<p>In order to best implement human practices methods within our work, we PETerminators consulted with experts at global and local levels. We conducted a tour of our beloved Uppsala Vatten biogas plant to gain an idea of what kind of scale our PETerminator pathway would need to achieve in order to be viable. We also gathered valuable insight into how to regulate our pathway: no one would want to find essential plastic degraded by rogue PETerminator bacteria! In collaboration with iGEM Copenhagen, we conducted interviews with several experts from around the world on approaches to managing the paradox of plastic.
We additionally sought to build on previous educational outreach to high schools to foster enthusiasm for and interest in synthetic biology. Previous Uppsala iGEM teams have worked on workshops and labs with 50 high school students from two different high schools here in Uppsala. As part of our final week in the lab, we conducted a basic transformation experiment. Lectures from Anthony Forster and Margareta Krabbe gave introductory lectures beforehand about their work in synthetic bio and safety. We had a blast sharing our enthusiasm for synthetic biology with the high school students!
Overall, we didn’t have much momentum behind actually redesigning or implementing many changes to our lab work based on feedback from experts in the webinar. Nor did we really take into account or implement feedback from Uppsala Vatten. For example, as it is best not to use engineered bacteria within bioreactors in case of environmental contamination, we might have ordered a new backbone for PETase containing some sort of regulator. This was largely due to our intensity in attempting to overexpress our enzymes all in one strain! Wahoo!</p>
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<p>In order to best implement human practices methods within our work, we PETerminators consulted with experts at global and local levels. We conducted a tour of our beloved Uppsala Vatten biogas plant to gain an idea of what kind of scale our PETerminator pathway would need to achieve in order to be viable. We also gathered valuable insight into how to regulate our pathway: no one would want to find essential plastic degraded by rogue PETerminator bacteria! In collaboration with iGEM Copenhagen, we conducted interviews with several experts from around the world on approaches to managing the paradox of plastic. We additionally sought to build on previous educational outreach to high schools to foster enthusiasm for and interest in synthetic biology. Previous Uppsala iGEM teams have worked on workshops and labs with 50 high school students from two different high schools here in Uppsala. As part of our final week in the lab, we conducted a basic transformation experiment. Lectures from Anthony Forster and Margareta Krabbe gave introductory lectures beforehand about their work in synthetic bio and safety. We had a blast sharing our enthusiasm for synthetic biology with the high school students! Overall, we didn’t have much momentum behind actually redesigning or implementing many changes to our lab work based on feedback from experts in the webinar. Nor did we really take into account or implement feedback from Uppsala Vatten. For example, as it is best not to use engineered bacteria within bioreactors in case of environmental contamination, we might have ordered a new backbone for PETase containing some sort of regulator. This was largely due to our intensity in attempting to overexpress our enzymes all in one strain! Wahoo!</p>
