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

 
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  <figcaption><b>Figure 1: Our medical students at Ljubljana teaching hospital were in continuous interaction with patients.</b><br/></figcaption> \
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<p style="text-align:justify">Above all, we wanted to talk to the final users of our project, the patients who could potentially be benefitting from it in the future. Since they will be the ones to actually live with it every day, their opinion is paramount as the negative attitude of the end users towards medical application of synthetic biology would make all the efforts associated with the development of applications in vain. \
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According to the WHO, the number of diabetics has risen to 422 million by 2014. While we might not realize in everyday lives, diabetics are our friends, our grandparents, our uncles, our doctors, our postmen, our clerks, our hairdressers… Those of us who are lucky not to suffer from chronic diseases, cannot completely understand this - the patients position. However, being a part of the community requires the experience of the life and hardship of all the members. But we want to be allies in this community. Allyship is about being a humble guest in somebody else’s struggle, listening and learning from it, and doing what you can to help. For this reason we decided to get to know the people living with diabetes and learn from them, while symoultaneously introducing our research efforts, not as a device that will at once end all their difficulties, but as a small beacon of hope. In the name of medical information confidentiality we omitted names and photos. \
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Having lived with a chronic disease for most of their lives, the patients were perfectly willing to try another method that could help. More than anything they were excited over the possibility of not having to prick themselves with a needle several times a day. While we mostly presented the potential foundational advantages of the system and explained that arriving to the final working device might take years, they were kind enough to highlight some of their concerns connected to the system and suggestions we could integrate in the design. Understandably, they were mostly interested in safety and the way the device would be integrated into the body. They wanted to know in what ways their bodies would be protected from the modified cells and how the cells in the device would be protected, as well as how we would make sure that the system is not triggered randomly. While years from a possible final device, we paid attention and tried to find the solutions to their concerns. To separate the modified cells in the device from patient’s unaltered ones, we suggest microencapsulation of cells in alginate capsule, which do not trigger the immune system and were proven to work by many researchers in their publications and also by the <a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Slovenia/Team">2012 Slovenian iGEM team</a>. In that project students already introduced several safety mechanisms, which still seem effective. To make sure the system is not induced randomly, by walking under a blue light at a party or being examined by ultrasound, we realized that we could use the <a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Slovenia/Protease_signaling/Logic">logic operations</a>, so that two different inputs would be needed for activation. This strongly decreases the possibility of an unwanted activation. Alternatively, one of the inputs can be used to recognize the correct type of cells or cell state and the other to recognize when it should be induced.</p>';
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  <figcaption><b>Figure 1: Discussion with culturologists prof. Franc Mali and doc. Toni Pustovrh, involved in SynErgene on the societal implications of our project.</b><br/></figcaption> \
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</figure> </div> <p  style="text-align:justify">Mostly communicating with MDs, researchers in natural science, and with each other, we realized we could quickly fall into the trap of having a limited view of synthetic biology and our project, living in a sort of confirmation microbubble composed of the approving scientists, but excluding the general public and their opinion. In order to tackle this, we wanted to talk to people who can understand the greater impact of science on society and how that is perceived by the general public. Taking into account the societal impacts of synthetic biology allows for more dynamic, varied solutions in the project. \
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We consulted prof. dr. Franc Mali and doc. dr. Toni Pustovrh, two culturologists from the University of Ljubljana, whose field of expertise is the sociology of science. We presented our project to them and they shared with us some excellent insights. Consultations with them indeed opened our horizons –having only best intentions we did not think of the potential misuse of our system, such as bypassing the doping regulations in professional sport by enhancing one’s own cells. The conversation later shifted to the wider field of synthetic biology and its role in ensuring social justice, which impassioned us and educated our Social Engagement and Education segment <a href = "#fig1">Figure 1</a>.  </p>';
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  <figcaption><b>Figure 1: One of our brainstorming meetings</b><br/></figcaption> \
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</div> <p  style="text-align:justify">iGEMers, be it students or advisors, together with researchers, form the base of our star. iGEMers are the individuals who imagine a design and make it come to life; the ones who put in the theoretical and practical work and therefore best understand the outline of their specific project, it’s unique possibilities, requirements and limitations. iGEMers do not know everything there is to know about the field and themselves only one of the impactors on the idea of the project, but can know more and be inspired trough  conversation and exchange of ideas with their colleagues, mentors and peers. With this in mind we decided to write down our ides and brainstorm very early in the project, after the first discussions with researchers who <a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Slovenia/Notebook/Proposals">inspired us</a> to work on our project <a href = "#fig2">Figure 1</a>. </p> <p style = "clear:both;"></p>';
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          <figcaption><b>Figure 1: Consultation with prof. dr. Marko Živin and Kaja Kolmarič</b><br/> </figcaption> \
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    </figure> \
