Difference between revisions of "Team:Virginia/iGEM Outreach"

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<!--------------------------------------------------------------Widget stuff------------------------------------------------------------->
 
<!--------------------------------------------------------------Widget stuff------------------------------------------------------------->
 
<!-------------------------------JavaScript------------------------------->
 
<!-------------------------------JavaScript------------------------------->
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<script language="JavaScript">
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<HEAD>
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function biocontain(form) {
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<TITLE>Test Input</TITLE>
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alert("hello");
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<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
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<!--                var inLab;
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function testResults (form) {
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                var inHuman;
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    var TestVar = form.inputbox.value;
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                var easeImplement;
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    alert ("You typed: " + TestVar);
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                var costImplement;
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}
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                var easeMain;
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</SCRIPT>
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                var costMain;
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</HEAD>
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                var effect;
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<BODY>
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                var toxic;
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<FORM NAME="myform" ACTION="" METHOD="GET">Enter something in the box: <BR>
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                var tradishAux = 0;
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<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="inputbox" VALUE=""><P>
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                var synAux = 0;
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<INPUT TYPE="button" NAME="button" Value="Click" onClick="testResults(this.form)">
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                var killSwitch = 0;
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</FORM>
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                var geneCircuit = 0;
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</BODY>
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                var lockKey = 0;
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                var xeno = 0;
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                console.info("<!DOCTYPE html>");
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                console.info("<html><head>");
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                console.info("<meta http-equiv=\'Content-Type\' content=\'text/html; charset=UTF-8\'>");
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                console.info("<title>Answer</title></head>");
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                if ((inLab === "yes") && (inHuman === "yes")) {
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                    console.info("Error: You said the intended use of your system is both in the laboratory and in humans. Please fill out the form again to reflect the correct area of intended use.");
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                }
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                else if ((inLab === "yes")) {
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                    console.info("<p> You have no need for biocontainment, physical containment (e.g. UV radiation or bleach) will suffice for your purposes. </p>");
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                }
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                else if ((inHuman === "yes")) {
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                    console.info("<p> There are currently no good biocontainment methods for use in humans due to high escapee propagation. The best system we can recommend is lock and key, where the key is a molecular marker for a specific region in the body. Please refer to the bioethics section of the 2016 Virginia iGEM Biocontainment Pamphlet for more information on using synthetically modified organisms in the human body. </p>");
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                }
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                else {
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                    console.info("<body><h2>The best biocontainment method for your purposes is: </h2>");
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                    var sum = effect + (Math.abs(5 - easeImplement) + 1) + (Math.abs(5 - easeMain) + 1) + (Math.abs(5 - costMain) + 1) + (Math.abs(5 - costImplement) + 1);
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                    if (toxic < 4) {
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                        var row = (sum / 5 | 0);
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                        if (sum === 5) {
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                            console.info("<p> Traditional Auxotroph. Traditional auxotrophs are organisms that cannot synthesize a certain chemical necessary for survival and therefore must rely on artificial supplementation of the chemical. </p>");
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                        }
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                        else {
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−
                            var methodNames = ["Traditional Auxotroph. Traditional auxotrophs are organisms that cannot synthesize a certain chemical necessary for survival and therefore must rely on artificial supplementation of the chemical.", "Kill Switch. In typical kill switches, production of a toxin is suppressed by the presence of an environmental signal. When the signal is no longer presentin the environment, toxin production is uninhibited and the cell dies. Alternatively, a toxin can be produced as the end product of a reaction. Therefore, the organism will die upon completion of its task. Refer to this link for an example of a kill switch: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1979. Note, there are many other different types of kill switches.", "Gene Circuit. In gene circuits, biological circuits respond to specific combinations of environmental signals in order to suppress toxin production. For example, signals A and B must be present to translate or activate C, a toxin production repressor. Refer to this link for an example of a gene circuit: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1979", "Lock and Key. Lock?? and ??key is a form of synthetic auxotrophy where a set of essential genes (lock) are engineered so that they will not function properly unless a supplied molecule (key) is present. Since the default state of the cells is death, mutations are much less likely. Refer to this link for more information: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.5b00085", "Non-Standard Amino Acid (NSAA) synthetic auxotrophy. NSAA synthetic auxotrophs are organisms that cannot survive unless a synthetic amino acid is supplemented in the growth environment of the organism. In this system, a tRNA recognizing a stop codon binds to the synthetic amino acid. This method requires full genome and proteome engineering to incorporate the stop codon and synthetic amino acid. Refer to this link for more detailed information: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature14121"];
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                            console.info("<p>" + methodNames[row] + "</p>");
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                        }
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                    }
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                    else {
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                        if (sum < 11) {
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                            console.info("<p> Traditional Auxotroph. Traditional auxotrophs are organisms that cannot synthesize a certain chemical necessary for survival and therefore must rely on artificial supplementation of the chemical. </p>");
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                        }
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                        if (sum > 10 && sum < 21) {
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                            console.info("<p> Lock and Key. Lock?? and ??key is a form of synthetic auxotrophy where a set of essential genes (lock) are engineered so that they will not function properly unless a supplied molecule (key) is present. Since the default state of the cells is death, mutations are much less likely. Refer to this link for more information: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.5b00085 </p>");
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−
                        }
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                        if (sum > 20) {
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                            console.info("<p> Non-Standard Amino Acid (NSAA) synthetic auxotrophy. NSAA synthetic auxotrophs are organisms that cannot survive unless a synthetic amino acid is supplemented in the growth environment of the organism. In this system, a tRNA recognizing a stop codon binds to the synthetic amino acid. This method requires full genome and proteome engineering to incorporate the stop codon and synthetic amino acid. Refer to this link for more detailed information: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature14121 </p>");
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−
                        }
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                    }
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−
                }
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−
            };
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            return Biocontain;
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−
        }());
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−
-->
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−
</script>
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−
 
