Team:Uppsala-Sweden/Feedback

Biosafety page of the web page of Uppsala-Sweden Team seems us well prepared with the specific answers to the questions that are very important to point out. While they are doing great job not to cause any concern, they are not only typing the answer but also giving reasons and examples to show they are really care safety. We thank them for their awareness of this subject and we want them to go on as they do.­ ­

You replied the first question having main title “materials used in your project” as bacteria strain used in your project. We suggest that you should focus on chemical or any other material to answer this question.However we also used the E.coli Top 10 as host strain and found that these strains are classified as hazard group 2 pathogen by the UK Advisory Committee on the Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP). In the question 3 that you explained “Institutional Biosafety Committee”, you described the threats of Synthetic biology in 3 main items based on your interview, we think you should expand content of items.

And lastly, it would be better if you give more detail on your last question to be more clear for future iGEM teams.

Answer: Thank you METU-ANKARA and METU-BIN-ANKARA for your feedback. In question 3, I assume that you are referring to what we think are the biggest threaths within synthetic biology: (1) dual usage, (2) Unintended consequences and (3) fear among the public. Some unstable countries may want to use bacterias and microorganisms as bioweapon for terrorist purposes. Therefore you should always consider what and who you spread information to. This is what we refer to as dual usage.
In 2010, the American President Barack Obama requested The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues (PCSBI)for an investigation of the emerging field of cellular and genetic research known as synthetic biology. Since synthetic biology is at an early stage of developement, one of their conclusions was that the field is not a risk of danger yet. They strongly recommend the government to educate the public so that they can figure out what claims in science are true or false.