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<p  style="text-align:justify">Researchers are scientists concerned with the basic idea of the project, with the possibility of its execution, with the proof of the concept - in short, people who advise if the idea is even feasible. They do not all need to be synthetic biologists as the teams are encouraged to search among experts in other fields as well. Medical doctors, mechanical and electrical engineers, biologists, biotechnologists, (bio)chemists, computer scientists and many others have great and important ideas and considerations to contribute to the field.  \
 +
With the aim of designing foundational technology that could be some day applied to treatment of disease such as the Parkinson’s disease and diabetes we searched for appropriate experts in the field. We consulted prof. dr. Marko Živin, MD who deals with damage, plasticity and regeneration of nerves and muscles and his junior researcher, Kaja Kolmarič. They were extremely receptive to our idea of threating neurological disease with release of therapeutic protein from patient’s own cells, but suggested that optogenetic approach might be too invasive for an organ as sensitive and crucial as the brain, while chemical inducers of dimerization might have many side effects. It was their own research with ultrasound that inspired us and led to a shift in the emphasis of our project and resulted in ultrasound stimulation (US) becoming the focus of it. After exposure to the ideas on the potential use of ultrasound, team members returned to the drawing board and each came up with a project idea mainly tailored to ultrasound stimulation but still incorporating our <a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Slovenia/Notebook/Proposals">initial idea of fast response</a> <a href = "#fig3">Figure 1</a>. </p><p style = "clear:both;"></p> \
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        <img class="ui medium image" src="//2016.igem.org/wiki/images/f/f7/T--Slovenia--HP-3.png" > \
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          <figcaption><b>Figure 2: Endocrinologist prof. Tadej Battelino during a visit with the team members.</b><br/></figcaption> \
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    </figure> \
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</div> \
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<p style="text-align:justify"> Additionally we conducted an interview with prof. dr. Tadej Battelino, MD, an endocrinologist, one of the world known diabetes researchers. His expertise in the field of diabetes mellitus treatment and artificial pancreas was sufficient reason to ask him for his opinion on this topic. He seemed enthusiastic over the idea and stated that our system indeed might represent significant advantage over artificial pancreas. In addition, he gave us several ideas to implement after the iGEM competition – quantification of secreted therapeutic protein and checking FDA and EMA regulations before turning to animal models and medical trials on the long run. Our medical students got an offer from him to execute additional research under his surveillance and to turn our results from the foundation advance project to a therapeutic agent <a href = "#fig4">Figure 2</a> </p> <p style = "clear:both;"></p>';
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<img class="ui medium image" src="//2016.igem.org/wiki/images/4/44/T--Slovenia--HP-4.png" > \
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  <figcaption><b>Figure 1: Team members in discussions with radiologist doc. dr. Katarina Šurlan Popovič.</b><br/></figcaption> \
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</figure> \
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</div> \
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<p  style="text-align:justify">Whereas researchers are interested primarily on foundational advance, medical doctors who work with patients every day are more prone to search for readily applicable and patient oriented implications. \
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After deciding to focus on ultrasound stimulation we decided to consult medical experts in the field of radiology for advice and consultation. For that reason, we talked to doc. dr. Katarina Šurlan Popovič, MD, radiologist in order to present her our idea and hear her ideas. She was fascinated with potential connection of computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound (US) in order to obtain the benefit for patients. We are quoting her “I would really like to see you develop the model for US stimulation and be the first to try it!”. We took her eagerness to heart and decided to develop a model of ultrasound propagation through the tissue which could show us how in the future an individualized approach could be used. For instance, CT would be obtained for each patient and program would identify the tissue by their characteristics and position the US probes to obtain <a href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Slovenia/Hardware">focused regions of high pressure on the selected part of the brain</a> <a href = "#fig4">Figure 1</a>. </p> \
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<figure id = "fig5"> \
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<img class="ui medium image" src="//2016.igem.org/wiki/images/f/fa/T--Slovenia--HP-5.png" > \
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  <figcaption><b>Figure 2: Team members presenting and discussing the Sonicell project with a hematologist dr. Matjaž Sever.</b><br/></figcaption> \
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</figure> \
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</div> \
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<p  style="text-align:justify">By exploring further potential applications and reading the literature, asist. dr. Matjaž Sever, MD hematologist offered us help in his area of expertise. He went even a step further – by acknowledging how demanding the project is and how incredible it seems to develop it in half a year, he suggested making the list of all the potential hormones, peptides and proteins which might benefit if secreted by our quick system. Even when the iGEM competition finishes, our work does not – it is just a new beginning for more amazing findings to happen. It is not realistic to expect from us to start a project from scratch and develop something completely new in that short amount of time and optimize everything for medical usage. For that reason, our human practice investigation helped us realize how potentially beneficial our project can be in medicine and make long term partnerships and plans. If one could make a significant medical application, that person should have started from already known foundations. We did not. Instead, we are making the paradigm shift which will for sure find several applications in near future, maybe even by some future iGEM teams <a href = "#fig5">Figure 2</a>. </p><p style = "clear:both;"></p>';
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<b>Project</b>
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<b>Idea</b>
