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| - | <h1><center>Communication<center></h1>
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| - | <p> As an interdisciplinary team, we quickly realized that we needed to find effective ways to communicate complex concepts and ideas from each of our disciplines - biochemistry, engineering, biology, chemistry, and law - to other members of the team with no more than a lay background knowledge. Doing this enabled us to take advantage of our different knowledge and perspectives, bringing a new angle and fresh approach to the work in each of our fields, and allowed us to use our combined knowledge to tackle problems which we would not have been able to address individually. <br>
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| - | This sharing of knowledge and ideas is essential not only within successful iGEM teams: our interdisciplinary group is, in this regard, a microcosm of society at large. Dialogue between scientists and non-scientists must be two-way, understanding and willingness to listen on both sides; the lack of this mutual communication has caused massive problems for areas of science, biotechnology foremost amongst them, in recent years. <br>
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| - | The so-called 'knowledge deficit assumption', according to which public objections to science are based on lack of understanding and misinformation, is no longer an adequate explanation to brush off widespread concerns about synthetic biology. In the 21st Century, scientists have to take some responsibility for education and explaining science in an accessible way, avoiding psychobabble without dumbing down ideas. If this has been achieved, there is then a responsibility to take the views and concerns of the public seriously - as we found on a small scale within our team, in a society of individuals with a wide range of different expertise can offer different perspectives and may be able to spot flaws or potential problems in the bigger picture which a reasearcher, immersed in the minute detail of a project, has not considered. Opposition does not equal misconprehension; a well-informed public may legitimately conclude from the information they have absorbed that the risks of a certain project are unacceptable or outweigh the benefits. Equally, support does not equal understanding; it is important to ensure that where the public do back a development, they do so having made a full assessment of the benefits and risks, with realistic expectations and to the likely benefits and limitations of the science. <br>
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| - | With this in mind, we thought about methods of communication our team had found useful during the course of our summer project, and how these could potentially be applied in the dialogue between scientists and the public to ensure that DCMation has the level of public enthusiasm necessary for widespread use in society. </p>
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| - | <h2> Ten Hundred Word Dictionary </h2>
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| - | <p> - Synthetic Biology </p>
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| - | <p> - Modelling </p>
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| - | <p> - Monopoly </p>
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| - | <p> A situation in which just one business has control of the whole of a given area. </p>
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| - | <p> - Intellectual Property </p>
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| - | <p> A right to use your ideas, and to stop others from using/making money from your work, usually only for a fixed time. </p>
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| - | <p> - Open Source </p>
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| - | <p> A way of sharing ideas and work for free, so that they can be used by anyone and everyone without paying money. </p>
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| - | <p> - Bioremediation </p>
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| - | <p> - Biobrick</p>
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| - | <p> - DCMation</p>
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| - | <p> - iGEM </p>
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| - | <p> - Gene </p>
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| - | <p> - Bacteria </p>
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| - | <p> - Deterministic </p>
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| - | <p> - Stochastic </p>
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| - | <p> - Realisation </p>
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| - | <br>
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| - | <p> Try it for yourself at http://splasho.com/upgoer5/ - it's harder than it sounds!
