To get a deeper insight of clinical condition and drug design, we maintained a steady connection with Jiao Yuhao, a senior in Tsinghua School of Medicine and also a gastroenterologist in Peking Union Hospital now. He introduced the general treating methodology, the development of treatment and the corresponding efficacy. As for drug delivery, he explained the main challenges in oral administration and gave suggestions on improving the efficiency of gas delivery. He also provided guidelines on questionnaire design and patient interaction.
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<p><strong>Who</strong><br>
Jiao Yuhao, Physician of Department of Gastroenterology, Peking Union Hospital.
<p><strong>Why</strong><br>
In the early stages of the project, after we had settled on the topic of IBD, we were eager to gain insights into the clinical aspects of IBD. However, it was not an easy task to obtain the contact information of medical professionals. Fortunately, one of our team members, who was a medical student, knew a senior, Jiao Yuhao, who had already started working at Peking Union Hospital. Consequently, we reached out to this senior for advice, inquiring about the clinical diagnosis and treatment of IBD, as well as his perspective on the design of our project.</p>
<p>We began by inquiring about the clinical treatment strategies for IBD. Jiao Yuhao explained that treatment strategies were quite complex, with different approaches for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as varying strategies for mild to moderate versus severe active conditions. However, the overall approach primarily involved the use of immunosuppressants/immunomodulators. Traditionally, the treatment core has been the use of intestinal-released salicylate preparations, with the consideration of adding corticosteroids based on the activity of the disease. Nowadays, there are new biologic agents available, such as infliximab, adalimumab, certolizumab, natalizumab, vedolizumab, and ustekinumab, each targeting different pathways. The efficacy in the era of biologics has improved, with an increased likelihood of maintaining disease inactivity or low activity, by about 20%. We also asked about the feasibility of inhalational delivery, to which Jiao Yuhao advised us to calculate the distribution gas volume and assess the dose required to reach therapeutic concentrations. While offering us warm advice, Jiao Yuhao also expressed his full support for our project and offered to help us find patients.</p>
<p>Later on, we sought to demonstrate the advantages of inhalational therapy over oral administration. Since our senior Jiao Yuhao had told us to contact him any time we had questions, we consulted him again when considering the disadvantages of oral medications. Jiao Yuhao mentioned that in principle, drugs could be administered orally with the addition of appropriate adjuvants and controlled-release systems, but oral delivery was still subject to limitations such as the first-pass effect, bioavailability, and toxicity of metabolites. We also took into account that oral administration could be relatively less convenient. Inhalational therapy, on the other hand, retained its unique advantages.</p>
<p>When we were planning to conduct a patient survey, we also consulted Jiao Yuhao about ethical and legal matters. We wanted to know if surveying patients for their opinions required policy review. Jiao Yuhao informed us that survey questionnaires typically needed to include a privacy and confidentiality agreement, which we should place at the beginning of our questionnaire.</p>
<p>We are extremely grateful for Jiao Yuhao's ongoing support and advice. Reliably and heartily, he provided us with a primary understanding of IBD, explained pharmacological knowledge related to our project, and guided us through our clinical investigation. </p>
Li Jingwen, a senior in Tsinghua School of Medicine, also working in microbiome lab, highlighted the challenges in yeast colonization and feedback acquisition, which was thought-provoking and inspired us to improve our project. She also discussed the relatively low efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation, and stated that IBD was a recurrent disease with no cure. Therefore, it is of great significance to find a long-term, convenient and patient-friendly alleviation.
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<p><strong>Who</strong><br>
Li Jingwen, undergraduate student at School of Medicine, Tsinghua University.
<p><strong>Why</strong><br>
Early in our project, we aimed to reach out broadly to people with clinical experience in IBD to provide more background for our project and to exchange ideas about our topic. One of our team members, a medical student, inquired in her department's alumni WeChat group if any senior alumni were working in gastroenterology. A senior alumnus got in touch with her. Although she herself was not in the gastroenterology department, her mother was working in the gastroenterology department at Peking University Hospital, and her future research direction was related to IBD. She expressed interest in engaging in a discussion with us.</p>
<p>Before we had introduced ourselves, she had methodically inquired about our project in detail, including the action mechanism and regulatory mechanism. She also pointed out some of the challenges our project might face, such as how the yeast would colonize, how to monitor population density and the yield, and how to obtain feedback from the control system, which profoundly stimulated our thinking. Following this, she discussed the current clinical status of IBD treatment, which mainly involved anti-inflammatory immunotherapy. Her research focus was on fecal microbiota transplantation, which only elicited a response in about one-third of the patients. She highlighted that the hallmark of IBD was its recurrent nature, and there was no guaranteed cure. Therefore, long-term relief with a good patient experience could be a viable solution. Finally, she reminded us that if there were complex control mechanisms in the yeast, colonization would be the biggest challenge, and we would need to prevent the yeast from being crowded out by the existing intestine flora. This advice was very pertinent and prompted us to start considering methods of colonization.</p>
<p>Since Li Jingwen's own research was in the field of IBD, the advice she provided was incisively to the point. Communicating with her was highly enlightening for us and prompted us to begin contemplating and attempting to address the challenges associated with the clinical translation of our project.</p>
Since the experience of patients is the core of a human-centered therapy design, we recruited and interviewed student patients from various regions in the world. They elaborated the everyday feelings of IBD patients and expressed their wholehearted support for our project, which was encouraging. They also provided valuable suggestions on product design to ensure convenience.