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<div class="main ui citing justified container">
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<div class="main ui citing justified container"><h1 class = "ui left dividing header"><span class="section">&nbsp;</span>Integrated Practices</h1>
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<div class = "ui segment">
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<p>Various extraordinary synthetic biology projects can be depicted as boats and ships, seeking the safety of a harbor in the wide ocean, their main purpose
 +
finding the final destination.</p>
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<p>No matter how different or fascinating the boat is, its main purpose is to safely arrive to the harbor. Before there were modern GPS systems, sailors
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had to rely on using natural events and signs. One of the main was the lodestar, the most shining star, which is always a good orientation point.</p>
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<p>Similarly, many research projects can struggle no matter how fascinating they are. They might lose the feeling of reality and just travel for the sake of travel.</p>
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<p>In order to give the right coordinates, which showed to be of high importance in our case, we developed a new symbol for future iGEM teams who might apply their
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projects to the medical field – community oriented lodestar. No matter if the team is competing in the foundational advance or medical application section, maximization
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of benefit to society should be the number one priority.</p>
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</map>
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</div>
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<div class = "ui segment">
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<div id = "tekst" data = "empty"><h3 id="THEstar">For content click on THE star</h3></div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p style = "clear:both;"><br />Consequently, if ever lost, teams should just find the shining star and orient in respect to it. By thorough discussions and careful implementation of ideas
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provided by all the participants involved in dialogue, iGEM team should be able to present at the Giant Jamboree the most of the project –completely analyzed project
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in real life. It’s not only the idea that influences the minds and thinking of individuals involved, but the relationship is reciprocal. The people involved have a great
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deal of influence over the idea itself as well. The concept will be explained on our example. While we are competing in the foundational advance track we have considered
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many possible medical applications of our project, particularly diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and hemorrhagic diseases, since medicine is the field of study of several
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students and other students and mentors have a soft spot for this direction. .</p>
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</div>
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<h1 class = "ui left dividing header"><span class="section">&nbsp;</span>Education and Public Engagement</h1>
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<div class = "ui segment">
 +
 +
<p><b>Synthetic Biology is supposed to be a broad and open field of science and technology which can be entered by people from different backgrounds.</b> As such,
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it is supposed to transcend the self-imposed limits of class, nationality, cultural background, gender, financial status, …  However, closer look at this topic might
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inform us of inequality present in this discipline. On one hand, some researchers find themselves in privileged position based on certain factors they have no influence
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over (such as the strategic importance of their country sets on synthetic biology, development and investment in science, culture of the neighboring countries …). On the
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other hand, <b>many diligent, determined and devoted individuals live in places where their talent and creativity cannot be sufficiently developed</b>; such as based on
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the investment if their country places on the development of natural sciences. iGEM community tries to decrease the present gap and gives all the teams an equal platform
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as a start of their project. Nevertheless, certain factors such as the availability of resources, openness of the laboratory facilities to students, availability of
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sufficient funding and mentors keen on passing their knowledge to younger generations are still lacking. Consequently, it might seem that teams from the USA, European Union
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and China are in somewhat advantaged position.</p>
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<p>With this in mind, we wanted to make a change and serve as a positive example for future iGEM teams. We did not try to change the world over the night, but still we
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wanted to show how small actions matter.</p>
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<p>iGEM suggests that the already established teams mentor new ones as part of collaboration, but if the circumstances have not allowed for a formation of a team yet,
 +
nothing changes. Just in our vicinity the large majority of countries from ex-Yugoslavia have never had a team. But we didn’t want to overzealously take charge and establish
 +
a new team in an entitled, domineering way. As history teaches us, true change can only come from within the disadvantaged community. <b>One must not put oneself in lead and
 +
thus aid in stripping people of their agency even more, but can merely listen, offer help and be a good ally, helping empower the community to empower itself.</b></p>
 +
<p>For that reason, we wanted to motivate students to be even more proactive and engaging towards establishment of their team in historically proximate countries, such
 +
as Montenegro. Therefore, we picked the targeted audience – winners of national competitions in natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy) or very
 +
motivated students who were both participants of Science Summer School at Ivanova korita in Montenegro (<ref>7</ref>).</p>
 +
 