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| - | <br>
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| - | <center><iframe src="http://files.flipsnack.com/iframe/embed.html?hash=fz952jmm&wmode=transparent&t=1407835997" width="640" height="385" seamless="seamless" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe></center>
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| - | <h2> Focus Groups </h2>
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| - | <h3> <center> 8th August 2014 - Round 1 </center> </h3>
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| - | <p> Our team hosted a group of volunteers, members of the public with no particular interest or prior experience of biotechnology. Our aim was to gain a deeper understanding of public perceptions and concerns regarding the advance of synthetic biology, and in particular to get an idea of how far these concerns are based on misinformation/lack of understanding, and how far they are legitimate, well-founded fears which need to be addressed by the scientific community as the field grows and develops. <br>
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| - | Particular issues which appear to be recurring themes in this discussion include: <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Cross-Contamination of 'engineered' genes between synthetic and natural organisms </font><br>
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| - | There is widespread concern that biological machines may evolve, proliferate, and produce unexpected interactions which might alter the ecosystem. <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Use of Bacteria (such as E. coli and P. pseudomonas) </font><br>
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| - | The notion of 'bacteria' generally, and particularly the strains our team plans to use, have strong medical associations and are believed by many to be hazardous to health. E coli is widely understood to cause diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, whilst pseudomonas is best known for causing infections including pneumonia and swimmer's ear. <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Uncontrolled Release of modified organisms into the environment </font> <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Spread of Antibiotic Resistance from synthetic to natural bacteria </font> <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Bioterrorism </font> <br>
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| - | <p> The public are fearful of the ability of synthetic biology to produce known/modified/new organisms designed to be harmful to humans (as demonstrated, for example, by the synthesis of viruses such as the polio virus and the pandemic Spanish Flu virus and nurtured by Hollywood dramas such as 'Outbreak'). <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Creation of 'Artificial Life' </font> <br>
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| - | <p> Some of the group expressed fears about scientists 'playing God', explaining their philosophical and religious concerns about the process of creation and the nature of 'living' beings. There was significant confusion as to how exactly 'life' should be defined, where it begins and ends, and what the requisite level of complexity is. Some people vaguely expressed fears that synthetic biology will 'blur' the line between the 'artificial and natural worlds', although did not elaborate on what was meant by this nor why this would be such a negative development.
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Creation of Monopolies </font><br>
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| - | There is some concern that patenting could lead to creation of commercial monopolies and inhibit research. [e.g. BRCA 1 Gene monopoly causing increase in price of testing which could potentially save lives). <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Global Justice</font><br>
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| - | Some of the group expressed worries about the fact that much of the development of synthetic biology and resulting intellectual property is likely to take place in and by extension principally benefit rich, developed nations. Particular examples of this concern which were raised included the possibility of farmers in poor countries becoming dependent on modified crop seeds controlled by large corporations which could extract whatever price they wished for the product, and the possibility of cheap alternatives for manufacture of chemicals such as antimalarial medicine (artemisinin) ensuring that local prodiction of natural equivalent products would no longer be sustained. Generally, this fear is expressed as a concern that technologies which are socially accepted on the premise that they will improve quality of life in less developed countries (golden rice and GM mosquitoes being cited as examples of such projects) may in actual fact benefit only rich Western companies and have no or even a detrimental impact on the lives of those the project was intended to help. <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Lack of Regulation</font> <br>
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| - | There is great concern that the development of fast-growing fields such as synthetic biology is 'overtaking' the regulation which is in place to regulate its application and to balance the risks and potential benefits. The possibility of biological warfare programmes is a major worry. A further concern is the possibility of 'garbage biology' (DIY home synthetic biology) may become a more popular, widespread hobby in the future - increased accessibility would make regulations which are in place far more difficult to enforce in practice. <br>
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| - | <h3><center> 15th August 2014 - Round 2 </center></h3>
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| - | <p> For the second focus group, we decided to produce a brief informative presentation giving an overview of synthetic biology, its pros and cons, and an outline of our project and aims. Also included were some 'mythbusters' directed at addressing the misconceptions we came across during the first focus group.<br>
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| - | <br>We hoped that comparison of the results from the group with the benefit of this information would help us to establish which concerns are legitimate and which are alleviated by greater understanding and communication.
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| - | <br>
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| - | <p> With this group, the focus of discussion shifted from the potential problems with biotechnology, to ways in which these could be addressed.
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| - | <h3> <center> Conclusions <center></h3>
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| - | <p>With both groups, there appeared to be a very wide range in the level of understanding of synthetic biology. This is supported by the results of our survey, which also suggest a correlation between age and level of understanding (with younger generations tending to have increased knowledge). Further, it appears that many of the views of those in the focus group were based on media accounts of developments in the field - again, this is consistent with the feedback from our survey.
