Difference between revisions of "Team:Cornell/Entrepreneurship"

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{{Cornell}}
 
 
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<head>
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<style>
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    /* hides "Team:Cornell" and iGEM logo */
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<h1>Entrepreneurship</h1>
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    /******************** ALL FONTS START ********************/
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<div class="column two_thirds_size">
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    .dropbtn, .dropdown-content {
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<h3>Best Supporting Entrepreneurship Special Prize</h3>
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        font-size: 16px;
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    }
  
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<p>The Best Supporting Entrepreneurship award recognizes exceptional effort to build a business case and commercialize an iGEM project. This award is open to all teams to show that entrepreneurship is something all teams can aspire to do with their project. This award can go to an new project, or to a previous project that a team aimed to commercialize. Have you filed a provisional patent on your project/device/process? Have you raised money to build and ship products? Have you pitched your idea to investors and received money? As always in iGEM, the aim is to impress the judges!
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<br><br>
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    .tile-title {
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To compete for the <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Judging/Awards">Best Supporting Entrepreneurship prize</a>, please describe your work on this page and also fill out the description on the <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Judging/Judging_Form">judging form</a>.
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        font-family: 'Futura', sans-serif;
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<br><br>
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    }
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You must also delete the message box on the top of this page to be eligible for this prize.
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</p>
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="column third_size">
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    /******************** ALL FONTS END ********************/
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<div class="highlight decoration_A_full">
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<h3>Inspiration</h3>
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<p>You can look at what other teams did to get some inspiration! <br />
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Here are a few examples:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Sydney_Australia">2016 Sydney Australia</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Pasteur_Paris">2016 Pasteur Paris</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:UCC_Ireland">2014 UCC Ireland</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Imperial">2014 Imperial College London</a></li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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</div>
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<h3>Patents and intellectual property</h3>
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<p>
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    .nav-bar-logo {
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If your team is seriously considering commercializing and looking into building a company after the competition, you may want to look at how you are going to protect your work and secure investment. Investors will usually require some form of intellectual protection, so you may want to investigate how to apply for a patent or provisional patent in your country and region before disclosing your project at iGEM. Remember that you can only be evaluated in iGEM based on what you share on your wiki and at the Jamboree, so any work you don't present can't count towards your project. </p>
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<p>This is an area where we are different as we care about sharing, openness and contributing to the community and investors don't always agree with these values. It is up to you and your team to decide what to do. Remember that most universities have a commercialization department and that you can talk to them before coming to a decision.  
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    .nav-bar-logo img {
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    /*End Style for Standard Page*/
 +
    /******************** STANDARD PAGE GRID START ********************/
 +
    nav {
 +
        grid-area: navbar;
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    .nav-bar-main-menu .dropdown:nth-child(5) .dropdown-contentx {
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        display: grid;
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    .nav-first-col {
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        display: inline-grid;
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        display: grid;
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 +
    /******************** STANDARD PAGE GRID END ********************/
 +
  </style>
 +
    <title>Team:Cornell - 2019.igem.org</title>
 +
    <!-- CSS -->
 +
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles/styles.css">
 +
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles/grids.css">
 +
    <!-- JS -->
 +
    <script src="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/jquerymin?action=raw&ctype=text/javascript"></script>
 +
</head>
 +
<!--NOTE: REMEMBER TO CHANCE active-page CLASS TO CORRECT DROPDOWN-->
 +
<body>
 +
    <div class ="standard-page-wrapper">
 +
        <!------------------------ NAV BAR START ------------------------>
 +
        <nav>
 +
            <div class="nav-bar-wrapper">
 +
                <div class="nav-bar-logo">
 +
                        <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2019/9/94/T--Cornell--Logo.png" alt="reHAB"></a>
 +
                </div>
 +
                <div class="nav-bar-main-menu">
 +
                    <div class="dropdown">
 +
                        <button class="dropbtn">TEAM</button>
 +
                        <div class="dropdown-content team-dropdown-content">
 +
                            <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Team">BIOS</a>
 +
                            <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Sponsors">SPONSORS</a>
 +
                            <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Attributions">ATTRIBUTIONS</a>
 +
                        </div>
 +
                    </div>
 +
                    <div class="dropdown">
 +
                        <button class="dropbtn">OUTREACH</button>
 +
                        <div class="dropdown-content outreach-dropdown-content">
 +
                            <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Public_Engagement">EDUCATION & ENGAGEMENT</a>
 +
                            <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Collaborations">COLLABORATIONS</a>
 +
                        </div>
 +
                    </div>
 +
                    <div class="dropdown">
 +
                        <button class="dropbtn active-page">HUMAN PRACTICES</button>
 +
                        <div class="dropdown-content human-dropdown-content">
 +
                            <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Human_Practices">INTEGRATED PRACTICES</a>
 +
                            <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Policies">POLICIES</a>
 +
                            <a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Entrepreneurship">ENTREPRENEURSHIP</a>
 +
                        </div>
 +
                    </div>
 +
                    <div class="dropdown">
 +
                        <button class="dropbtn"
 +
                            onclick="location.href='https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Model'">MODELING</button>
 +
                    </div>
 +
                    <div class="dropdown">
 +
                        <button class="dropbtn">TOOLKIT</button>
 +
                        <div class="dropdown-content toolkit-dropdown-content">
 +
                            <ul>
 +
                                <div class="nav-first-col">
