Team:Arizona State/policypractices

SynBio Workshop

Our summer research experience began perhaps like many professional academic and industrial synthetic biology projects begin. We came up with a scientific, engineering-driven solution to a global challenge and immediately started thinking of DNA parts to put together. Our challenge is to make energy production more efficient. The approach we selected was to make two types of genetically modified bacteria that cooperate to build fuel molecules.

It is a challenge for scientists like us who are developing early proof-of-concept systems, such as new synthetic devices for biofuels, to engineer systems in a way that anticipates broader societal impacts. This requires a forward-thinking approach that is both practical and well-informed by input from experts in policy and practices. Scientists are often so specialized in their chosen discipline that these requirements can be difficult to meet.

Therefore, our Policy and Practices project aims to address the challenge of achieving a forward-thinking approach that is both practical and well-informed. The desired outcome is successfully gathering information that will allow us to engineer our system in a way that anticipates relevant societal impacts.

Policy and Practices

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Practices

Resting Cell Assay

To test the productivity of different plasmids, resting cell assays were run. All assays were run in a shaker incubator at 32 degrees C and 200 RPM. A phosphate buffered solution was used to suspend the growth of the cultures.

Quantification

A GC with a DB5 column was used to quantify data from all assays. For testing ethanol production, the method used had an initial temp. of 60 degrees C, and ramped by 10 degrees C until it reached 250 degrees C, which was then held for 3 minutes.