Policy & Practices

During the course of the past summer, we not only refined the technical and biological side of Cellock Holmes but also considered other aspects of our iGEM project such as social acceptance, biosafety and economical relevance.

Spreading the Idea of Synthetic Biology

Unfortunately, a lot people around the world are scared of genetically modified organisms and any application related to them. Though we believe that natural skepticism towards new and unproved technologies is not just good but especially desirable, the current fear some people encounter gene technology with is a bit disproportionate and might be counterproductive to technological and scientific advance in related fields.

However, as reported, for example, in an [http://www.rundschau-online.de/magazin/gentechnik--risiko-oder-chance-,15184902,15929266.html article] published in a local newspaper's magazine, Kölnische Rundschau, the social acceptance of biotechnological products could be higher if people felt informed better. Following up on this, we thought about how we can inform people factually but in a comprehensible way about gene technology and synthetic biology.

At the same time, young students interested in science and engineering are the most valuable future source of innovation. One day, they might be the researchers who develop the solutions to the most pressing issues of our world.

Combining these two thoughts, we visited two schools, the Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium in Aachen and the NEAnderLab in Hilden, where we talked to students about synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, but also explained the scientific background and social aspects of our project. A delegation of our team also visited the MakerFaire in Hannover, a family-friendly exhibition for tinkerers of all kinds, to spread the idea of synthetic biology and to discuss our project with the public. When we organized the Aachen iGEM Meetup 2014, we also made sure to include a public part where all teams who participated in our meetup had the opportunity to present their project to a general audience.

To read more about our different public projects, please click on the respective logo below.

• 
  
  Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium
  
  Teaching Module "Synthetic Biology" for High Schools
  
  
• 
  
  NEAnderLab
  
  In Cooperation with the Gymnasium an Neandertal
  
  
• 
  
  MakerFaire
  
  Visit of a DIY Exhibition
  
  
• 
  
  Aachen iGEM Meetup 2014
  
  Including Public Presentations
  
  

Biosafety

Our iGEM team is committed to reflect all aspects of the entire project, including biosafety. From the beginning on, the team thoroughly discussed safety issues that could potentially arise with the implementation of Cellock Holmes. The results of these discussions fundamentally influenced the design of Watson and the choice of potential application fields. Read more about our safety considerations on our Safety page.

Economical Standpoint

In general we focused open hardware and affiliated with this open software vison. Everyone interested in biological work should be able to use basic equipment like photometers. Commercial obtainable spectrophotometers like [http://www.opticsplanet.com/unico-model-s-1205-spectrophotometer-5-nm-bandpass.html UNICO S-1205] costs 1.249 $ or more and are just able measure optical density. Our presented device could measure optical density and fluorescent for less than 100 $. So we present a solution for low budgets like in schools, universities, community labs or 3rd world countries.

Besides we are presenting WatsOn for detecting P. aeruginosa. WatsOn also underlies the open hardware vision. In times no comparable devices could be found on commercial market. Here we definitely have a vanguard role. Everybody with a little manual dexterity could follow the given instructions and create his WatsOn for less than 300 $. Please still remind always safety aspects by dealing with GMOs and human pathogens.