 +
                                    <li class="wet-lab-list-title"><b>WET LAB</b></li>
 +
                                    <li><a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Foundations">FOUNDATIONS</a></li>
 +
                                    <li><a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Demonstrate">DEMONSTRATE</a></li>
 +
                                    <li><a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Parts">PARTS</a></li>
 +
                                    <li><a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/BasicParts">BASIC PARTS</a></li>
 +
                                    <li><a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/CompositeParts">COMPOSITE PARTS</a></li>
 +
                                </div>
 +
                                <div class="nav-second-col">
 +
                                    <li class="pd-list-title"><b>PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT</b></li>
 +
                                    <li><a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/DesignProcess">DESIGN PROCESS</a></li>
 +
                                    <li><a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Hardware">HARDWARE</a></li>
 +
                                </div>
 +
                                <div class="nav-third-col">
 +
                                    <li class="doc-list-title"><b>DOCUMENTATION</b></li>
 +
                                    <li><a href="https://2019.igem.org/Team:Cornell/Notebook">NOTEBOOK</a></li>
 +
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            <svg viewBox="0 0 100 100" width=100% height=100%>
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                <text text-anchor="middle" alignment-baseline="middle" x=50% y=50%>Entrepreneurship</text>
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                    <li><a href="#pageheading1">Overview</a></li>
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                    <li><a href="#pageheading2">Business Canvas Model</a></li>
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                    <li><a href="#pageheading3">Market Analysis</a></li>
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                    <li><a href="#pageheading4">Future Development</a></li>
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                    <div class="standard-page-content-title"><div id="pageheading1">Overview</div></div>
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                    <div class="standard-page-content-subheading"></div>
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                        Harmful algae blooms (HABs) have emerged as one of our most pressing environmental crises. These blooms destroy marine and freshwater ecosystems by removing oxygen from the water as it decomposes, starving marine life. When blooms get especially dense, they block sunlight from reaching the depths of the lake, creating dead zones. They produce toxins dangerous enough to poison animals, and can cause illnesses in humans.
 +
                        In our very own Cayuga Lake, HABs have severely affected the quality of the ecosystem. Thus it becomes a personal interest to do what we can to tackle this issue. We developed a novel solution to detect and degrade toxic microcystin-LR (MC-LR) byproducts from HABs. Microcystins have been shown to poison and kill animals, and have caused harm to humans through irritation of the throat and lungs, and long-term kidney and liver damage.
 +
                        The purpose of our project is to detect and degrade MC-LR. Our solution is reHAB, an aptamer based colorimetric detection sensor to detect microcystins. To get samples for testing, we designed a boat to eliminate the need for humans to manually collect water samples and record bloom sites. This detection ability is combined with a degradation functionality. We introduced multiple enzymes that have been shown to effectively degrade MC-LR into the bacteria we use to degrade microcystins, and attached a tag from the TAT pathway to increase the efficiency of this degradation reaction. We house this within a bioreactor filled with alginate-beads that allows us to remediate large quantities of water at once.
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                    <div class="standard-page-content-title"><div id="pageheading3">Market Analysis</div></div>
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                    <hr class="green-accent-line-left">
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                    <div class="standard-page-content-subheading"></div>
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 +
                            The market for harmful algae bloom (HAB) cleanup is still developing. Control of HABs is currently focused around prevention, detection, and monitoring. Our project tackles a new area of the market: rehabilitation. Our product reHAB is able to detect and degrade one of the toxic chemicals that HABs produce, microcystin-LR (MC-LR).
 +
                            Our main competitor for HAB detection is a comprehensive technique called ELISA. However, this method is slow and costly: despite being considered considered one of the fastest tests, ELISA still takes a full day to yield results. Algae blooms typically only last 3-5 days, but the remnants of toxin in harmful blooms persist-- reHAB’s quicker turnaround and ability to degrade microcystins proves it is the better alternative to ELISA. Thus far, little effort has been devoted towards actual remediation. Current treatment efforts have been centered around drinking water, or controlling and preventing HABs. reHAB is one of the first to step foot into the market for targeted HAB remediation.
 +
                            Our project provides a quick and effective solution, targeting a new dimension of a multibillion dollar problem. HAB related economic losses in the United States was estimated to be $2.2 to $4.6 billion. The fishing industry has been particularly affected. reHAB can help minimize these losses by detecting and remediating our waters. It is novel solution to a pressing problem.</p>
 +
                    <div class="standard-page-content-subheading">Swot Analysis</div>
 +
                    <img class="standard-page-content-image" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2019/d/d3/T--Cornell--SwotAnalysis.png" width=500px style="margin: auto">
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                <div class="standard-page-content-section">
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                    <div class="standard-page-content-title"><div id="pageheading4">Future Development</div></div>
 +
                    <hr class="green-accent-line-left">
 +
                    <div class="standard-page-content-subheading"></div>
 +
                    <p class="standard-page-content-text">
 +
                        The most valuable aspect of any product lies in its intellectual property. Given that our project exists on the forefront of aptamer-based detection technology, we would aim to patent the novel components of our project through the Cornell Center for Technology Licensing (CTL). Of particular focus would be our detection system, the most unique dimension of our product.
 +
                        The ingenuity and relevance of our project characterizes it as a necessary step in the right direction for harmful algal bloom mitigation. Our goal is to integrate our aptamer detection mechanism into large-scale systems in a way that other monitoring strategies have been unable to accomplish. According to the World Health Organization, there is an urgent need for the development of an animal friendly, rapid and cost-effective toxin analysis methodology for the future of microcystin detection. Our project has the potential to do just that.
 +
                        In order to accomplish this, we plan to accomplish the following:     
 +
                    </p>
 +
                    <ul class="standard-page-content-list">
 +
                        <li>Further developing the aptamer-based detection system </li>
 +
                        <li>Improving the automation of the boat system</li>
 +
                        <li>Conducting market research to compile into case studies </li>
 +
                        <li>Attaining resources for manufacturing and large-scale production</li>
 +
                        <li>Reaching out to potential investors and buyers as well as affected community members</li>
 +
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 +
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Latest revision as of 21:47, 21 October 2019