 +
<div style="float:rigth; width:100%">
 +
<figure data-ref="7">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/8/83/T--Slovenia--HP-7.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b> Spreading synthetic biology and iGEM to Montenegro: an onsite introductory lecture at the Science summer school at
 +
  Ivanova korita in Montenegro</b><br/></figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<p>Our team member organized a workshop “Synthetic Biology and iGEM Competition” at abovementioned summer school for high school students. We consider their
 +
age to be critical for decisions regarding future occupation and potential new scientists. They are already the selected population, which improved the information
 +
transfer. It was necessary to establish first contact in person, not over the internet, as it provides us with significantly higher chances for the successful motivation
 +
of students. Indeed, if we compared results of questionnaire regarding their knowledge of iGEM competition and willingness to participate in it, significant increase in
 +
motivation can be seen after only one lecture! (<ref>graph</ref>)</p>
 +
 
 +
<div style="float:right; width:70%">
 +
<figure data-ref="graph">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/a/ac/T--Slovenia--HP-graph.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b>Increased interest in synthetic biology and iGEM after the onsite lecture to high school students.</b><br/></figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div>
 +
 +
<p>Not only did they become more aware of and motivated in synthetic biology, but they have also got involved in discussion – in addition to 30min presentation, our
 +
team member had 3 rounds of discussion, which lasted for more than 1h! Furthermore, his presentation style and enthusiasm were recognized as he was voted to be 3rd best
 +
presenter at the summer school and was invited to hold lectures on other science schools which will be organized in the future.</p>
 +
<p style="clear:both">As the students expressed strong interest and motivation for synthetic biology and they didn’t want to end with this visit we wanted to expand our activities. Even
 +
though we were not in the same country, we wanted to give them an opportunity to learn more about synthetic biology and laboratory work as this in not a part of the high
 +
school curriculum. Therefore, we wanted to give them an opportunity to choose the lectures they want to hear and by that take a proactive role in their education. 70% of
 +
students from the summer school (which means many more than only chemists and biologists) showed motivation to hear new lectures by our iGEM team. By fulfilling new
 +
questionnaires, lectures were chosen and our team members were holding them. We find it very important to transfer knowledge from young iGEM scientists to high school
 +
students. By transferring knowledge peer-to-peer, (college) student-to-(high school) student knowledge gap which is present between professors and students can be avoided.
 +
Pleasant atmosphere and iGEM students who understand the struggle of high school students showed to be very successful for conveying information (<ref>8</ref>).</p>
 +
 
 +
<div style="float:left; width:50%">
 +
<figure data-ref="8">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/b/b6/T--Slovenia--HP-8.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b> Skype lecture and conversation of team members and high school students in Montenegro.</b><br/></figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div>
 +
<div style="float:left; width:50%">
 +
<figure data-ref="9">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/2/24/T--Slovenia--HP-9.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b> The second Skype lecture and conversation of team members and high school students in Montenegro.</b><br/></figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div>
 +
 
 +
<p style="clear:both">If they were provided with these lectures by their high school teachers, they would not have been that relaxed, would not have asked so many questions they asked
 +
and consequently would not have learnt that much. Interestingly, some of the students could not attend the Skype lecture, but they asked their mates to record it so it
 +
could be seen afterwards! At the end of the lecture, they asked for additional Skype lectures.</p>
 +
<p>The first Skype lecture covered the basic principles and laboratory techniques of genetic engineering. Other lectures went even more in depth, covering topics
 +
like CRISPR-Cas9. Each was held by a different team member. It was shown again that students like talking to our iGEM members as even larger number of students have
 +
listened to the lecture – either live or the recording. The knowledge, interest and curiosity was successfully passed to the students as they asked us dozens of questions
 +
(<ref>9</ref>).</p>
 +
 
