Team:Wageningen UR/Notebook/Outreach
March 23rd – Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue
The Role of Synthetic Biology in Energy Transition
To broaden our horizon and understanding of the possibilities of synthetic biology, we joined a multi-stakeholder dialogue that was organized to discuss the role of synthetic biology in energy transition, by the Athena institute and the Rathenau institute. There is a general belief that something needs to change about the current Dutch energy supply, and during this dialogue we brainstormed about how synthetic biology could be of help achieving this. In a guided way, we generated ideas about applications of synthetic biology for energy supply, starting from future society-scenario’s created the day before. The nice thing about this approach was that we learned about the perspectives of people with different backgrounds, ranging from scientists to business people. It felt like we all started on the same page. The ideas that were most appealing were later worked out in different groups. Lisa and I worked on a scenario, “the green human”, where humans would evolve together with plants to be able to rely on photosynthesis for energy. Of course this scenario is very futuristic, but in our opinion it exposes a very important aspect of both energy transition and synthetic biology: that the public should be involved, to be more conscious about energy use and more engaged with technological advances in the field of synthetic biology.
April – Meetings with DAE students
As mentioned in the collaboration section, we designed our project with the help of students from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Apart from collaborating with them on designing the future end product BeeT, they helped us think about our project and its connection with society. We met with them twice: The first time, we visited them and took part in a design workshop. We talked about our ideas for our iGEM projects - at that time there were still a lot of ideas on the table. The students helped us realize what other “non-science” people think about synthetic biology. The second meeting was a lab day for them to see what our everyday life in the lab looks like. It was fun sharing our knowledge with them. On this day, we especially realized what kind of prejudices a lot of people have towards GMOs. At the end of the day, we learned what aspects we should pay special attention to when presenting our project to the broad public. Moreover, we were able to convince the students that synthetic biology is in fact something good rather than something threatening.
May 21st – National iGEM teams Meetup
On 21/05/2016 we organised the meet-up of all interested Dutch iGEM teams. Four teams took part: Groningen, Leiden, Eindhoven, and us. The meeting was divided in two parts. The first part consisted of every team presenting their project ideas with a brief discussion afterwards. After lunch the brainstorm session started. We divided the group in 4 random subgroups. The groups got to know eachother a bit, and then brainstormed on whatever iGEM related topic they liked. Some groups decided to talk about what team could collaborate with what other team, some teams decided to think about ways to connect in a better way, and some teams thought about how to make iGEM more popular in the Netherlands. After some small presentations of the brainstorm sessions’ results, we discussed several ideas. The outcome of the discussions was:
• a list with contact details and team roles of every Dutch team member has been obtained
• the notion of several collaboration possibilities
• ideas about shared sponsoring and funding
When the discussions were over, the official part came to an end, but some teams ended up ordering pizza and playing board games together. All in all, we feel the day was a success not only for the progress of our projects, but also for getting to know and connecting with our fellow Dutch iGEM teams.
June 24th & 25th – Synenergene Forum
In search for the right conditions for responsible research and innovation, this conference was organized by the Rathenau institute (hyperlink) for all relevant stakeholders when it comes to the future of synthetic biology. Scientists, business people, policymakers and civil society organizations attended, but it was also open for the general public. The promises and pitfalls of synthetic biology were considered from a societal perspective during pitches, presentations, workshops and debates. We attended a workshop about connecting synthetic biology with culture and religion, a link we had not thought about before. During small information rounds, we had the opportunity to talk to experts in the field. We also joined a plenary discussion about freedom and security in an age of synthetic biology. We enjoyed hearing so many different opinions and having the opportunity to talk to experts from all over the world.
RIVM collaboration
Making the Safe by design movie
In contrast to many other synthetic biology applications, BeeT is intended to be used outside the lab, in beehives, which is in close contact with nature. To get a better idea of the viability of our idea, and what it is like to request permission to use an engineered microorganism outside of the lab, we looked at the questions that are asked in such a request (link to website of RIVM) and discuss some that peaked our interest in the movie. Some interesting questions we had not thought about, such as “how can a genetically modified microorganism be recognized among natural relatives?”. Another interesting aspect of the application of synthetic biology is responsibility: if our engineered bacterium would be commercialized, who would be responsible for any adverse effects? In our opinion, scientists are responsible for thoroughly and objectively investigating and reporting possible risks. Companies in turn should monitor whether the technology is sufficiently researched. Companies should also make sure that user manuals are correct and clear to understand, even to people with little experience with comparable technology. Users of the product, the beekeepers in our case, are responsible for using the product in the intended way only and following the user manual provided with the product. Our movie ends with some open questions regarding safe by design, both in general and within our project. Examples are “what should be done to actually realize the insights that are gained by safe by design?” and “should there be more focus on the positive aspects of using a genetically modified microorganism when judging a permission request?”. We don’t know the answer to these questions, but think they are important nevertheless.
September 20th - RIVM meeting
Concluding our collaboration with the RIVM, some members of our team, as well as the other Dutch iGEM teams attended a meeting organized by the RIVM and the Rathenau institute, with the theme: “veilig verder met synthetische biologie”, or “making safe progress in synthetic biology”. During this meeting, researchers, policymakers and policy advisors brainstormed, discussed and presented their ideas about how synthetic biology should be handled in the future. We gave a short presentation about the topic of our project and how we integrated “safe by design” through toxin specificity, controlled expression of the toxin and confinement of our product to the beehive. During a short information market, we got to talk more in depth with people who were interested, presented the movie we made for the RIVM and the Resource from the future that was made in collaboration with Synenergene. There were short “break-out sessions” where safety of previous iGEM projects was discussed in small groups, and at the same time two artists made a huge and beautiful drawing of everything that was discussed during the day. We learned a lot from the interesting talks about further handling safety in synthetic biology both from a political and a societal point of view. An interesting point that comes to mind was made by Sabine Roeser (professor of Ethics, TU Delft), about how feelings of the public concerning synthetic biology can be a useful source of questions on the ethical aspects of our work. She also mentioned how art can be used to connect people to synthetic biology. In our project, we tried to achieve this through collaborating with the Design Academy Eindhoven (hyperlink). Besides, it was nice to get to know more about how the other Dutch iGEM teams handled the RIVM assignment. We thank the RIVM and the Rathenau institute for inviting us, it was an inspiring day!
October 3rd – Project Presentation
On October the 3rd, we organized a lunch lecture at the university to present our project to researchers, beekeepers, students and other interested people. Quite some people were attending and a lot of questions were asked. We are happy about getting to practice our presentation in front of an audience, as well al learning what parts of our story where still unclear. Furthermore, we hope we enthused other students who might participate in next year’s iGEM team!