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<p><strong>Who</strong><br>
IBD patients.
<p><strong>Why</strong><br>
Medicine revolves around the human core. Our therapy is designed for IBD patients and must necessarily incorporate the opinions of the patients and align with their needs. Due to the particularity of IBD conditions and the confidentiality required for patient interviews, we faced numerous obstacles in reaching out to patients. However, we still managed to interview four patients, one of whom chose to remain anonymous, while the other three were willing to appear on camera. We introduced our therapy to them and listened to their perspectives.</p>
<p>During the interview, we began by introducing ourselves, explaining the purpose of the interview, and ensuring that the patient was fully informed. Subsequently, we inquired about the patient's medical history, such as whether they were suffering from Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, the symptoms they typically experienced, the current treatment they were undergoing, as well as its efficacy and side effects. We paid particular attention to the impact of IBD on the patient's daily life, including whether it affected their work, study, social activities, and mental health. Following this, we introduced our Muscure therapy, detailing the administration method and the principle behind the treatment. We asked the patients if they had any suggestions for improving our treatment approach and what their greatest expectations were for the outcomes of our project. Given that our therapy was more convenient and had fewer side effects compared to traditional treatments, we were also interested in whether patients would be inclined towards our inhalational treatment. In the end, we summarized the key points of the interview and expressed our gratitude. </p>
<p>The patients have put forward many enlightening perspectives. For instance, they suggested that making the product in the form of a bracelet or necklace could be more convenient to carry than a medicine sachet. Additionally, on the other hand, their trust in traditional Chinese medicine could enhance the credibility of the sachet in their eyes. Moreover, some patients have expressed their anticipation for the launch of our product and have even volunteered to be testers. Although the actual launch requires rigorous clinical trials, we are deeply moved by the patients' expectations and trust, which also fuels our motivation for research and innovation.</p>
<p>Through interviews with IBD patients, we gained insights into their conditions, treatment histories, and the impact on their daily lives. We delved into their expectations regarding the muscone therapy, thereby clarifying the potential significance and areas for improvement of the project.</p>
We had online meetings with Codemao company and consulted how to design a popular science programming software with synthetic biology background to better popularize the principles and concepts of synthetic biology among teenagers.
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<p><strong>Who</strong><br>
Codemao company is an educational technology company focusing on youth coding education, founded in March 2015, dedicated to providing innovative programming learning experience for teenagers aged 4-16.
<p><strong>Why</strong><br>
The concept and principle of synthetic biology for teenagers is too abstract to understand. We hope to analogy the principle of modular programming, putting the biological components in synthetic biology into similar blocks and designing a similar modular programming software, to help teenagers understand the principle and concept of synthetic biology, and make synthetic biology better popular in the adolescent group.</p>
<p>Codemao company is a representative enterprise of youth programming education in China, and its success has promoted the popularization of programming technology among young people. We hope that this exchange will transform our vision of modular programming software for synthetic biology into a specific design and get more advice on software development.</p>
<p>In the discussion, Codemao company fully affirmed our vision for the development of modular science software for synthetic biology, and provided us with many basic tools for the development of modular programming software to further implement our ideas.</p>
<p>Through this exchange, we have had a more detailed design scheme for the idea of synthetic biology popular science software. At the same time, we hope to carry out cross-field cooperation with more enterprises in different fields to carry out more cross-cutting projects related to synthetic biology and promote the wider popularization of synthetic biology in more fields.</p>
Our team had produced a project promotional brochure, and for user-friendly, we were planning to design a large-print edition based on the standard brochure. We consulted Bao Guohong from the Braille Press to understand the standards for large-print manuals and to have her viewpoints on what adjustments we should make. Bao Guohong provided some revision suggestions from the perspective of visual disability, and we created a version of the manual tailored for visually impaired people.
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<p><strong>Who</strong><br>
Baoguohong, the editor-in-chief of the China Braille Press.
<p><strong>Why</strong><br>
We had created an informational booklet to promote our project. In order to enhance the attention given to minority groups, we planned to design a large-print edition. Due to our lack of experience in this area, we sought advice from Bao Guohong, the chief editor of the China Braille Press. We sent her our booklet and asked for her advice.</p>
<p>Regarding our primary concerns, Bao Guohong stated that the minimum font size for large-print materials should be 3 points. In terms of typography, it was advisable to avoid using script or cursive fonts, and the line color should be intensified. There should be a clear contrast between the text and the background color; for instance, red text should not be placed on a red background. Specifically, she highlighted areas in our booklet that required improvement, such as changing the text color to blue-purple or dark green, using pure colors for the background, avoiding black backgrounds and ornate fonts, among other suggestions. Additionally, she made recommendations on font selection. As for images, individuals with low vision could see them, but it required more effort. It was preferable to avoid using gradient colors in images. If the image was the main content, it was important to emphasize the colors of the image and either remove or diminish colors that might cause distraction.</p>
<p>Bao Guohong's professional and practical advice was incredibly helpful. Following her suggestions, we refined our science promotional brochure and created a version for the visually impaired, expanding our target audience.</p>