 +
 +
 
 +
 +
 
 +
<div style="float:left; width:50%">
 +
<figure data-ref="10">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/4/45/T--Slovenia--HP-10.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b> Live lab tour.</b><br/></figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div>
 +
<p>Additionally, after finishing these lectures we offered (among other ideas) live lab tour which was met with high approval and interest. Therefore,
 +
we decided to show the labs and some common techniques and laboratory procedures (for example, changing the media in safety cabinet, isolation of plasmids,
 +
agarose electrophoresis, and so on) (<ref>10</ref>).</p>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<div style="float:right; width:50%">
 +
<figure data-ref="11">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/d/d4/T--Slovenia--HP-11.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b> Conversations about the future new team – iGEM Montenegro</b><br/></figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div>
 +
<p>To our great joy, one of the attendants of the lectures decided to go step further – <b>trying to establish an iGEM team in Montenegro</b>.
 +
She organized a meeting with <b>Darko Pajović, President of the Parliament of Montenegro</b>, a biologist by education, and discussed the issue with him. We are
 +
very proud of her and we hope we are one of the reasons she decided for that big step (<ref>11</ref>).</p>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<h3 style="clear:both"><span class="section">&nbsp;</span>Science and Arts</h3>
 +
<p>Apart from the work to inspire new generations of young scientists and establishment of new iGEM team, we wanted to introduce synthetic biology to a wider
 +
community in a more approachable way. In our experience people have a negative reaction towards the GMO research, because of the huge negative media influence
 +
particularly in Europe. <b>In order to engage and educate more people on synthetic biology,  we decided to try to relate to people through more universal experience
 +
of being captivated by and enjoying art</b>. Arts and synthetic biology are very much alike – mixing the colors everybody had in a way nobody did it before.</p>
 +
<p>With this in mind we got in touch with an Argentinian contemporary artist <b>dr. Laura Olalde, PhD</b>. Although classically trained, she has devoted her later
 +
work to explore the parallels between art and natural sciences. A part of an award winning sci-art collective PROTEUS, she was visiting Slovenia to attend the festival
 +
City of Women, by painting the mural Mitochondrial Wall - a piece celebrating women, femininity and the quest for equality. She is currently involved in bacterial painting,
 +
a project addressing fluorescent bacteria not as a medium to be taken advantage off, but as a partner in the creative process, thus creating a cross species, human-bacterial,
 +
collaboration.</p>
 +
<p>Becoming immersed in sci-art, we wanted to contribute something meaningful and perhaps lead  the way for new forms of artistic expression. Laura was quite enthusiastic
 +
about exploring our technology as the new medium of the visual art. Our own visual expression was drawn directly on human cells with enhanced sensitivity and luminescence
 +
output. With the signal appearing and disappearing in a matter of minutes, our art expands not only in three, but in four dimensions, adding time as a key element and the
 +
final arbiter of our expression, reminding us to the words of our famous poet France Prešeren ''Življenje ječa, čas v nji rabelj hudi'', although without despair that he
 +
was expressing with those words. Mirroring life, time cannot be recovered once it has passed. In the immortal words of Felix Gonzales-Torres: ‘’We are a product of the time,
 +
therefore we give back credit where it is due: time.’’</p>
 +
<p>The <b>technique of mechanodrawing (TouchPaint)</b>, first imagined and explored in our lab, is not only a brand new artistic direction, but offers large technological
 +
potential as well: just try to imagine bacterial touch screens! But more importantly, <b>art is a way to communicate our project and synthetic biology at large to the general
 +
public without the negative connotations that they normally associate it with</b> (<ref>12</ref>).</p>
 +
 
 +
<div style="float:rigth; width:100%">
 +
<figure data-ref="12">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/4/4f/T--Slovenia--HP-12.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b> Laura in the lab mastering the technique of TouchPaint, painting on mammalian cells, asked to paint our team’s logo</b><br/></figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div>
 +
 
 +
 +
 
 +
<div style="float:right; width:50%">
 +
<figure data-ref="13">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/a/a9/T--Slovenia--HP-13.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b> Team members at the Art and science panel in the Gallery Kapelica.</b><br/>text </figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div>
 +
<p>Our sci-art engagement did not finish in our lab. We decided to go few steps further. Our team members attended a round table discussion about sci-art practices
 +
and interaction with the PROTEUS collective group. Artist<b> dr. Laura Olalde</b> and scientist <b>dr. Diego Ferreiro</b> (who participated live from Bueno Aires
 +
over Skype) were main guests and have talked about their experience of sci-art and our team members actively participated in the debate (<ref>13</ref>).</p>
 +
 
