Team:Edinburgh/Practices

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Latest revision as of 16:02, 28 October 2011

Human Practices

The need for questions

The field of Synthetic Biology is relatively new, and so its long-term implications are the subject of debate.

How will Synthetic Biology impact our environment, how we source our food, and society in general? And is Synthetic Biology a genuine solution to a problem, or just a solution in search of a problem?

If our project is to have both credibility and longevity it is important that we ask these questions. The answers may challenge us, but this process is necessary if we are to deepen our understanding and advance the field. With that in mind, we have chosen to conduct our whole project as a feasibility study, not only into the biology, but also into the design, economics, and social implications of industrial plants making use of that biology.

Biorefineries: design and economics

The biological side of our project is based on the degradation of cellulose — an abundant, recalcitrant material — and converting it into useful products. This would occur in a "biorefinery".

It is not enough to simply show that the biology can work. The project must also be economically viable, and a practical design for a biorefinery must be created. For this, see the Biorefinery page.

Biorefineries: life cycle analysis

We attempted an environmental analysis of biorefineries, using the technique of Life Cycle Analysis to follow the fate of everything that interacts with the biorefinery.

Biorefineries: social implications

The broader social implications of the project must be considered. We have made contact with and interviewed a number of different figures from various fields: environmentalism, business, academia, politics, and the Church. All of these people are involved, one way or another, in the debate surrounding Synthetic Biology. For this, see:

Edinburgh and the iGEM Community

An altogether different society is the Synthetic Biology community, and we have naturally interacted with other members of it.

Early on, we created our Wiki Watch page, which we hope has been of assistance to other teams looking to collaborate on similar projects. Later, we collaborated with another team debugging and assaying a BioBrick. We also helped update the Registry with information on previous years' parts. See the Collaboration page.

