Team:StanfordBrownSpelman/Human Practices
From 2014.igem.org
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- | Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) (also known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems <a href=" | + | Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) (also known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems <a href="http://www.uavs.org/index.php?page=what_is">(UAS)</a> have a long history of usage. According to |
<a href="http://www.draganfly.com/">DraganFly Innovations Inc.</a>, early UAVs took the form of balloons and they were primarily used for military purposes for monitoring and eliminating enemies in the battlefield. However, in recent years, UAVs have been increasingly used by civilians to accomplish various scientific and humanitarian missions. Due to their promising ability to accomplish tasks that otherwise could have been tedious, unreachable or even dangerous to civilians, our team has considered the idea of improving the current models of UAVs in order to make them more biodegradable, modular and even cheaper and hence increasing their accessibility and practicability to the scientific and civilian societies. | <a href="http://www.draganfly.com/">DraganFly Innovations Inc.</a>, early UAVs took the form of balloons and they were primarily used for military purposes for monitoring and eliminating enemies in the battlefield. However, in recent years, UAVs have been increasingly used by civilians to accomplish various scientific and humanitarian missions. Due to their promising ability to accomplish tasks that otherwise could have been tedious, unreachable or even dangerous to civilians, our team has considered the idea of improving the current models of UAVs in order to make them more biodegradable, modular and even cheaper and hence increasing their accessibility and practicability to the scientific and civilian societies. | ||
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We are harnessing the power of genetic engineering to mitigate both of these scenarios. To address horizontal gene transfer, we are recoding the cells on our UAV to use the UAG stop codon, which usually signals the truncation of a protein during translation, as leucine, an amino acid, instead. When we engineer the genes we wish to transform into our cells (an “amberless” strain, as UAG stop is called “amber”), all instances of UAG will be replaced with different stop codons, and all leucine residues will be coded for by UAG. Thus, any engineered genes which are passed from an amberless cell to a normal cell in the environment will not be read correctly, as each leucine residue will be instead be interpreted as “stop” and will result in the production of a non-functional protein fragment. We hope that our amberless strain can be adopted as a model for any engineered organisms one might wish to send into the environment. <br><br> | We are harnessing the power of genetic engineering to mitigate both of these scenarios. To address horizontal gene transfer, we are recoding the cells on our UAV to use the UAG stop codon, which usually signals the truncation of a protein during translation, as leucine, an amino acid, instead. When we engineer the genes we wish to transform into our cells (an “amberless” strain, as UAG stop is called “amber”), all instances of UAG will be replaced with different stop codons, and all leucine residues will be coded for by UAG. Thus, any engineered genes which are passed from an amberless cell to a normal cell in the environment will not be read correctly, as each leucine residue will be instead be interpreted as “stop” and will result in the production of a non-functional protein fragment. We hope that our amberless strain can be adopted as a model for any engineered organisms one might wish to send into the environment. <br><br> | ||
- | Finally, to address the invasion of our cells into the environment, we are engineering a pressure-sensitive “kill switch.” Upon crash, the cells will activate quorum sensing (a method of intercellular communication), which will act as a signal to begin producing a set of proteins which can degrade the cellulose acetate base material. Much of the UAV (minus the metals) will degrade into glucose, which can be taken up by organisms in the crash environment, while the engineered cells will be killed by the free acetate, which, hopefully, will be in high enough concentration to harm the biofilm but not the crash environment. | + | Finally, to address the invasion of our cells into the environment, we are engineering a pressure-sensitive “kill switch.” Upon crash, the cells will activate quorum sensing (a method of intercellular communication), which will act as a signal to begin producing a set of proteins which can degrade the cellulose acetate base material. Much of the UAV (minus the metals) will degrade into glucose, which can be taken up by organisms in the crash environment, while the engineered cells will be killed by the free acetate, which, hopefully, will be in high enough concentration to harm the biofilm but not the crash environment.<br><br> |