 +
<p>“This publication looks at art & science – an autonomous field uniting art and science which are typically thought to belong to two different worlds.
 +
However, these two domains have strong historical links, and if analysed in their totality, date back to the very beginning of human creativity, fueled by
 +
curiosity and ingenuity. Today more and more artists are drawing inspiration from science and using the latest technology and research in their art, while
 +
scientists and researchers are realizing the artistic elements of their work and finding ways to use art to communicate better with their stakeholders. Both
 +
striving to materialize the immaterial, art and science are constantly in motion and together they can lead to what is labelled the ‘third culture’.” –
 +
Art&Science Creative Fusion, European Commission, European Research Area.</p>
 +
<p style="clear:both">We decided to break the stereotype of scientists involved only in science and not being interested in arts. For that reason and on Laura’s invitation,
 +
we decided to take part in the Mitochondrial Wall mural painting at Metelkova place in Ljubljana, which is a community mural, created by many artists and
 +
incorporating many ideas. We made suggestions to add a piece of our project to the mural, which was enthusiastically accepted and painted ourselves as well,
 +
a true collaboration between artists and scientists. Other than that, the mural has a strong metaphoric value, pointing out maternal information transfer,
 +
calling for respect of women and bringing attention to the importance of equality in other fields. As it is one of fundamental values our team stands for,
 +
we wanted to take part in it (<ref>14</ref>).</p>
 +
 
 +
<div style="float:left; width:100%; text-align:justify">
 +
<figure data-ref="14">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2016/e/ef/T--Slovenia--HP-14.png" >
 +
 
 +
  <figcaption><b>Contributing to the mural</b><br/>
 +
  Our team members contributed a detail to the mural. Although not completely scientifically accurate it introduces the
 +
  intention to engage with the art
 +
  </figcaption>
 +
</figure>
 +
</div><p style="clear:both"></p>
 +
 
 +
 +
</div>
 +
</div>
 
 
 +
</div>
 
</div>
 
</div>
 
</div>
 
</div>
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</div>
 
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</div>
 +
<div>
 +
<a href="//igem.org/Main_Page">
 +
<img border="0" alt="iGEM" src="//2016.igem.org/wiki/images/8/84/T--Slovenia--logo_250x250.png" width="5%" style = "position: fixed; bottom:0%; right:1%;">
 +
</a>
 +
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</html>
 
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Latest revision as of 14:08, 19 October 2016

HP gold

 Integrated Practices

Various extraordinary synthetic biology projects can be depicted as boats and ships, seeking the safety of a harbor in the wide ocean, their main purpose finding the final destination.

No matter how different or fascinating the boat is, its main purpose is to safely arrive to the harbor. Before there were modern GPS systems, sailors had to rely on using natural events and signs. One of the main was the lodestar, the most shining star, which is always a good orientation point.

Similarly, many research projects can struggle no matter how fascinating they are. They might lose the feeling of reality and just travel for the sake of travel.

In order to give the right coordinates, which showed to be of high importance in our case, we developed a new symbol for future iGEM teams who might apply their projects to the medical field – community oriented lodestar. No matter if the team is competing in the foundational advance or medical application section, maximization of benefit to society should be the number one priority.

project scheme patients scientists iGEMers researches doctors

For content click on THE star


Consequently, if ever lost, teams should just find the shining star and orient in respect to it. By thorough discussions and careful implementation of ideas provided by all the participants involved in dialogue, iGEM team should be able to present at the Giant Jamboree the most of the project –completely analyzed project in real life. It’s not only the idea that influences the minds and thinking of individuals involved, but the relationship is reciprocal. The people involved have a great deal of influence over the idea itself as well. The concept will be explained on our example. While we are competing in the foundational advance track we have considered many possible medical applications of our project, particularly diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and hemorrhagic diseases, since medicine is the field of study of several students and other students and mentors have a soft spot for this direction. .

