Policy

On April 17^th the Wageningen team contacted the National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM), a Dutch government institute concerning policy and research about issues concerning health and environment. Having heard about the potential of synthetic biology they were very interested to learn more about projects involved in the discipline; specifically the possibilities and the potential safety aspect linked to both the projects and the eventual application.

On June 10^th a meeting took place at the RIVM in Utrecht that proved to be highly successful. Two of our team members and a former iGEM participant (now supervisor of our team) met with Jaco Westerink and Cécile van der Vlught from the RIVM to discuss our project and iGEM as a whole. During the meeting a potential annual cooperation between all iGEM teams in the Netherlands and the RIVM was discussed. To that end we invited Jaco, Cécile and Dirk Stemring from the Rathenau Institute to the National meetup of the iGEM teams hosted by Wageningen. It was there that the other Dutch teams got to meet the RIVM representatives and the groundwork for a gathering hosted by the RIVM was laid.

On September 17^th all iGEM teams, Dutch synthetic biologists, several departments from the RIVM and policy makers from different ministries came together at the RIVM for a gathering focusing on information exchange regarding synthetic biology. The main issues that were raised: What is synthetic biology? What are the possibilities and constraints? What opportunities does synthetic biology offer and to what extent is a degree of caution required in accepting some of the applications?

Three speakers, Professor Oscar Kuipers from Molecular Genetics at Groningen University, Dr. Roel Bovenberg from DSM and former iGEM judge Dr. Mark van Passel, were present at the symposium. Offering different perspectives on synthetic biology, Dr. van Passel gave a general introduction pointing out that synthetic biology is method that is used to engineer biology rather than an actual application. Prof. Kuipers explained the different applications his chair is working on using synthetic biology. Dr. van Bovenberg gave an industrial perspective, specifically focusing on DSM’s attempt to incorporate synthetic biology applications in a biobased economy.

In the inaugural symposia, the iGEM students proceeded to give workshops on their iGEM projects with a selection of the audience members. The day closed in the form of an open discussion: the different workshop groups gave an overview of their main points of contention which were subsequently elaborated on by the three speakers. During the workshops the specific applications of the iGEM teams were discussed, focusing on both, the technical and social aspects. For Wageningen, releasing an engineered micro-organism in the soil was especially interesting given the apprehension of using GMO products in Europe. Different comparisons came to the fore such as the use of mutated micro-organisms in Fusarium oxysporum stricken countries as a mode of biological control.

The discussion emphasized that a biological control agent re-engineered using synthetic biology is superior in several aspects: the specificity of the antifungals production upon Fusarium oxysporum detection and the self-termination of the biological control agent if the inducer is no longer present. Two components synthetic biology can offer to reduce the impact on the environment. Policy regarding synthetic biology was also discussed and several questions raised. How do you stimulate innovation but maintain a level of control and safety? What form should the public discourse on this topic take on a national level? To what extent would the BananaGuard application be accepted and legal in Europe? Though none of these questions could be answered in the given time the groundwork for a push in handling these issues has been laid. Concluding; a lot of the work still lies ahead of us, not just on a technical level. The event was fruitful and given the prospect of a yearly cooperation between the Dutch iGEM teams and the RIVM the future looks bright.

The report of the RIVM can be found here.

Future Impact

Wageningen approaching the RIVM in this manner has paved the way for a long term relationship between the Institute and iGEM students. With this first step to build on the cooperation between iGEM and the RIVM can act as a platform from which novel policies can be created. Europe has some of the most strict regulations in place regarding synthetic biology. As it stands the symposium will be repeated next year with the Dutch iGEM teams of 2015. The yearly cooperation means a genuine impact can be made regarding the policies that will be developed over the coming years. By elaborating on our individual iGEM projects, projects considered to be at the forefront of synthetic biology, department employees and policy makers can be updated on the current status of synthetic biology. An open dialogue in which both the technical and societal limitations of sythetic biology can be discussed. In a sense the experience of iGEM can be shared through us with those determining its legal boundaries.