Difference between revisions of "Team:Slovenia/Integrated Practices"

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myId.innerHTML = '<h4>Patients</h4><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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myId.innerHTML = '<h4>Patients</h4> \
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<img class="ui medium image" src="//2016.igem.org/wiki/images/3/34/T--Slovenia--Patients.jpg" > \
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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. \
 
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. \
 
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. \
 
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>';
 
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> \
 
  <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> \
 
</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. \
 
</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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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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<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.  \
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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 ideas and considerations to contribute to the field.  \
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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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With the aim of designing foundational technology that could some day be 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 treating neurological diseases with release of therapeutic protein from patient’s own cells. They suggested, however, 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 focus of our project towards ultrasound stimulation (US). 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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<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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<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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<p  style="text-align:justify">While researchers are interested primarily on foundational advance, medical doctors who work with patients every day are more likely 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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After deciding to focus on ultrasound stimulation we decided to consult medical experts in the field of radiology. For that reason, we talked to doc. dr. Katarina Šurlan Popovič, MD, radiologist and presented our idea to her. She was fascinated with potential connection of computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound (US). 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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<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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<p  style="text-align:justify">Asist. dr. Matjaž Sever, MD hematologist offered us help in his area of expertise by exploring further potential applications and reading the literature. He even went 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. When the iGEM competition finishes, our work does not – it is just a new beginning for more astonishing findings to take place. It is not realistic to expect from us to start a project from scratch, develop something completely new and optimize it for medical usage in the short amount of time. For that reason, our human practice investigation helped us realize how medically relevant our project could be and make long term partnerships and plans. If one wants to make a significant medical application, that person should start from already known foundations. We did not. Instead, we are making the paradigm shift which will for sure find several applications in the 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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<a class="item" href="https://2016.igem.org/Team:Slovenia/Integrated Practices" style="color:#DB2828">
 
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<b>Integrated practices</b>
 
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Latest revision as of 16:16, 19 October 2016

Integrated practices

Proposals Integrated practices Engagement

 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 the 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 the 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, the relationship is reciprocal. People involved have a great deal of influence over the idea itself as well. The concept will be explained on our example. While 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. .