 Education and Public Engagement

Synthetic Biology is supposed to be a broad and open field of science and technology which can be entered by people from different backgrounds. As such, it is supposed to transcend the self-imposed limits of class, nationality, cultural background, gender, financial status, … However, closer look at this topic might inform us of inequality present in this discipline. On one hand, some researchers find themselves in privileged position based on certain factors they have no influence over (such as the strategic importance of their country sets on synthetic biology, development and investment in science, culture of the neighboring countries …). On the other hand, many diligent, determined and devoted individuals live in places where their talent and creativity cannot be sufficiently developed; such as based on the investment if their country places on the development of natural sciences. iGEM community tries to decrease the present gap and gives all the teams an equal platform as a start of their project. Nevertheless, certain factors such as the availability of resources, openness of the laboratory facilities to students, availability of sufficient funding and mentors keen on passing their knowledge to younger generations are still lacking. Consequently, it might seem that teams from the USA, European Union and China are in somewhat advantaged position.

With this in mind, we wanted to make a change and serve as a positive example for future iGEM teams. We did not try to change the world over the night, but still we wanted to show how small actions matter.

iGEM suggests that the already established teams mentor new ones as part of collaboration, but if the circumstances have not allowed for a formation of a team yet, nothing changes. Just in our vicinity the large majority of countries from ex-Yugoslavia have never had a team. But we didn’t want to overzealously take charge and establish a new team in an entitled, domineering way. As history teaches us, true change can only come from within the disadvantaged community. One must not put oneself in lead and thus aid in stripping people of their agency even more, but can merely listen, offer help and be a good ally, helping empower the community to empower itself.

For that reason, we wanted to motivate students to be even more proactive and engaging towards establishment of their team in historically proximate countries, such as Montenegro. Therefore, we picked the targeted audience – winners of national competitions in natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy) or very motivated students who were both participants of Science Summer School at Ivanova korita in Montenegro (7).

Spreading synthetic biology and iGEM to Montenegro: an onsite introductory lecture at the Science summer school at Ivanova korita in Montenegro

Our team member organized a workshop “Synthetic Biology and iGEM Competition” at abovementioned summer school for high school students. We consider their age to be critical for decisions regarding future occupation and potential new scientists. They are already the selected population, which improved the information transfer. It was necessary to establish first contact in person, not over the internet, as it provides us with significantly higher chances for the successful motivation of students. Indeed, if we compared results of questionnaire regarding their knowledge of iGEM competition and willingness to participate in it, significant increase in motivation can be seen after only one lecture! (graph)

Increased interest in synthetic biology and iGEM after the onsite lecture to high school students.

Not only did they become more aware of and motivated in synthetic biology, but they have also got involved in discussion – in addition to 30min presentation, our team member had 3 rounds of discussion, which lasted for more than 1h! Furthermore, his presentation style and enthusiasm were recognized as he was voted to be 3rd best presenter at the summer school and was invited to hold lectures on other science schools which will be organized in the future.

As the students expressed strong interest and motivation for synthetic biology and they didn’t want to end with this visit we wanted to expand our activities. Even though we were not in the same country, we wanted to give them an opportunity to learn more about synthetic biology and laboratory work as this in not a part of the high school curriculum. Therefore, we wanted to give them an opportunity to choose the lectures they want to hear and by that take a proactive role in their education. 70% of students from the summer school (which means many more than only chemists and biologists) showed motivation to hear new lectures by our iGEM team. By fulfilling new questionnaires, lectures were chosen and our team members were holding them. We find it very important to transfer knowledge from young iGEM scientists to high school students. By transferring knowledge peer-to-peer, (college) student-to-(high school) student knowledge gap which is present between professors and students can be avoided. Pleasant atmosphere and iGEM students who understand the struggle of high school students showed to be very successful for conveying information (8).

Skype lecture and conversation of team members and high school students in Montenegro.
The second Skype lecture and conversation of team members and high school students in Montenegro.

If they were provided with these lectures by their high school teachers, they would not have been that relaxed, would not have asked so many questions they asked and consequently would not have learnt that much. Interestingly, some of the students could not attend the Skype lecture, but they asked their mates to record it so it could be seen afterwards! At the end of the lecture, they asked for additional Skype lectures.

The first Skype lecture covered the basic principles and laboratory techniques of genetic engineering. Other lectures went even more in depth, covering topics like CRISPR-Cas9. Each was held by a different team member. It was shown again that students like talking to our iGEM members as even larger number of students have listened to the lecture – either live or the recording. The knowledge, interest and curiosity was successfully passed to the students as they asked us dozens of questions (9).

Live lab tour.

