Human Practice

The iGEM competition calls on students to build interdisciplinary teams of biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists to ask new questions about what synthetic biology can do. Over the past ten years, thousands of students from countries around the world have started to imagine a future that uses biology as a design medium, and that relies on open-source, standardized parts to build novel biological functions.

iGEM teams "go beyond the lab" and imagine their projects in a social/environmental context, to better understand the issues that might influence the design and use of their technologies. The most successful teams often work hard to imagine their projects in a social context, and to better understand the issues that might influence the design and use of their technologies. Increasingly, they also work with students and advisors from the humanities and social sciences to explore topics concerning ethical, legal, social, economic, biosafety, or biosecurity issues related to their work. Consideration of these “Human Practices” is crucial for building safe and sustainable projects that serve the public interest.

Human Practices is a key component in the development of an iGEM project where teams consider the many ways that their research can impact society. The work that they do in this varies in many ways; some teams will question how synthetic biology could change our view of life and science, others will have an active dialogue with their community in order to assess the needs of the world around them and to educate the public about synthetic biology. Some teams have ventured into policy making by creating proposals to help advance the science in their country. Students have also developed educational resources in their language to teach younger and older generations about science, engineering, and biology. The safety and security risks are assessed by all teams as a competition requirement. They must actively consider how their project will affect their environment and how it will affect public perception.

Interlab (measuring instruments)

Reliable and repeatable measurement is a key component to all engineering disciplines. The same holds true for synthetic biology, which has also been called engineering biology. However, the ability to repeat measurements in different labs has been difficult. The Measurement Committee, through the InterLab study, has been developing a robust measurement procedure for green fluorescent protein (GFP) over the last several years.

One of the big challenges in synthetic biology measurement has been that fluorescence data usually cannot be compared because it has been reported in different units or because different groups process data in different ways. Many have tried to work around this using “relative expression” comparisons; however, being unable to directly compare measurements makes it harder to debug engineered biological constructs, harder to effectively share constructs between labs, and harder even to just interpret your experimental controls.

The InterLab protocol aims to address these issues by providing researchers with a detailed protocol and data analysis form that yields absolute units for measurements of GFP in a plate reader.

In the previous studies, it is shown that by measuring GFP expression in absolute fluorescence units calibrated against a known concentration of fluorescent molecule, we can greatly reduce the variability in measurements between labs. However, when iGEM take bulk measurements of a population of cells (such as with a plate reader), there is still a large source of variability in these measurements: the number of cells in the sample.

(copied from http://2018.igem.org/Measurement/InterLab)

Therefore, the key question for the 2018 InterLab study will be testing the use of Colony-forming Unit (CFU) in determining the number of cells that make up a certain level of fluorescence. To be exact: “Can we reduce lab-to-lab variability in fluorescence measurements by normalizing to absolute cell count or colony-forming units (CFUs) instead of OD?” This would greatly help to create a standardized fluorescence unit to measure the expression of a cell.

This study is significant to the synthetic biology field, as it allows for a direct comparable data for measurement in a biological system. Some possible implementation of this study is to create a quantitative biosensor that can reflect the concentration of a certain substance based on the standardized fluorescence per CFU. This allows future biosensor to be more accurate in result calculations and make the results more representable.

Please note that InterLab study is one of the requirements for fulfilling the bronze-prize of iGEM, so please contact the collaborating university as soon as possible because this study does require the use of plate reader. If you want to understand more about InterLab, please visit this website: http://2018.igem.org/Measurement/InterLab. This site also links to the result and research paper on the InterLab study, published by iGEM HQ.

Safety

iGEM is unique in it's comprehensive and thorough approach to synthetic biology. Leading the field in fostering an environment of mindful and responsible work.

Safety & Security are not only key facets of iGEM, but important factors which every team must carefully considered in the scope of their work. Through grappling with the difficult biosecurity and biosafety questions that are raised by synthetic biology in general, or by their project in particular, iGEM is cultivating a workforce that is mindful of their work and potential uses of their product, regardless of intent.

It is important that safety efforts keep everyone safe but do not unduly restrict what can be achieved.

As a result, iGEM has implemented a graduated safety system:

• Some activities are absolutely prohibited, such as an environmental release or the use of dangerous pathogens. In some cases, such as those involving gene drives, special waivers may be available.
• Other activities are subjected to high levels of scrutiny, such as the use of animals, or parts from exotic organisms, or certain types of antimicrobial resistance.
• Many projects only involve standard lab organisms and parts known to be safe (the White List) have a proportionate level of oversight.

Teams are able fast-track safety oversight by demonstrating there are complying with robust national and institutional safety arrangements.

Teams must use the Safety and Security Form, to provide information on any safety and security risks from their project and steps taken to manage them.

1. Teams must complete a Check-In Form before using parts and organisms not on the White List , and submit an animal use request form before using vertebrates.
2. The Instructor or Primary Contact must sign off the Safety and Security Form and any animal use request form before using vertebrates.
3. All deadlines for providing safety and security information must be met.
4. Teams must be in full compliance with iGEM's safety and security policies.
5. Teams must work in the biosafety level appropriate for their project. If your project involves organisms and parts that can be used safely in a BSL1 lab, you should not work at higher containment levels. If this is not possible an explanation must be provided in the Safety and Security Form
6. Teams must follow iGEM shipment requirements when submitting samples
7. Teams must follow all biosafety and biosecurity rules of their institution and all biosafety and biosecurity laws of their country
8. Teams cannot conduct work with Risk Group 3 or 4 organisms
9. Teams cannot conduct research in a Safety Level 3 or 4 laboratory
10. Teams cannot conduct work with parts from a Risk Group 4 organism
11. Teams cannot release or deploy their project outside of the laboratory (including putting them in people) at any time during the competition or at the Giant Jamboree
12. If you conduct any experiment with human subjects (including non-invasive experiments, such as surveys), you must comply with all rules of your institution/country that govern experiments with human subjects.

Failure to meet any of these requirements can lead to immediate disqualification from the competition and referral to the Responsible Conduct Committee.

Microorganisms are classified into four Risk Groups, and biological laboratories are classified into four corresponding Safety Levels. Risk Group 1 contains non-pathogenic organisms like yeast and E. coli K-12. The majority of iGEM teams use only Risk Group 1 organisms. Some teams use Risk Group 2 organisms. Requirements of handling each Risk Group are illustrated below.