Team:NRP-UEA-Norwich/Practices/SainsburyCentre
HUMAN PRACTICES
As part of the human outreach aspect of iGEM we have decided to collaborate with the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts Summer School. This year’s topic was “Exploring the Invisible”. The idea behind it being that when you draw with the ‘invisible’ i.e. inoculated genetically modified E.coli, and leave to to grow into colonies- it can become ‘visible’.
We received the J04450 plasmid i.e. RFP E.coli from the iGEM kit however with limited instructions as to a protocol to follow, which led us to collaborate with UCC to make a protocol video for activities like these. Eventually we had successfully cloned plasmids into E.coli that would be the colours green, red, pink and blue. Only green and red would fluoresce under UV light.
We prepared three activities. The first one was to draw with the inoculated E.coli on LB agar plates, which would incubate at 37˚C overnight to grow into colonies. The second activity was to give insight into the microorganisms that are found naturally on our skin. We did this by imprinting their hands before and after washing with soap onto some LB agar plates. Lastly, we also did a Germ Glo kit to highlight areas that are often neglected when washing.
On the day, 18 children ranging from ages 8-12 came in and participated in our activities. They were very keen and followed the instructions perfectly. After two day incubation, the group came back and were very enthusiastic to see their results. Some of the plates did not work out as expected, but that did not deter the group’s interest. We explained to them the process of genetically engineering bacteria and the importance of why we had to keep it in the lab at all times. We asked the children’s opinion and one responded by saying “it will make the world ill”. This response made us realise the perception of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in society. This relates back to our project quite seriously. If S.oneidensis were to be a potential product i.e. a fuel cell what would happen if the product broke? With any GMO the repercussions of their development and use as an item has to be considered. With this in mind, we have contacted Hethel Innovation to discuss potential applications of our project in industry.
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