- | <div class="sub4"><a href="work/PUT-PDF-REFERENCE-HEREpdf"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/2/25/SBS_iGEM_2014_download.png"></a><a href="work/PUT-PDF-REFERENCE-HEREpdf">Click here to download an essay detailing S-B-S iGEM's collaboration with the United States Environmental Protection Agency.</a></div> | + | In order to determine whether these measures would be enough to ensure the safe and ethical dispersal of recombinant DNA into the environment, we have begun conversations with Dr. Mark Segal at the US Environmental Protection Agency. These talks served two purposes: to understand the current status of regulations surrounding the release of engineered biological materials into the environment and to see whether our adapted amberless concept might serve to clarify certain gray areas and push regulations forward, making them more sensible for researchers and safer for ecosystems everywhere. Currently, the study of genetically-modified organisms in the environment is covered under the 1997 <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1997-04-11/pdf/97-8669.pdf" target="_blank">Microbial Products of Biotechnology</a> section of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which says that limited, controlled trials are exempt from seeking EPA approval. However, the ultimate application of these recombinant cells in remote sensing capabilities (i.e. on a biodegradable UAV) would require approval from the EPA in the form of a TSCA Environmental Release Application (TERA). We are still in the process of determining whether our amberless concept could act as a case study for the EPA to consider when drafting new regulations. |
+ | |||
+ | <!-- ===LINK TO NONEXISTENT EPA PAPER=== <div class="sub4"><a href="work/PUT-PDF-REFERENCE-HEREpdf"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/2/25/SBS_iGEM_2014_download.png"></a><a href="work/PUT-PDF-REFERENCE-HEREpdf">Click here to download an essay detailing S-B-S iGEM's collaboration with the United States Environmental Protection Agency.</a></div> --> | ||
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- | Built atop Foundation. Content & Development © Stanford–Brown–Spelman iGEM 2014. | + | Built atop Foundation. Content & Development © Stanford–Brown–Spelman iGEM 2014. |
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Latest revision as of 03:00, 18 October 2014
Uses of UAVs & Orthogonal
Systems in Nature
Systems in Nature
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) (also known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have a long history of usage. According to
DraganFly Innovations Inc., early UAVs took the form of balloons and they were primarily used for military purposes for monitoring and eliminating enemies in the battlefield. However, in recent years, UAVs have been increasingly used by civilians to accomplish various scientific and humanitarian missions. Due to their promising ability to accomplish tasks that otherwise could have been tedious, unreachable or even dangerous to civilians, our team has considered the idea of improving the current models of UAVs in order to make them more biodegradable, modular and even cheaper and hence increasing their accessibility and practicability to the scientific and civilian societies.
In the midst of our scientific design process and laboratory work, our team has taken into serious consideration the risks, ethics and stigma of using UAVs for civilian uses. Our aim in conducting this iGEM human practices project was to dive deep into the social and economic impacts of using synthetic biology in general. Our second aim was to consider how to work around the stigma present in society regarding the uses of UAVs. Part of this project was also to discuss the regulations and policies involved in the flying of civilian UAVs and assess the accessibility and practicability of the current civilian UAVs. The main reason of doing this human practices project was to bring our laboratory work closer to humanity by assessing the impacts of our creation to the general society.
In the midst of our scientific design process and laboratory work, our team has taken into serious consideration the risks, ethics and stigma of using UAVs for civilian uses. Our aim in conducting this iGEM human practices project was to dive deep into the social and economic impacts of using synthetic biology in general. Our second aim was to consider how to work around the stigma present in society regarding the uses of UAVs. Part of this project was also to discuss the regulations and policies involved in the flying of civilian UAVs and assess the accessibility and practicability of the current civilian UAVs. The main reason of doing this human practices project was to bring our laboratory work closer to humanity by assessing the impacts of our creation to the general society.
Our Work with the EPA—
Synthetic Biology in the Air: Biological
UAVs and Environmental Safety Concerns
Synthetic Biology in the Air: Biological
UAVs and Environmental Safety Concerns