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Revision as of 16:53, 16 October 2019
Integrated Human Practice
Overview
Inspiration
How does HP help in this stage?
Biobricks Construction
How does HP help in this stage?
Functional Test
How does HP help in this stage?
Practical
How does HP help in this stage?
Background
Nanotechnology
Since the 1990s, the new wave of technology revolution driven by nanotechnology has brought us into a new eval when scientists start to put their eyes on the property and potency of particles and molecules with ultrafine size. In fact, the word “nanotechnology” was firstly defined and used in 1974 by Norio Taniguchi in a paper titled “On the basic concept of Nano-technology”. And by the 1980s, people were regularly using and spreading the word “Nanotechnology”. Compared to large-scale counterparts, the nanomaterials tend to give better properties like increased strength, chemical reactivity, and conductivity. After entering the 20th century, the boom of nanotechnology has been enabling the wider and wider application of nanomaterials such as that in electronic devices, automobiles, cosmetic products, optics, even pharmaceuticals.
Nanoparticle pollution
The nanoparticles were defined as the ultrafine particles with a diameter between 1 to 100 nm. To put that in perspective, a nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter, or about 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. It can be briefly classified into two categories, natural resourced-nanoparticles and engineered nanoparticles. It must not be overlooked that the nano-waste is generated from the process of the nanomaterial manufacturing process as well as from the after disposal nanodevices.
Generally, nanoparticles can be classified into six categories based on its fundamental structure in terms of carbon-based nanoparticles, metal-based nanoparticles, semiconductive nanoparticles, ceramic nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, and lipid-based nanoparticles. The diversity in chemical structure and property becomes one of the main obstacles in dealing with nanoparticle pollution.
Concerns about the health implications of nanomaterials have been expressed because particles and materials in the nanosize range may pose toxicological hazards due to their enhanced reactivity and potential for enhanced systemic availability. (Christie M. Sayes et, al. 2014) The release of the nanoparticle waste into the environment may generate ecotoxicity effect. Many studies indicate that exposure to the nanoparticles may lead to the absorption of ecotoxic nanoparticles and leading to irreversible damages. The mechanisms are various by different nanoparticle categories and the targeting organisms. (Boxall, Tiede, Chaudhry,2007) For example, an abundance of free chelating Fe nanoparticle was proved to have a close association with the lipid peroxidation, oxidative protein damage and DNA damage in living organisms. (M. A Shah, 2014) Furthermore, it has been reported that nanoparticle cytotoxicity in generating ROS could cause the mitochondria and nucleus damages in human cells. (Ana Lopez-Serrano, 2013)
In the water environment, nanomaterials are often more attractive to water and oil molecules, making them more absorbent than large-scale materials. In this case, nanomaterials were adopted in wastewater treatment to remove pollutants and to clean up oil spills at sea. However, the after used nanomaterials can not be completely removed from the water environment and might be aggregate and accumulate locally to cause long-term effects on local ecosystems.
Conventional Methods
The conventional methods have been classified into five main categories including sedimentation, interaction with biomass, specific membrane, continuous-flow system, and biological treatment. The drawbacks include but not limits to nanoparticle size, nanoparticle categories, and high cost in both economy and manpower.
Based on such background knowledge and information, we decided to focus on nanoparticle pollution in local water environment. The iGEM2019 UM_Macau project SANCE was launched in order to offer a new economic method in nanoparticle pollution treatment. We designed and conducted following human practice activities in order to seek enlightening on project optimization, promote synthetic biology as well as issue the current situation of nanoparticle poll¬ution in Macau, appeal for more attention from both the government and the local society, facilitate and alleviate the potential loss causing by nanoparticle pollution.
Interview
In order to explore and investigate the real situation of nanoparticle pollution as well as obtain critical feedback from both professional and normal residents towards our project, we conducted the following interviews and surveys.
Wastewater Treatment Plants visiting and interviews
We contacted the DSPA (Direcção dos Serviços de Protecção Ambiental DSPA, The official environmental protection bureau in Macau ) and learned that there are currently five WWTPs in Macau. With the help of the government officers, we got a chance to visit the wastewater treatment plants in the Transborder Industrial Zone of Macau.
