{% extends "layout.html" %} {% block title %}Human Practices{% endblock %} {% block lead %}We ask every team to think deeply and creatively about whether their project is responsible and good for the world. Consider how the world affects your work and how your work affects the world.{% endblock %} {% block page_content %}

Silver Medal Criterion #2

Explain how you have determined your work is responsible and good for the world.


Please see the 2023 Medals Page for more information.

Best Integrated Human Practices

To compete for the Best Integrated Human Practices prize, please describe your work on this page and also fill out the description on the judging form.

How does your project affect society and how does society influence the direction of your project? How might ethical considerations and stakeholder input guide your project purpose and design and the experiments you conduct in the lab? How does this feedback enter into the process of your work all through the iGEM competition? Document a thoughtful and creative approach to exploring these questions and how your project evolved in the process to compete for this award!


Please see the 2023 Awards Page for more information.

Evolution of Our Project


Project TABI developed through the team's shared desire to address public health crises with synthetic biology. Throughout our discovery work, we prioritized projects that offered practical and effective solutions to real problems facing under-served communities. We considered many projects in the scope of public health, and our discovery work ultimately converged on a project in environmental remediation. As a generation raised in the shadow of global warming, we understand that the effects of environmental crises are extensive, and that they disproportionately impact under-equipped communities. We wanted to model a project that demonstrated the potential for synthetic biology to effectively address environmental crises.

With this, we first considered remediation of one of the most prevalent toxins in marine ecosystems: domoic acid. Domoic acid is a potent neurotoxin released by Pseudo-nitzschia australis during HABs; the toxin seasonally contaminates marine ecosystems through accumulation in shellfish and sardines. Organisms that ingest contaminated fish are poisoned

Inspiration & Goals


Project TABI developed through the team's shared desire to address public health crises with synthetic biology. Throughout our discovery work, we prioritized projects that offered practical and effective solutions to real problems facing under-served communities. We considered many projects in the scope of public health; our focus had to adapt with respect to our timeline and through the development of our human practices.

Discovery Work

Our discovery work converged on a project in environmental remediation. As a generation raised in the shadow of global warming, we understand that the effects of environmental crises are extensive, and that they disproportionately impact under-equipped communities. We wanted to model a project that demonstrated the potential for synthetic biology to effectively address environmental crises.

With this, we first considered remediation of one of the most prevalent toxins in marine ecosystems: domoic acid. Domoic acid is a potent neurotoxin released by Pseudo-nitzschia australis during HABs; the toxin seasonally contaminates marine ecosystems through accumulation in shellfish and sardines. Organisms that ingest contaminated fish are poisoned; the environment and economy suffer when toxic HABs persist. We recognized that the frequency of toxic HABs would only increase with global warming, so we wanted to address this with synthetic biology.

TABI began with a meeting with Professor Raphael Kudela at UCSC, who specializes in phytoplankton ecology. He referred us to multiple researchers that would have insight into how toxic HABs impact marine ecology. This meeting was also when we were introduced to Microcystis aeruginosa and microcystin contamination in Pinto Lake.

With Dr. Kudela's referral, we spoke to Monica Thrukall, a UCSD graduate student in the Allen Lab studying Pseudo-nitzschia australis. She informed us that domoic acid remediation was unfeasible because Pseudo-nitzschia australis blooms were too distributed, and techniques for engineering this species were under-developed. This is the first time we felt frustrated by the lack of generalized techniques for engineering non-model species. We began considering generalized solutions for this limitation, and we shifted our remediation efforts toward a more local environment: microcystin contamination in Pinto Lake.

Understanding the Impacts of Microcystin

We had the privilege of meeting with Bryan Condy, the laboratory manager for the City of Watsonville. We discussed issues faced by pinto Lake, noting that there has been an increase in toxic HABs since the 1980s. Bryan informed us that the warming climate, chronic agricultural runoff, and excessive phosphorous levels from sediment at the bottom of Pinto Lake are the main cause of HABs. Representing a low-income community, Bryan stressed the need to preserve free, safe, and accessible outdoor opportunities in the under-served community of Watsonville.

Our effort towards microcystin remediation directed us to a meeting with Professor Shaun McKinnie of UCSC who specializes in biologically-significant natural products and their related enzymes. Dr. McKinnie introduced our team to the mcy gene cluster that synthesizes microcystin, and recommended research into degradation genes within the genomes of M. aeruginosa and its competitors. We decided against the expression of microcystin-degrading enzymes in M. aeruginosa because we wanted to address the source of the problem: microcystin production.

We decided to pursue targeted mutagenesis of a gene within the mcy cluster to selectively disrupt M. aeruginosa toxicity while maintaining cell viability. We believed this approach would work to remediate microcystin toxicity in Pinto Lake with minimal ecological disruption. We consulted with several researchers to help draft our protocol. Notably, Dr. Glenn Millhauser and Dr. Kevin Singewald of UCSC provided us with guidance about microcystin analysis, and Dr. Diego Gelsinger of Columbia University aided us in prokaryotic genome engineering.

Inspirations


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