Difference between revisions of "Team:Oxford/HP/Gold"

Revision as of 09:45, 16 September 2016

iGEM Oxford 2016 - Cure for Copper

Ethics and Safety

After deciding on our final project design, based on extensive and continuous discourse with patients (for more information on this dialogue, click here (link to gold page)), we decided to investigate the issues that might prevent a probiotic treatment being approved by the government. We contacted an expert: Jane Kaye, Professor of Health, Law and Policy, and Director of HeLEX (Centre for Health, Law and Emerging Technologies). She advised us that policy regarding emerging technologies is often linked to public perception, and that in turn is linked to the safety and ethics research that has been done regarding the technology. This led us to investigate these issues further.

For more information on the safety of our probiotic, please click here (link to safety page).

To determine the concerns of the public with the use of genetically engineered bacteria as medicine, we approached them with a survey to examine what they perceived to be the problems with using genetically engineered bacteria to treat disease, and why people might be against their use in this way.

Content from Alex.

Public Engagement and Education

Public engagement and education play a big part in iGEM, with acceptance of synthetic biology only being possible through education and increased awareness. As our project consists of us developing a probiotic treatment for use by humans, we knew that we would likely be facing an uphill climb when trying to encourage acceptance of this and similar technologies.

We approached engagement and education on 3 levels: local, national and international.

Local

Natural History Museum

During the summer, we contacted the Oxford Natural History Museum to collaborate with them. This involved us carrying out a workshop with a group of young researchers, aged 16-17, who were carrying out 3 week summer research projects in conjunction with the museum. We introduced them to the concept of synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, through a short presentation and a series of synbio puzzle activities, and invited them into the lab to get a taste of undergraduate research.
Bang! Magazine

We wrote an article detailing our project for Bang! Science magazine, which will be published in the forthcoming issue.
JackFM

We spoke to Oxfordshire-based radio station, JackFM, about synthetic biology and its uses. We also used this platform to increase awareness of rare diseases, discussing Wilson’s disease and the recent hike in the prices of the drugs used to treat it. JackFM has a weekly audience reach of 107,000 adults in the Oxford area, and our piece was played multiple time.

National

Summer Schools

We organised summer school events for national students at 2 Oxford colleges. We began with a short presentation discussing the development of synthetic biology, its current applications and uses, the future of the subject, and the iGEM competition itself. Following this, we split the students into 4 groups to run small activities. We ran a variety of activities related to the use of biobricks and the construction of working parts. These included getting the students to build biological circuits whilst explaining the importance of different regions of different parts, troubleshooting potential genetic circuits to see whether they may or may not work as expected, investigating protein structure using PyMOL, and introducing the students to the concept of PCR and primer design.

WDSG AGM

During the summer, 3 of our team members visited Cambridge to attend the 6th AGM of the Wilson’s Disease Support Group. Here they gave a presentation explaining our project and received feedback from patients and doctors. To see how our discussion with patients impacted our project, please click here (link to Gold HP page).

International

Presenting a poster at the London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF)

One of our team members attended the LIYSF to present our project to 475 representatives from 75 countries. The presentation discussed the contact we had made with patients and the importance of finding alternative treatments for Wilson’s Disease, with the goal of raising awareness of rare diseases in addition to synbio. Most of the participants were unaware of Wilson’s Disease and showed interest in the issue.

Visiting Cyprus

As iGEM took place during our summer vacation, at some points members of the team took some time away from the lab to visit family and friends or go on holiday. One of our team members, Andreas, visited his home in Cyprus for a short time. Whilst he was there, he visited his old school to give a presentation covering a brief history of genetic manipulation, what synthetic biology is, and the kind of problems that it can solve. The presentation then discussed the use of synthetic biology to generate medical therapeutics and how treatments developed in this way might be used to alleviate the symptoms of Wilson’s Disease.

The presentation was well attended by high school students, chemistry and biology teachers, parents, and University of Cyprus (UCY) undergraduates. Cyprus has never before hosted an iGEM team, and at the end of his talk, Andreas was approached by an undergraduate student that showed an interest in starting a team for the competition next year. Hopefully this idea will come to fruition, and more students will be exploring synbio with iGEM next year!

Social Media

Update at the end.