Team:Cornell - 2019.igem.org

Entrepreneurship
Overview

Harmful algae blooms (HABs) have emerged as one of our most pressing environmental crises. These blooms destroy marine and freshwater ecosystems by removing oxygen from the water as it decomposes, starving marine life. When blooms get especially dense, they block sunlight from reaching the depths of the lake, creating dead zones. They produce toxins dangerous enough to poison animals, and can cause illnesses in humans. In our very own Cayuga Lake, HABs have severely affected the quality of the ecosystem. Thus it becomes a personal interest to do what we can to tackle this issue. We developed a novel solution to detect and degrade toxic microcystin-LR (MC-LR) byproducts from HABs. Microcystins have been shown to poison and kill animals, and have caused harm to humans through irritation of the throat and lungs, and long-term kidney and liver damage. The purpose of our project is to detect and degrade MC-LR. Our solution is reHAB, an aptamer based colorimetric detection sensor to detect microcystins. To get samples for testing, we designed a boat to eliminate the need for humans to manually collect water samples and record bloom sites. This detection ability is combined with a degradation functionality. We introduced multiple enzymes that have been shown to effectively degrade MC-LR into the bacteria we use to degrade microcystins, and attached a tag from the TAT pathway to increase the efficiency of this degradation reaction. We house this within a bioreactor filled with alginate-beads that allows us to remediate large quantities of water at once.

Business Canvas Model
Market Analysis

The market for harmful algae bloom (HAB) cleanup is still developing. Control of HABs is currently focused around prevention, detection, and monitoring. Our project tackles a new area of the market: rehabilitation. Our product reHAB is able to detect and degrade one of the toxic chemicals that HABs produce, microcystin-LR (MC-LR). Our main competitor for HAB detection is a comprehensive technique called ELISA. However, this method is slow and costly: despite being considered considered one of the fastest tests, ELISA still takes a full day to yield results. Algae blooms typically only last 3-5 days, but the remnants of toxin in harmful blooms persist-- reHAB’s quicker turnaround and ability to degrade microcystins proves it is the better alternative to ELISA. Thus far, little effort has been devoted towards actual remediation. Current treatment efforts have been centered around drinking water, or controlling and preventing HABs. reHAB is one of the first to step foot into the market for targeted HAB remediation. Our project provides a quick and effective solution, targeting a new dimension of a multibillion dollar problem. HAB related economic losses in the United States was estimated to be $2.2 to $4.6 billion. The fishing industry has been particularly affected. reHAB can help minimize these losses by detecting and remediating our waters. It is novel solution to a pressing problem.

Swot Analysis
Future Development

The most valuable aspect of any product lies in its intellectual property. Given that our project exists on the forefront of aptamer-based detection technology, we would aim to patent the novel components of our project through the Cornell Center for Technology Licensing (CTL). Of particular focus would be our detection system, the most unique dimension of our product. The ingenuity and relevance of our project characterizes it as a necessary step in the right direction for harmful algal bloom mitigation. Our goal is to integrate our aptamer detection mechanism into large-scale systems in a way that other monitoring strategies have been unable to accomplish. According to the World Health Organization, there is an urgent need for the development of an animal friendly, rapid and cost-effective toxin analysis methodology for the future of microcystin detection. Our project has the potential to do just that. In order to accomplish this, we plan to accomplish the following:

  • Further developing the aptamer-based detection system
  • Improving the automation of the boat system
  • Conducting market research to compile into case studies
  • Attaining resources for manufacturing and large-scale production
  • Reaching out to potential investors and buyers as well as affected community members