Our population is growing each year, and we are now 7 billion on the planet.
With so many people, new problems arise faster than we can find solutions for them.
With so many people, new problems arise faster than we can find solutions for them.
Our ressources are limited :
we'll need to feed our population,
find new energy sources,
and deal with the colossal amount of waste that we produce.
Traditional engineers have tried to develop solutions for these problems.
However, these solutions are often too costly to be practical on a large scale.
In the emerging field of synthetic biology,
the molecules of life are a new kind of tool for a new breed of engineers.
We can now design cells to sense the environment, process signals,
and perform useful functions.
Every summer, students form teams to create synthetic biology projects
for the International Genetically Engineered Machine, or iGEM competition.
Using genetically modified bacteria, the 2010 Bristol team provided a tool for farmers
to use on their fields to detect nitrate levels in order to manage and reduce their use of fertilizers.
to use on their fields to detect nitrate levels in order to manage and reduce their use of fertilizers.
A project like this is working well in the lab, but until methods to assess the risks are developed,
this project cannot move into the fields.
One of the main concerns is that GMOs will become invasive species,
or that synthetic genes could move from our bacteria to natural populations,
a process known as Horizontal Gene Transfer.
Both events could potentially harm the ecosystem.
That's exactly what we want to prevent.
The first step is to develop standard protocols to perform risk assessment,
an essential tool for the scientific community.
The next step is to create a genetic system that will be modular, which means
it will be compatible with previously developed genetic systems like Bristol's.
To prevent horizontal gene transfer, we will rely on different containment mechanisms:
a physical barrier provided by alginate capsules,
a DNA degradation system that will trigger the death of the GMO on the population scale
without harming neighboring natural populations,
and finally,
a semantic containment system that will make the DNA encoded information
unreadable by other species.
We thank you for your interest in our project, and hope you will support our team!
Questions or Comments? We'd be happy to hear from you, so please leave them bellow.