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Natural History Museum</span><br>
-During the summer, we contacted the Oxford Natural History Museum to collaborate with them. This involved us carrying out a workshop with a group of young researchers, aged 16-17, who were carrying out 3 week summer research projects in conjunction with the museum. We introduced them to the concept of synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, through a short presentation and a series of synbio puzzle activities, and invited them into the lab to get a taste of undergraduate research.
+<p>During the summer, we contacted the Oxford Natural History Museum to collaborate with them. This involved us carrying out a workshop with a group of young researchers, aged 16-17, who were carrying out 3 week summer research projects in conjunction with the museum. We introduced them to the concept of synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, through a short presentation and a series of synbio puzzle activities, and invited them into the lab to get a taste of undergraduate research.
+</p>
 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Bang! Magazine</span><br>
-We wrote an article detailing our project for Bang! Science magazine, which will be published in the forthcoming issue.
+<p>We wrote an article detailing our project for Bang! Science magazine, which will be published in the forthcoming issue.
+</p>
 <span style="font-weight:bold;">JackFM</span><br>
+<p>
 We spoke to Oxfordshire-based radio station, JackFM, about synthetic biology and its uses. We also used this platform to increase awareness of rare diseases, discussing Wilson’s disease and the recent hike in the prices of the drugs used to treat it.
 JackFM has a weekly audience reach of 107,000 adults in the Oxford area, and our piece was played multiple time.
+</p>
 <h3>National</h3>
 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Summer Schools</span><br>
-We organised summer school events for national students at 2 Oxford colleges. We began with a short presentation discussing the development of synthetic biology, its current applications and uses, the future of the subject, and the iGEM competition itself. Following this, we split the students into 4 groups to run small activities.
+<p>We organised summer school events for national students at 2 Oxford colleges. We began with a short presentation discussing the development of synthetic biology, its current applications and uses, the future of the subject, and the iGEM competition itself. Following this, we split the students into 4 groups to run small activities.
 We ran a variety of activities related to the use of biobricks and the construction of working parts. These included getting the students to build biological circuits whilst explaining the importance of different regions of different parts, troubleshooting potential genetic circuits to see whether they may or may not work as expected, investigating protein structure using PyMOL, and introducing the students to the concept of PCR and primer design.
+</p>
 <span style="font-weight:bold;">WDSG AGM</span><br>
+<p>
 During the summer, 3 of our team members visited Cambridge to attend the 6th AGM of the Wilson’s Disease Support Group. Here they gave a presentation explaining our project and received feedback from patients and doctors. To see how our discussion with patients impacted our project, please click here (link to Gold HP page).
+</p>
 <h2>International</h2>
 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Presenting a poster at the London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF)</span><br>
+<p>
 One of our team members attended the LIYSF to present our project to 475 representatives from 75 countries. The presentation discussed the contact we had made with patients and the importance of finding alternative treatments for Wilson’s Disease, with the goal of raising awareness of rare diseases in addition to synbio. Most of the participants were unaware of Wilson’s Disease and showed interest in the issue.
+</p>
 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Visiting Cyprus</span><br>
-As iGEM took place during our summer vacation, at some points members of the team took some time away from the lab to visit family and friends or go on holiday. One of our team members, Andreas, visited his home in Cyprus for a short time. Whilst he was there, he visited his old school to give a presentation covering a brief history of genetic manipulation, what synthetic biology is, and the kind of problems that it can solve. The presentation then discussed the use of synthetic biology to generate medical therapeutics and how treatments developed in this way might be used to alleviate the symptoms of Wilson’s Disease.
+<p>As iGEM took place during our summer vacation, at some points members of the team took some time away from the lab to visit family and friends or go on holiday. One of our team members, Andreas, visited his home in Cyprus for a short time. Whilst he was there, he visited his old school to give a presentation covering a brief history of genetic manipulation, what synthetic biology is, and the kind of problems that it can solve. The presentation then discussed the use of synthetic biology to generate medical therapeutics and how treatments developed in this way might be used to alleviate the symptoms of Wilson’s Disease.</p>
 <p>
 The presentation was well attended by high school students, chemistry and biology teachers, parents, and University of Cyprus (UCY) undergraduates. Cyprus has never before hosted an iGEM team, and at the end of his talk, Andreas was approached by an undergraduate student that showed an interest in starting a team for the competition next year. Hopefully this idea will come to fruition, and more students will be exploring synbio with iGEM next year!
 </p>
 <h2>Social Media</h2>
-Update at the end.
+<p>Update at the end.</p>