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| - | Public concerns regarding synthetic biology arise from a combination of lack of understanding and legitimate worries. <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Listening to Public Concerns </font><br>
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| - | All members of the group agreed that scientists should. Some members also expressed skepticism as to the claims of synthetic biology, and suspected that the potential benefits of the technology had been 'overhyped' in many areas, creating unrealistic hopes. It is important <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Valuing Public Support</font><br>
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| - | It was agreed that it is crucially important for scientists to recognise the importance of securing and maintaining public support and legitimacy. For this reason, scientific development must seek to earn public trust by not advancing too far ahead of public attitudes, and ensuring that potential applications of new technology offer clearly explained social benefits.<br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Accessibility of Information </font><br>
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| - | Many of the group felt that there remains a deficit of accessible, reliable, and impartial information. Independent sources of information are particularly significant: some members also expressed skepticism as to the claims of synthetic biology, and suspected that the potential benefits of the technology had been 'overhyped' in many areas, creating unrealistic hopes. Similarly, it was recognised that information concerning the risks of synthetic biology frequently comes from biased sources which may have a motive to overstate the dangers and seek to create excessive public anxiety. <br>
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| - | - <font style="font-weight:bold"> Balanced Regulation </font><br>
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| - | There is great concern that the development of fast-growing fields such as synthetic biology is 'overtaking' the regulation which is in place to regulate its application and to balance the risks and potential benefits. Such concerns could be addressed <br> </p>
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| - | <p> We used the feedback from these focus groups to shape the direction of our survey questions.
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| - | <br> <br>
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| - | <a><center> <href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/Public Information Pack">Click here to view the information sheet we produced for our focus group.</a> </center></p>
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| - | <h2> Video Demonstrations </h2>
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| - | <p> Corinna explains how to make primers...</p>
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| - | <p> Oliver and his bottle rocket...</p>
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| - | <p> The Candle Boat... </p>
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| - | <h1><center> Audiences <center></h1>
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| - | <p>Presenting to different audiences... </p> <br>
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| - | <h2> The Royal Society </h2>
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| - | <p>Phil and Glen...</p>
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| - | <p>Leroy, Siân...</p>
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| - | <h2> Sheffield iGEM Meet Up </h2>
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| - | <p>Fran, Corinna, Emily, Ollie...</p>
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| - | <h2> Oxford University Biochemistry Department </h2>
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| - | <p>Glen and Oliver...</p>
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| - | <h2>Public Focus Group</h2>
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| - | <p> Siân (Phil and Fran?)...</p>
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| - | <h2>UNIQ Summer School </h2>
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| - | <h2> Isis Patent Lawyers</h2>
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| - | <p>Siân...</p>
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| - | <h2> And of course, Boston!</h2>
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| - | =<center>Survey Results</center>=
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| - | We plan to survey the atttitudes and perceptions of the public, legislators/lawyers, and those working in biotechnology. See below for the results of this survey!
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| - | ==Survey Results==
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| - | <div class="issuedate">The respondents rated information highly for accuracy (although perhaps this is to be expected as it is unlikely one would continue to read information from a source which regularly got the facts wrong). Relevance also scored highly, showing that people feel synthetic biology has a sufficient impact on their lives that they ought to be kept informed about it. The high score for availability is likely due to the heavy reliance on online information, however it is probable that this reliance also contributes to the relatively low scores for independence and accessibility. The sources accessed by the public online may well not be aimed at laymen but intended to be read by students or professionals and so may contain a high level of technical detail not accessible to the lay public.</div>
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| - | <div class="issuedate">How would you rate the quality of this information?</div>
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| - | <p>The respondents rated information highly for accuracy (although perhaps this is to be expected as it is unlikely one would continue to read information from a source which regularly got the facts wrong). Relevance also scored highly, showing that people feel synthetic biology has a sufficient impact on their lives that they ought to be kept informed about it. The high score for availability is likely due to the heavy reliance on online information, however it is probable that this reliance also contributes to the relatively low scores for independence and accessibility. The sources accessed by the public online may well not be aimed at laymen but intended to be read by students or professionals and so may contain a high level of technical detail not accessible to the lay public.</p>
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