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-Human Practices 2011
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-Attached is a a variation on some powerpoint slides that Jane and I used last year to introduce Human Practices to the UK iGEM teams. Hopefully they're not too cryptic, but just ask if you have any questions or want to know more about anything.
-Human Practices ideas brainstormed -- Tues 5 July. PLEASE ADD MORE!!
-- exploring / developing ideas of biorefineries based on the project application area of converting sugars / starches
-- contacting industry (e.g. who makes xylitol? compare companies that do and don't use microbial biosynthesis?)
-- work with Management & Business students at UofE (Chris F has a contact there)
-- develop a cultural probe -- for the general public? for industry?
-- a speculative magazine (perhaps could be used as a probe or provocation?)
-- defining key words on the wiki in simple English (get the team to work on consensus definitions? or maybe provide definitions grounded in different disciplines? e.g. what does the word 'model' mean?)
-- something building on the work with the digital pen & notepad that Linda has you using. A reflection on whether / how it has been helpful at all for the team? Any possibility of collaborating with the Beijing team?
-- an animation?
-- sessions with the Forum's playwright-in-residence? ('tea with Peter' sessions on the last Thursday of every month at the Traverse Theatre, see http://www.genomicsnetwork.ac.uk/forum/events/pastevents/publicevents/title,24851,en.html)
-** Whatever you do, it's important to find a clear way of representing your work on the wiki, and providing a rationale for why you've done this work and what you've learned!! **
-USEFUL REFERENCES? (Just let me know if you have any difficulty finding any of these. Also which ones are useful / not useful so that I can tailor subsequent postings!)
+WARNING: This page is linked to from the Judging Form, at: https://igem.org/2011_Judging_Form?id=523
+Please think carefully before editing. This is the main launch point for Practices judges.
-Bioeconomy and biorefineries (I also have some readings on sustainability if you're interested)
-European Commission (2005) Conference report: New perspectives on the knowledge-based bio-economy; available at http://ec.europa.eu/research//conferences/2005/kbb/pdf/kbbe_conferencereport.pdf
-OECD. The Bioeconomy to 2030: designing a policy agenda. OECD International Futures Programme Scoping Document, Paris, 2006; available at
-http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/48/1/36887128.pdf
-Herrera, S (2004) Industrial biotechnology—a chance at redemption. Nature Biotechnology 22, 671-675
-[**this paper has an image of what an 'idealized biorefinery' would look like]
-ETC Group (2008) Commodifying nature's last straw? Extreme genetic engineering and the post-petroleum sugar economy; http://www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/703/02/sugareconomyweboct10-2008.pdf
-[** the ETC group have very provocative illustrations, and it's important to know what kinds of concerns they're raising and think about how you might respond. Synthetic biology is one of their main areas of work (http://www.etcgroup.org/en/issues/synthetic_biology), and in fact they've recently complained to the organisers of SB5.0 that they weren't given any opportunity at the conference to engage with the research community]
-Kamm, B & Kamm, M (2004) Principles of biorefineries. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 64: 137–145
-Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology (2001) Harvest on the Horizon: Future Uses of Agricultural Biotechnology
+--><p class="h1">Human Practices</p>
-Young, A. L. (2004) Biotechnology for food, energy, and industrial products: New opportunities for bio-based products. Environ. Sci. & Pollut. Res. 10, 273–276 (2003).
+==The need for questions==
-EuropaBio is a good organization to know about, and they have developed pretty comprehensive diagrams of how biorefineries might compare to traditional petrochemical refineries;  http://www.europabio.org/
+The field of Synthetic Biology is relatively new, and so its long-term implications are the subject of debate.
-Castle, D., Loeppky, R. & Saner, M. (2006) Convergence in biotechnology innovation: Case studies and implications for regulation, University of Quelph, Canada; available at http://davidcastle.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Castle-et-al-2006-Convergence-in-Biotechnology-Innovation.pdf
+How will Synthetic Biology impact our environment, how we source our food, and society in general? And is Synthetic Biology a genuine solution to a problem, or just a solution in search of a problem?
-[**David Castle is now a professor at Innogen in Edinburgh, and i'm sure he'd be willing to talk with you about your work]
-Eames, M., Mcdowall, W., Hodson, M. & Marvin, S. (2006) Negotiating contested visions and place-specific expectations of the hydrogen economy. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 18(3), 361–374.
+If our project is to have both credibility and longevity it is important that we ask these questions. The answers may challenge us, but this process is necessary if we are to deepen our understanding and advance the field. With that in mind, we have chosen to conduct our whole project as a '''feasibility study''', not only into the biology, but also into the design, economics, and social implications of industrial plants making use of that biology.
-[** this article is about the hydrogen economy, but interesting to think about whether the same underlying visions apply to the bioeconomy and models for biorefineries?]
-Hilgartner, S. (2007) Making the bioeconomy measurable: politics of an emerging anticipatory machinery. BioSocieties 2(3), 382–386.
+===Biorefineries: design and economics===
-[** this piece offers a short critique of the work that the OECD is doing on the bioeconomy. Are economic measures the only and best way to evaluate the bioeconomy? What other goals and values might be important?]
+The biological side of our project is based on the degradation of cellulose &mdash; an abundant, recalcitrant material &mdash; and converting it into useful products. This would occur in a "biorefinery".
+It is not enough to simply show that the biology can work. The project must also be economically viable, and a practical design for a biorefinery must be created. For this, see the [[Team:Edinburgh/Biorefinery | Biorefinery]] page.
+===Biorefineries: life cycle analysis===
+We attempted an environmental analysis of biorefineries, using the technique of [[Team:Edinburgh/Life Cycle Analysis|Life Cycle Analysis]] to follow the fate of everything that interacts with the biorefinery.
+===Biorefineries: social implications===
+The broader social implications of the project must be considered. We have made contact with and interviewed a number of different figures from various fields: environmentalism, business, academia, politics, and the Church. All of these people are involved, one way or another, in the debate surrounding Synthetic Biology. For this, see:
+* [[Team:Edinburgh/Interviews_(Overview) | Interviews: Overview]]
+* [[Team:Edinburgh/Interviews | Interviews]]
+* [[Team:Edinburgh/Interview_Analysis | Interview Analysis]]
+==Edinburgh and the iGEM Community==
+An altogether different society is the Synthetic Biology community, and we have naturally interacted with other members of it.
+Early on, we created our [[Team:Edinburgh/Wiki Watch | Wiki Watch]] page, which we hope has been of assistance to other teams looking to collaborate on similar projects. Later, we collaborated with another team debugging and assaying a BioBrick. We also helped update the Registry with information on previous years' parts. See the [[Team:Edinburgh/Collaboration | Collaboration]] page.
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