From the introduction given by the plant’s manager, we learned the whole process of sewage treatment starting from the collection to the evacuation. Four core stages were included in terms of pre-treatment, primary treatment, secondary treatment, and biological sludge treatment. We learned that currently, we don’t have the regular supervision systems targeting nanoparticle pollution. Besides, only the basic wastewater treatment techniques were adopted with unclear effects on nanoparticle clearance. The core technology applied in this plant is ATLANTIS® submerged Membrane Bio-Reactor(MBR) technology from Belgium company WaterLeu. In general, the size of the pores in MBR is around 0.1-5 μm which is not able to clean up the ultrafine particles. The construction and operation cost of MBR is much higher than the traditional sludge treatment plant. (E. Görgün, 2006) In the other four wastewater treatment plants, the most commonly used technology that may have effects on nanoparticle clearance is the secondary bio-sludge treatment which allows the bacteria in bio-sludge to clean up the pollutants in wastewater. However, the performance of this method is not satisfied when targeting nanoparticle pollution. Nanoparticle in wastewater processes cytotoxicity towards microorganisms, which could decrease the efficiency of sludge treatment. This informed us that the potential cytotoxicity generated by certain nanoparticles must be taken into consideration in the design of our own product. Under such circumstances, a more effective, economic, toxicity-tolerable method in targeting nanoparticle pollution is urgently needed.
Conversation with government and our recommendation
Aside from new product invention, it is also vital to draw more attention from the local government on the current issue of nanoparticle pollution. Therefore, we sent several emails to the related authorities including DSPA (the environmental protection bureau) and DSEC (the statistics and census bureau) under the government of the Macau Special Administrative Region. The related statistics in the quality of surrounding water was required, and the specific wastewater treatment technologies were enquired in emails.
We received the data and responds to our questions from all the authorities inquired. We noticed that though (huge amount of nanoparticle environmental reports have been reported )vast of money was invested in the wastewater treatment, the nanoparticle pollution is still out of the concerns. While nanotechnology is rapidly developing globally, the associated regulations on nanotechnology applications as well as nano-waste disposal in Macau are still not well elaborated, and the nanoparticle supervision system is still not well established.
We then gave our recommendations with the proposition of calling for more discussions and official engrossments in the issue of nanoparticle pollution and urging the establishment of an efficient nanoparticle supervision system. It is reassuring that we got a very positive response from the government that more attention will be paid on the nanoparticle pollution as well as the related scientific breakthrough. The environmental protection bureau promised that they will keep focusing on the related issues to improve the water treatment facilities in Macau.
HK experts interview
At the functional test stage of our project, we noticed that there was a distance existing between our lab designs and the practical situation. The ideal sticky protein complex designed only based on original theory from labs may have difficulties in practical applications. We needed more professional suggestions in the knowledge of nanoparticle elimination for anticipating the potential risks in our design. Besides, more opinions from different perspectives were needed for better justification of our project. Therefore, with the help from our PI, we contacted three Hong Kong experts who are proficient in either nanoparticle or water environmental protection. By enquires, we were able to have a broader vision in the nanoparticle industry and the possible drawbacks in our project, which inspired and motivated us to optimize our lab designs.
All professors presented their beliefs that the nanoparticle with exceed concentration is harmful to human health and the survival of certain microorganisms, which is consistent with what we originally learned and expected. As Professor Leung, Kenneth Mei Yee said,
“The current amount of nanoparticles is not enough to pose a serious threat to human health and marine ecosystem, but once its amount exceed a specified threshold, it could adverse human health”
However, we learned from the interview that the application of nanoparticles in real life is much wider than what we expected, which inspired us in the functional test stage to enlarge the categories of our targeting nanoparticles.
Some potential drawbacks in SANCE had been raised up by professors in concerns of low tolerance of nanoparticle cytotoxicity, which motivated us to improve our SANCE by maintaining the biological activity of our sticky protein complex even after the death of the organism itself.
Other concerns raised up were mainly about the practical application of SANCE. The complicated interaction between activated sludge and nanoparticles adds more difficulties in predicting and controlling the movement and performance of SANCE. Therefore, Dr. Olivier Habimana did not recommend to applied SANCE in activated sludge, instead, she suggested us to apply our product in the form of biofilm. With further consideration from this advice, we discovered the potential in SANCE of being applied as membrane treatment. The magnet feature of SANCE enabled the controllable immobilization. Together with suitable filter membrane as a vector, the biofilm system targeting nanoparticles enabled by SANCE is possible in practical application.