Additionally, after finishing these lectures we offered (among other ideas) live lab tour which was met with high approval and interest. Therefore, we decided to show the labs and some common techniques and laboratory procedures (for example, changing the media in safety cabinet, isolation of plasmids, agarose electrophoresis, and so on) (10).

Conversations about the future new team – iGEM Montenegro

To our great joy, one of the attendants of the lectures decided to go step further – trying to establish an iGEM team in Montenegro. She organized a meeting with Darko Pajović, President of the Parliament of Montenegro, a biologist by education, and discussed the issue with him. We are very proud of her and we hope we are one of the reasons she decided for that big step (11).

 Science and Arts

Apart from the work to inspire new generations of young scientists and establishment of new iGEM team, we wanted to introduce synthetic biology to a wider community in a more approachable way. In our experience people have a negative reaction towards the GMO research, because of the huge negative media influence particularly in Europe. In order to engage and educate more people on synthetic biology, we decided to try to relate to people through more universal experience of being captivated by and enjoying art. Arts and synthetic biology are very much alike – mixing the colors everybody had in a way nobody did it before.

With this in mind we got in touch with an Argentinian contemporary artist dr. Laura Olalde, PhD. Although classically trained, she has devoted her later work to explore the parallels between art and natural sciences. A part of an award winning sci-art collective PROTEUS, she was visiting Slovenia to attend the festival City of Women, by painting the mural Mitochondrial Wall - a piece celebrating women, femininity and the quest for equality. She is currently involved in bacterial painting, a project addressing fluorescent bacteria not as a medium to be taken advantage off, but as a partner in the creative process, thus creating a cross species, human-bacterial, collaboration.

Becoming immersed in sci-art, we wanted to contribute something meaningful and perhaps lead the way for new forms of artistic expression. Laura was quite enthusiastic about exploring our technology as the new medium of the visual art. Our own visual expression was drawn directly on human cells with enhanced sensitivity and luminescence output. With the signal appearing and disappearing in a matter of minutes, our art expands not only in three, but in four dimensions, adding time as a key element and the final arbiter of our expression, reminding us to the words of our famous poet France Prešeren ''Življenje ječa, čas v nji rabelj hudi'', although without despair that he was expressing with those words. Mirroring life, time cannot be recovered once it has passed. In the immortal words of Felix Gonzales-Torres: ‘’We are a product of the time, therefore we give back credit where it is due: time.’’

The technique of mechanodrawing (TouchPaint), first imagined and explored in our lab, is not only a brand new artistic direction, but offers large technological potential as well: just try to imagine bacterial touch screens! But more importantly, art is a way to communicate our project and synthetic biology at large to the general public without the negative connotations that they normally associate it with (12).

Laura in the lab mastering the technique of TouchPaint, painting on mammalian cells, asked to paint our team’s logo
Team members at the Art and science panel in the Gallery Kapelica.
text

Our sci-art engagement did not finish in our lab. We decided to go few steps further. Our team members attended a round table discussion about sci-art practices and interaction with the PROTEUS collective group. Artist dr. Laura Olalde and scientist dr. Diego Ferreiro (who participated live from Bueno Aires over Skype) were main guests and have talked about their experience of sci-art and our team members actively participated in the debate (13).

“This publication looks at art & science – an autonomous field uniting art and science which are typically thought to belong to two different worlds. However, these two domains have strong historical links, and if analysed in their totality, date back to the very beginning of human creativity, fueled by curiosity and ingenuity. Today more and more artists are drawing inspiration from science and using the latest technology and research in their art, while scientists and researchers are realizing the artistic elements of their work and finding ways to use art to communicate better with their stakeholders. Both striving to materialize the immaterial, art and science are constantly in motion and together they can lead to what is labelled the ‘third culture’.” – Art&Science Creative Fusion, European Commission, European Research Area.

We decided to break the stereotype of scientists involved only in science and not being interested in arts. For that reason and on Laura’s invitation, we decided to take part in the Mitochondrial Wall mural painting at Metelkova place in Ljubljana, which is a community mural, created by many artists and incorporating many ideas. We made suggestions to add a piece of our project to the mural, which was enthusiastically accepted and painted ourselves as well, a true collaboration between artists and scientists. Other than that, the mural has a strong metaphoric value, pointing out maternal information transfer, calling for respect of women and bringing attention to the importance of equality in other fields. As it is one of fundamental values our team stands for, we wanted to take part in it (14).

Contributing to the mural
Our team members contributed a detail to the mural. Although not completely scientifically accurate it introduces the intention to engage with the art

iGEM