing monooxygenase (bFMO) as our visual reporter in the presence of hexavalent chromium. This allowed for a vivid indication of the presence of this carcinogen to the naked eye, thereby allowing homeowners to quickly and easily run a test. The team also planned for a paper test to be used as a sort of “litmus test” for hexavalent chromium. By ensuring simple and cost effective measures, our system would be applicable not only in industrial settings, but also home environments.
A meeting with a water treatment plant lab manager prompted our team to consider the significance and specificity of EPA standard to certain industries, and prompted planning for a system capable of offering quantitative measurements. The team planned to integrate a testing system with multiple sensors for specific ranges by changing ribosomal binding sites. This would allow for testing in varied ranges such as 5 parts per billion, 10 ppb, 50 ppb and 100 ppb. Each sensor would initiate Methylophaga flavin-containing monooxygenase (bFMO) production in the presence of hexavalent chromium. This process would allow for simple quick testing and be used as a quick way to give the user and idea of what they are looking for.