Team:Manchester/Human Practices
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Hi everyone!! This is the page for our Human Practices that we have done throughout the summer. Aligned with the requirement for iGEM competition, We were always approaching different society and company to get them in recognising our project and aiming to get suggestion or critism on our project. This allowed us to have a clearer picture in the point of view of the public. We categorised each of the activities that we have to 4 different groups. - Charities, Industries, Outreach and Interview. Click on one of the 4 wheels below to find out more!
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Timeline
This was the team’s first outreach event! We set up a stall during British Science Week hosted by Manchester (The City of Science 2016). We taught school children different methods of chemical production and asked them their own views on the matter.
At the AGM, we presented the preliminary research we had done into our project. We aimed to get feedback and to test what the experts thought of our idea and whether our product would gain interest from the public.
The team discussed our project with the Fredsense CEO, David Lloyd. Fredsense is a biosensor company using microorganisms to test water samples. We discussed a range of topics from the public image of biosensors to the applications and implications our Alcopatch could have.
Our team had a stand at the Euroscience Open Forum where we discussed our project thus far. During the day we gained interest from global researchers and deliberated the experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
Having spoken on the phone to MEN, they were very interested in implications of our Alcopatch and decided to publish an article about our project twice in their paper!
We presented our project to representative from the charity. After which we asked them questions about our project to gain criticism and guidance to further develop our insight into the role our Alcopatch could play in society.
We spoke with Dr Doherty a representative from IB Carb, a networking agency for glyco-scientists. We shared our projects and discussed a series of implications as well as possible funding to get us to the Jamboree!
We set up a crowdfunding page on a website called the 'experiment' dot com, here we reached out to our friends and family to contribute funds towards our goal of £3000. We created a video explaining our intentions as well as uploading detailed information regarding our project.
After raising awareness of our product with Manchester Evening News, Heart FM heard about our project and asked us to talk about it on their national radio show!
Having attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting we discussed opinions and gained insight into the issues of alcoholism and possible limitations our patch would have within their organisation and with regards to alcoholism.
We spoke to Ms Shepard, the Network Manager of NPronet, which is a funded network in biotechnology and bioenergy. We reviewed our project and she highlighted the importance of starting the wet lab work early, in order to complete our project on time.
We spoke to Lynn Shephard (Director) and Dr. Henery (Enterprise Academic Lecturer) of Manchester Enterprise Centre. They educated us in the potential business aspect of our project. They also gave us a few pointers on the entrepreneurship that is needed to produce our AlcoPatch in a real-world context. This led our team to model the cost-effectiveness of our proposed prototype.
We deliberated our project with Dr. Flannelly (Network Manager) and Prof. Dickinson (Co-Director) from BioProNet, a network in the field of bioprocessing and biologics . They found our project interesting and how the AlcoPatch could be useful to students like us. However, they raised concerns with the usage of mildly carcinogenic ABTS dye in our Cell-Free system. It was suggested that we find suitable alternatives to reduce risks to our potential consumers.
We spoke to a local Police Community Support Officer (P.C.S.O.) in the area. We asked them for their opinion on how our patch might be of use to the Greater Manchester police force. They gave us some insightful knowledge into the use of breathalysers as well as it's limitations with comparison to the potentials of our AlcoPatch.
UKMeetup
This was the team’s chance to meet other like-minded students and share our project experiences we have had during the summer. We gained valuable feedback from other iGEM teams as well as discussing our project with researchers. We also discussed about the societal impacts of scientific research regarding our project.
A representative from our team spoke to Kelly O’Brien, the Head of Department for Drug Support for Children. She gave us insightful knowledge and feedback on our project relevance to patients with an array of alcohol related issues. She explained that our AlcoPatch would not be beneficial to patients with alcoholism. However, if a prototype were to be made, disseminating the AlcoPatch to the public would enable us to gauge it's effectiveness in educating the public on their intoxication levels.
We met with Andrea Vero, an IP lawyer from Ward Hadaway law firm, to discuss how to protect the research of our project. We also discussed the potential for patenting our Alcopatch in the future. Ward Hadaway put us in contact with a patent attorney from Venner Shipley to further discuss the matter.
We met with Matthew Handley, a patent attorney at Venner Shipley, to discuss if our product was suitable for patenting. We deliberated whether it would be realistic to patent our project based on the information we have already disclosed to the public domain.
We spoke to Mr Wojcik, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering, at SCRAM Systems (an ethanol biosensor company) in the US. He informed us about how their devices function, and how American policies have shaped the needs of law enforcement with regards to alcohol consumption. He educated us on the factors behind the demand for a product like our AlcoPatch and the marketability of our product in America.
We met with Carley, one of the owners of the family run business Brightside Brewery. She offered her views on how students perceive the AlcoPatch and highlighted the possible applications of our patch in the National Health Service (NHS). It was brought to attention that breweries in the UK would have no use for our AlcoPatch. However, she suggested that bars and pubs would be interested in our product.
We spoke with Dr.Mukherjee, a Consultant Psychiatrist from the Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Clinic (FASD), about our project. We discussed the relevance of the AlcoPatch with reference to his area of work, Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. It was concluded that the AlcoPatch would not be beneficial to this syndrome.
