Team:Tokyo Tech/Policy and Practices

Economics is basically called the "QUEEN SUBJECT " of all subjects of social sciences . Economics is one of the most useful of all sciences, because it make us aware of how thing are exchanged, flourish, and survive within multiple markets. Not even that , it makes us aware of lots of facts which we know earlier but have not .

How can a student ,who has never studied economics before, start to learn? We iGEMers know the knowledge of Synthetic Biology a lot , however we don’t know economics well. So we hope that we could make an educational tool for iGEMers to learn economics by using our familiar E.colis as their first degree.

We aimed at letting a broad range of people, from elementary students to elderly, from people without any scientific background to people who majored in Computer Science know synthetic biology. During these activities, we did poster session and presentation using interactive visuals and understandable text to explain our projects, what genetic manipulation is and what benefits synthetic biology can bring to us. We received many feedbacks about our projects and opinions about how they think about synthetic biology. After reviewing the feedbacks from them, discussing with specialists , we decided our goal of project: Making an educational tool of economics by using E.colis.

gathered at this event and introduced their project to the visitors. Not only students and professors at the university, but also people without any scientific background came and listened to our projects. After introducing our projects, we asked visitors for feedbacks to make our projects better. Our central purpose in this event was to let people know what iGEM is, and change the negative thinking about synthetic biology that many people have.

Solar energy is one of the alternative sources of energy widely used in the world. In this project, we made a solar battery by using photosynthetic bacteria and current generating bacteria to generate power. Wherever sunlight shines, electricity can be generated by this solar battery. It was invented and improved in several institutes, but the low efficiency and inconvenient hardware still tend to be a problem. Therefore, we tried to improve the efficiency of the existing bacteria-using solar battery to make it practical.

In Japan, it is said that one in five people suffers from pollen allergy. More than twenty million people suffer from symptoms, and the number is increasing every year. In order to cure this, we thought of using E. coli in immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is a recently developed treatment that can completely cure the allergy. You introduce allergen into the body in very small amounts, and by gradually increasing it, you can suppress the body′s hyper-allergic reaction. However, there are several defects in this treatment. You have to go to the hospital for treatment many times, and it takes three to five years for a complete recovery. By using E. coli, we tried to invent a faster and easier immunotherapy.

In this project, we tried to make a lie detector by using E. coli. By putting Na+ channel in the flagellum motor, E. coli responds to the sodium ion contained in a liar′s sweat and starts running. If the E. coli moves, it comes in contact with lysozyme and the outer membrane dissolves. Then, ATP inside the E. coli is released to react with luciferase, producing a glow.

We thought of making E. coli act as a bank by taking things in and out. We had two scenarios for this theme:

• Exchanging things between Bank E. coli and Consumer E. coli

• Making deposits and withdraws by a group of Bank E. coli

Other than these stories, recreating the bursting of the bubble economy with E. coli was also in the plan.

Micronutrient fertilizer is very important to the growth of crops. However, more than 70% of the fertilizer goes unused in soil. Phosphorus included in the fertilizer becomes insoluble by binding with metals, such as aluminum and calcium. Since plants cannot absorb these immobilized phosphorus, the phosphorus accumulates in the soil. To solve this problem, we decided to use E. coli to degrade the immobilized phosphorus into phosphoric acid, which plants can absorb. After producing phosphoric acid, E. coli stores it in its body in a polymeric form. By collecting these E. coli and extracting the polymer, we can retrieve the phosphorus left in the soil.

After introducing what iGEM is and our projects to the visitors, they gave us many advices and opinions. We prepared blue and yellow blank Post-it notes, and asked them to write down their opinions. Expressions of agreement or support were written on the yellow Post-it notes, while critical points or suggestions were written on the blue Post-it notes. We reflected the feedback and comments from the visitors to make our projects better (The comments that visitors gave for each project are listed in Table 1). We thank all the visitors for cooperating us in this poster session.

Many visitors, especially people without any scientific background, had negative thinking of E. coli at first. However, by introducing the properties of E. coli, they changed their mind. On the Post-it, there were many opinions saying that they were looking forward to new inventions using E. coli. We can say that our goal, which is letting people know and changing the negative thinking of synthetic biology, has been achieved.
Click here too see visitors' opinions

Fig. 6-1-13. Group picture with the students

The rule of this game is like poker. When we gather a whole series of cards, we can get points. By gathering them together, the player can understand how the combination of different genetic parts can be used to create living organisms with new and desired function.

Fig. 6-1-14. Our group member playing iGEM cards with the students

Fig. 6-1-15. The card of Tokyo_Tech 2013 project

Fig. 6-1-16. Slides used for explaining Tokyo_Tech 2013 project

Questionnaire

After the game, we asked the students to answer a questionnaire. Our survey consisted of the following questions:
Q1. Was the game rule easy to understand? : Easy / Cannot Say / Difficult
Q2. Was the explanation on the card easy to understand? : Easy / Cannot Say / Difficult
Q3. Have you heard of genes and proteins before? : Yes / No
Q4. What kind of image did you have about genes?
Q5. Did you know the word “synthetic biology” before? : Knew very well / A little / Not at all
Q6. Did you become interested in synthetic biology after playing the game? : Yes / No
Q7. What do you want to make by using synthetic biology?
Q8. Free comments about the game

Result of Analysis

Click here too see the result

Consideration of Safety

After playing cards with the students, we were able to have a talk with the school principal and vice principal. They appreciated us for creating cards and teaching the students about synthetic biology in a simple and approachable way.

It was their first time to learn about synthetic biology in detail, so the principals were impressed of the possibility of this field. However, they had doubts about the safety using genetically engineered creatures. Since those creatures do not exist in nature, we do not know what will happen when they are released into the wild. If something happens, it might take a long time to get the previous nature back. Many people have this fear of genetic engineering, and this leads to the bad image of synthetic biology. Based on these doubts, we explained to them the scientists’ measurements for safety. When we make a discovery, for example “iPS cells”, we consider if it is okay to use them for human or nature on a long-term basis. Just like inventing a new medicine, we have to test them on animals for more than ten years, and when the safety is secured, we decide to use them on human.

By discussing with the principals, we were able to know the public mind toward synthetic biology. We feel this image is due to the ignorance of this field. If we can get more people informed of the reality of synthetic biology, maybe we can change the general opinion. We will continue interacting with a variety of people so that more and more people can learn about synthetic biology.

We discussed about iGEM JAPAN’s future initiative at this meeting. Setting up iGEM JAPAN was committed to making it easier for iGEM teams to communicate with each other. However, the interactions between the iGEM teams have been decreasing recently, and the only event that iGEM teams gather together this year is the meetup held at Tokyo Metropolitan University in August.