Government
We considered laws currently in place in Australia surrounding the application of our biosensor. This is crucial when developing a product, as it must comply to regulations before it can be implemented. It was found that our biosensor doesn’t fit directly into a box, and so there is room to use our device to drive legislation change surrounding synthetic biology technology.
Environment & sustainability
One of the obvious concerns when we first settled on the sticker design was waste. Consumers eat fruit and throw stickers in the bin, or stick them somewhere they shouldn’t be. By mass-producing even more packaging in this way, we are perpetuating the issue of landfill and pollution.
In conjunction with discussions we had with OzHarvest volunteers, it was agreed that the way to overcome this problem was to ensure our stickers are biodegradable.
Social Justice
Our interaction with OzHarvest, a non-for-profit organisation, was extremely influential in the design selection of our product, as they emphasised the importance of biodegradability. Engagement in this way also provided more depth in our outreach efforts, because we were engaging with an audience already educated in the issue of food wastage.
Theory of Knowledge
This aspect of our human practices was somewhat unplanned. It came about following a discussion about our amilCP mutants, and how they should be classified. These mutants have identical sequences as the wild type, with the exception of a single nucleotide. However, they are all vastly different colours.
Is it appropriate to refer to them as amilCP variants, when amilCP is by definition blue? Or does a single mutation make them their own entity? If so, is it incorrect to class these mutants as “improvements” of the wild type?
Survey
We conducted a survey on fresh produce consumption habits to gain an insight into the context of our project firsthand. We engaged with over 260 people from over 16 countries – at least one from every continent (except Antarctica)! It was a great way to directly engage with other iGEM participants too, and generate global interest in our project.
Business & Applied Design
We took the biocircuitry of our biosensor that we made in the lab, and turned to engineering to design and assess the viability of a final biosensor product. This involved considering optimisation, immobilisation techniques, potential designs, initial sketches and prototyping.
We also pitched our idea to a range of potential consumers, and worked with them to evolve our design. From there, a full plant sizing and costing was done to assess if the investment would provide a worthwhile return.
Collaboration
Collaborating with other iGEM teams worldwide was an invaluable experience. We did extensive collaboration with the UNSW iGEM and Hamburg iGEM teams in particular, as well as engaging in minor collaboration with 6 other iGEM teams. On top of that, we connected with 46 more iGEM teams on Instagram.
Outreach & Public Engagement
We engaged with people from as young as 4 years of age, up to 65+ years of age, and many between! Through numerous social events and workshops, we successfully taught thousands of people about synthetic biology, the importance of not squeezing fruit to see if it’s ripe, and introduced them to our project. To find out more about how we used this information, check out the Outreach page.
Integrated Human Practices
Through Skype sessions and site visits, we engaged with Zespri Kiwifruit, Avocados Australia, and Fresh Produce Australia, to gain an insight into the context of our project.,
To find out more about how we used this information, check out the Integrated Human Practices page.
Microbe Card Game Project
One of our team members set out to design a card game that stylised various bacteria as little monsters. The card game was intended to be both educational and fun, introducing some of the more common bacteria that are involved in food and health to the wider community. To keep things simple, the game was going to have standard “top trumps” style rules, with categories like “pathogenicity” and “antibiotic resistance.” More complicated words would be bolded, with a reference list explaining these words in an educational way. Although the project was not completed, it remains an idea that will be pursued in the future. You can see some of the designs below.
We also created our own series of hand-sewn versions of our microbes! Doing so allowed us to engage with a younger audience in a way that was more specific to our project. We had generated a great response during outreach events using other store-bought, general fluffy microbes, so we knew that making our own relevant ones would be a great tool.
