Team:Hong Kong HKUST/human practice/safety and ethics

Safety and ethics

Professor LAM Hon Ming is a faculty of School of Life Sciences in Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is also a director of molecular biotechnology program and Center for Soybean Research in CUHK. His research field involves genomic and functional genomic studies of soybean and identification and characterization of functional genes to improve abiotic stress tolerance and disease resistance in plants. Prof. Lam helped us reflect upon the real life application of our project and led us to some new potential ideas regarding future application. He also talked extensively about safety and ethical issues that were relevant to synthetic biology and our project in general. The interview has greatly helped us to explore the non-technical aspects of our iGEM project that we have not yet examined in depth.
The meaning of life is a philosophical question concerning the significance of life or existence in general. It can also be expressed in different forms, such as "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", and "What is the purpose of existence?" It has been the subject of much philosophical, scientific, and theological speculation throughout history.