iGEM teams are leading in the area of Human Practices because they conduct their projects within a social/environmental context, to better understand issues that might influence the design and use of their technologies.

Teams work with students and advisors from the humanities and social sciences to explore topics concerning ethical, legal, social, economic, safety or security issues related to their work. Consideration of these Human Practices is crucial for building safe and sustainable projects that serve the public interest.

For more information, please see the Human Practices Hub.

Note

You must fill out this page in order to be considered for all awards for Human Practices:

Human Practices silver medal criterion
Human Practices gold medal criterion
Best Integrated Human Practices award
Best Education and Public Engagement award

Some Human Practices topic areas

Philosophy
Public Engagement / Dialogue
Education
Product Design
Scale-Up and Deployment Issues
Environmental Impact
Ethics
Safety
Security
Public Policy
Law and Regulation
Risk Assessment

What should we write about on this page?

On this page, you should write about the Human Practices topics you considered in your project, and document any special activities you did (such as visiting experts, talking to lawmakers, or doing public engagement).

Inspiration

Read what other teams have done:

Human Practices

Insight on the application of a blood test using the GPC1 detection system

iGEM team members met with an internal medicine specialist, Bibi Zainul, MD., and discussed our project idea as well as applications, should our project succeed. We spoke about the viability of using our yeast as a non-invasive detection tool by performing periodic blood tests on patients who are more susceptible to pancreatic cancer. She made us aware that the tools we require to perform such a test, like a centrifuge and UV lights, are not typically available in most private practice offices and only in some hospitals. She also offered us advice on how to move forward and led us to redesign the application of our project. Due to this, we decided that it would be best to use our project as a lab test that a doctor could order and could be performed off-premises. This affects our project in the following ways: