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Special Awards

Education

We always had our initiatives implemented through interactions and feedback which promoted mutual learning. As rural communities in India have less opportunities to know about novel fields like synthetic biology and since their understanding of basic science and research is minimal, we refined our education strategies to make synthetic biology more accessible and always had a 2-way dialogue with education material through interactive workshops and ideation sessions. We had continuous feedbacks from villagers, educators and science communicators while making a more elementary and narrative syn-bio content that can be shared to anyone even if they are not inclined towards science.  We also educated students of different age groups through various fun activities and laboratory sessions. We educated general public through All India Radio of Karnataka region. We explored the ways to educate specially-abled students through contacting lecturers for deaf and blind and translated our education material to sign language.

Inclusivity

World map with major languages

A huge barrier to participation in synthetic biology is the lack of resources to help learn about this novel field. So, we took it upon ourselves to prepare accessible and inclusive educational material for the largest audience. We used feedback extensively to tuned our material to different needs. We targeted audiences in rural areas by engaging with students, the elderly, and the concerned authorities to improve the impact of our educational initiatives. The current material stands translated in multiple languages, both national and international, removing the barriers of language. To ensure inclusivity towards people with special needs, we got in touch with Kripa, from the Oceania college and got our material translated into sign language for the deaf, both as a hardcopy and in video formats. Our wiki too, has been made accessible for colour blind people by using proper text contrast.

Integrated Human Practices

Team IISc at Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre

At the inception of our project, we listed the fronts our project deals with. Following this, we developed a stakeholder matrix to identify the important stakeholders. Post identification, we identified the ways to contact the concerned people. With a concerted effort from the entire team, we collected all potential contacts. A proper flow of information was developed between the different coordinators to ensure that every snippet of the knowledge we collect is used to improve our project. We ensured that we maintained a diversity of people while contacting to align with all aspects of our project. From researchers, to policymakers and from NGOs to industrialists and economists ,we left no stone unturned. More details on individual contribution is mentioned on our page for Integrated Human Practices.

Model

We developed two models to understand our chassis: a mathematical model describing the kinetics of halocarbon degradation and molecular simulations of the enzyme system. The modelling has been instrumental in planning our proof of concept and implementation. To have an accurate reflection of the biological system, we have incorporated inputs from various experts who guided us over the technicalities of our chassis, such as the incorporation of transport proteins. Understanding enzyme metabolism and the data in the literature was vital for our modelling. We also performed molecular docking simulations to understand the interaction of our substrates with the enzymes, which helped us in the wet-lab. The data was utilized with molecular dynamics simulations to make predictions about parameters essential for our bioreactor-based implementation. Throughout the modelling process, input from other iGEM teams has been instrumental to our project, inspiring us to help future teams by documenting our protocols and procedures pedagogically.

Sustainable Development Impact

Halocleen, in every step of the project, has put a prime focus on sustainable development. As UN Sustainable Development Goals emphasise, a sustainable future is not something that can be achieved by mere individuals; it is a global effort. We ensured that our project is guided by individuals who have been associated with sustainable technology. Ian Crosby’s valuable inputs made us rethink our stakeholder matrix and we made attempts to talk to more industries and assess their outlook. Further conversations with GIZ helped us identify the long-term impact and helped us to model the economy of the solution better. We did an analysis of the goals we meet and narrowed down on Goals 9, 10, 11, 13, 17 as the most important ones. These goals and our role were thoroughly discussed in our Sustainability Development Impact page. We believe our project has immense contribution to sustainability, both short-term and long-term.


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