Moreover, the concerns in the safety of directly releasing SANCE as GMOs in wastewater treatment plants were addressed. Upon this issue, we recontacted the manager from WWTP in Macau and found out that the current E. coli elimination rate is very high up to 100%, which ensures no emission of GMO E. coli into the natural environment. Besides, the extra accessional magnetic filed also gives double insurance in the control of SANCE from emission.
In other possible applications of SANCE, Prof.V. Thiyagarajan provided another creative suggestion that SANCE can be used as a nanoparticle detector. It inspired us and open the possibility of applying SANCE not only in wastewater treatment but everywhere in the presence of nanoparticle pollution.
Furthermore, several new techniques in detecting the concentration of nanoparticles were suggested by the experts. Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) and AFM Force Spectroscopy can be adopted in not only detecting the concentration of nanoparticle but also the interaction between our adhesion system and nanoparticles.
Survey
Online Questionnaire
As a coastal city surrounded by ocean on the three sides, the life of Macaunese is tied up to the sea. Nanoparticle pollution in the surrounding water may directly affect the health of local residents. Therefore, it is crucial in the implementation of water-protection related policy that the basic knowledge of water pollution and protection are well spread and comprehended. Moreover, in order to promote our project in preparing the future application, to hear the opinions from the general public is one of the primary goals. In these concerns, we designed an online questionnaire with questions investigating how residents recognize water pollution and broadening their knowledge of nanoparticle pollution. We were able to collect about 160 valid replies at the end. The answer indicates that most Macanese have concerns that water pollution may influence their life and they are waiting for further water quality improvement in the surrounding water area. We realized the necessity to devise a product for helping to alleviate nanoparticle pollution in the local water area.
Mentorship/Collaboration
Pui Ching iGEM Team
The lab areas of our two teams are really close. We contacted iGEM2019 Pui Ching team and established close friendship by offering them the mentoring in lab works specifically on protein expression tests.
iGEM Team Communication
During the whole iGEM period, we proactively participated and initiated several inter-team communications including participating online and offline symposiums, contacting for team meet-up and lab collaborations. We received a lot of valuable suggestions in various perspectives and stages of our project with regard to iGEM regulations interpretation, project construction, and optimization, the past experience in Gaint Jamboree.
Golden Gate Webinar
We participated in this educational webinar and learned the basic mechanism of golden gate assembly. However, this assembling method is not suitable to be applied to in our project.
CUHK Meet-up
With the introduction by our PI, we had a contact with the iGEM2019 team CUHK_HK and organized a meet-up in HK. This is the 7th time that the Chinese University of Hong Kong forming teams and participating in iGEM. The meet-up brought us a valuable chance of learning experience and exchanging ideas. With their assistance, we had a more distinct target in track selection. Their advice on plasmids construction also helped us in generating better protein expression. By listening to their sharing, we learned some skills and tips in participating in the final Giant Jamboree.
The 2nd forum for the theme of synthetic-biology advance in Guang dong-Hong Kong -Macao.
After designing the bio-bricks, more perspectives and opinions were needed to justify our construction. We attended The 2nd forum for the theme of synthetic-biology advance in Guang dong-Hong Kong -Macao. This forum attracted iGEM teams all around to share their ideas with each other through presentations and poster displays. We got some suggestions from other teams in experiment designing and lab management. A good relationship and possibility of future lab collaborations were built up with the efforts of all related parties.
iGEM x Sustainable Development Goals Online Conference
Held by TAC_Taipei, we joined the iGEM x Sustainable Development Goals Online Conference in order to discuss and extend the value of iGEM projects under the consideration of the 17 UN sustainable development goals. The different targets and advantages of each team were presented related to one specific or more than one goal of the 17. We exchanged our views upon GMO safety, different water quality regulations from different countries and regions as well as our efforts on promoting and assisting SDGs through the construction of our own iGEM project. As a team targeting the water environment protection, we mainly put our focus on the 6th and 14th goals on the webinar in terms of conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
The 1st HK iGEM Symposium 2019
In order to enhance the communication with the local teams to seek collaboration and learn experience, we participated the 1st HK iGEM Symposium 2019 held by CUHK iGEM2019 team. Here we got a chance to present and illustrate our project to other four university teams and four high school teams from Hong Kong. With the advice and suggestions provided by other teams and PIs, we had a better understanding of basic iGEM regulations and acquired more experience in presenting and defending our propositions. This meeting also inspired us to establish the mentorship with local high school iGEM2019 team Pui Ching.