+
−
<!-------------------------------Form------------------------------->
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−
 
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−
 
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<head>
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  <meta http-equiv='Content-Type' content='text/html; charset=UTF-8'>
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  <title>User Input Form</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h2>What are you looking for in a biocontainment method?</h2>
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<form name="myform" method="get" action="form_input.asp" onsubmit="return biocontain()" method="post">
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  <fieldset>
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    <legend>Intended use of your system</legend>
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    Is the intended use of your synthetic organism only in the laboratory? <br />
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<input type="radio" name="inLab" value="yes" /> Yes
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<input type="radio" name="inLab" value="no" checked /> No
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<br /><br />
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    Is the intended use of your synthetic organism only in the human body? <br />
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<input type="radio" name="inHuman" value="yes" /> Yes
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<input type="radio" name="inHuman" value="no" checked /> No
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−
<br />
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  </fieldset>
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−
<br />
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−
 
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−
  <fieldset>
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    <legend>Indicate your level of concern for each biocontainment characteristic (1=not a concern, 3=kind of a concern, 5=very concerned).</legend>
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<p> NOTE: For best results, be selective about your choices; i.e. avoid choosing 5 for every category. </p>
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    Ease of implementation: <input type="radio" name="easeImplement" value="1" checked /> 1 <input type="radio" name="easeImplement" value="2" /> 2 <input type="radio" name="easeImplement" value="3" /> 3 <input type="radio" name="easeImplement" value="4" /> 4 <input type="radio" name="easeImplement" value="5" /> 5    <br /><br />  
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−
 
+
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    Cost of implementation: <input type="radio" name="costImplement" value="1" checked /> 1 <input type="radio" name="costImplement" value="2" /> 2 <input type="radio" name="costImplement" value="3" /> 3 <input type="radio" name="costImplement" value="4" /> 4 <input type="radio" name="costImplement" value="5" /> 5  <br /><br />
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−
 
+
−
    Ease of maintaining the contained organism in the environment: <input type="radio" name="easeMain" value="1" checked /> 1 <input type="radio" name="easeMain" value="2" /> 2 <input type="radio" name="easeMain" value="3" /> 3 <input type="radio" name="easeMain" value="4" /> 4 <input type="radio" name="easeMain" value="5" /> 5 <br /><br />
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−
 
+
−
    Cost of maintaining the contained organism in the environment: <input type="radio" name="costMain" value="1" checked /> 1 <input type="radio" name="costMain" value="2" /> 2 <input type="radio" name="costMain" value="3" /> 3 <input type="radio" name="costMain" value="4" /> 4 <input type="radio" name="costMain" value="5" /> 5 <br /><br />
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−
 
+
−
    Effectiveness: <input type="radio" name="effect" value="1" checked /> 1 <input type="radio" name="effect" value="2" /> 2 <input type="radio" name="effect" value="3" /> 3 <input type="radio" name="effect" value="4" /> 4 <input type="radio" name="effect" value="5" /> 5 <br /><br />
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−
 
+
−
    Toxicity to environment: <input type="radio" name="toxic" value="1" checked /> 1 <input type="radio" name="toxic" value="2" /> 2 <input type="radio" name="toxic" value="3" /> 3 <input type="radio" name="toxic" value="4" /> 4 <input type="radio" name="toxic" value="5" /> 5
+
−
  </fieldset>
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−
+
−
  <input type="hidden" name="secret" value="888" />
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−
  <input type="submit" value="SEND" onClick="biocontain(this.form)/>
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−
  <input type="reset" value="CLEAR" />
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−
</form>
+
−
</body>
+
  
 
</div>
 
</div>

Revision as of 23:05, 17 October 2016

← Public Education Entrepreneurship →

Our outreach to other iGEM teams included attending at a Mini Jamboree, conducting an iGEM-wide survey, producing a pamphlet on biocontainment for iGEM teams, and designing a widget to help teams choose a biocontainment method.

First, we needed to assess the biocontainment knowledge of iGEM teams. We wanted to find out what people knew, and more importantly didn’t know, about biocontainment. We accomplished this first on a small scale, by attending the Mid-Atlantic Mini Jamboree, hosted by the University of Maryland. We exchanged project ideas with other teams. We also hosted a biocontainment forum with the other attending teams. This forum inspired us to create electronic tools and expand our outreach to other teams. We created our online biocontainment surveyto gauge understanding of biocontainment across iGEM teams. Using the results of this survey, we developed a comprehensive pamphlet. We also created an interactive web widget that allows iGEM teams to customize biocontainment that fits their project. Do teams need something robust, something quick, or a method that fulfils other criteria? With our widget, they can find the perfect solution.




UMaryland Mini Jamboree

On July 22, 2016, the University of Maryland (UMaryland iGEM) hosted their second annual Mid-Atlantic Mini-Jamboree. Present were several teams from the east coast who came together to show off their projects, present their progress, and enjoy the company of their fellow iGEMmers.

While there, with the permission of UMD’s team, our team was not only able to present our progress in a fifteen minute presentation, but also hold a very educational forum. The forum was a follow-up to our presentation that not only got the other teams to think about biocontainment, but helped us get direct and immediate feedback on their thoughts.

Pamphlet

Test Input
Enter something in the box: