frow & calvert igem talk

8/9/2019 Frow & Calvert iGEM Talk

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H

umanP

ractices?

iG

EMNewc

astlemeet-up

21Ju

ly2010


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Reportsonsynth

eticbiolo

gy


3/34

ApottedhistoryofHu

manPractices

1990s:HumanGenomeProject

5%offundingshouldg

otoELSIres

earch

ELSI=Ethical,LegalandSocialIssues

ELSA

=Ethical,Legalan

dSocialAspects

E3LS

=Ethical,Environm

ental,Economic,

LegalandSocialIssues


4/34

ApottedhistoryofHu

manPractices

2000s:Expandedtoincludeothera

reasofnew

&

emergingtechnologies


5/34

ApottedhistoryofHu

manPractices

HumanPracticesisconductedalongsid

ethescience,

ratherthan

aftertheresea

rchhasbeen

completed

NameHum

anPractices

waschosento

makethepoint

thatscience

isitselfahum

anpractice

Berkeley20

07iGEM:firstHumanPract

icesproject

PrizeforBe

stHumanPra

cticesAdvanc

eintroducedin

2008


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2009win

nersofHumanP

ractices

Paris:

alabbookrecordofregulard

iscussions

asociologic

alreport

compilinga

listofusefulrefere

nces

Imperial:

interviewsw

ithteammembers

2shortwrittenpapers

buildingsafetyconsiderations

intothedesignoftheirproject

Bothprojectsquitereflective

,focusedaroundtheteam

Bothteamshadsocialscien

tistsembeddedaspartofthe

teamforsom

e/allofthesu

mmer


7/34

Other20

09iGEM

activitie

s

SURVEYS!!

Atleast15tea

ms

Outreachact

ivitiesforhigh-schoolstudents

e.g.Alberta,ArtScienceBangalore,Dre

sden,UCSF,Waterloo

Qualitativein

terviewswithacademics,stude

nts,politicians

e.g.NTU,UCL

,Southampton

Onlinetutorials&tool-kits

e.g.Berkeley,

Chicago,Virginia

Writingreports&pamphlets

e.g.Bologna,Ottawa,Valencia

StudyofDIYBio/BioArt/Regulatoryfram

eworks

e.g.PKUBeijing/Osaka/Edinburgh

Futuresworkshopswithdesigners

e.g.Cambridge

Ethicsconfe

renceinSecon

dLife

e.g.Calgary


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Thishousesupportsthedevelo

pmentofartific

iallyengineeredlife


9/34


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ArtScience

Banga

lore

iGEM2009


14/34

WhatcountsasH

umanP

ractices?

Riskassessm

ent/feasibilitystudyforaspecific

application

Outreachactivities

Somethingthatrelatestoyour

localcommunity

(e.g.bringingE.coli

coalstoNewc

astle?)

Writtenreport

onsomeinterestingaspect(s)ofsyntheticbiology

Journalclub

sessionstodiscu

ssarticlesandreportsonhuman

practicesissues

Areflectivejournal/blog/hum

anpracticeslab

book

Aplay/dance

/poem/artwork

/film/sciencefictionstory

Useofnewm

ediatoexploreaparticularissue


15/34

SomeHumanPracticesq

uestions

Sciencefunding

andpolicy:how

issyntheticbiolo

gybeingfunded

in

differentcountries?Howmuchp

ublicandprivate

moneyisbeing

invested?Aretherenationaldiffe

rencesinregulatoryframeworks?

Aretherenation

aldifferencesin

humanpractices

approachestowards

syntheticbiolog

y?E.g.istheUS

moreconcerned

aboutbiosecurity?

Whatcanwelearnfromstudying

pastexamplesofscience&

technology,e.g.syntheticchemistry,nanotechnology?

Howissyntheticbiologyreportedinthemedia?

Whoisthesyntheticbiologycom

munity?

Conceptualissu

es,e.g.Whatisapart?


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iGEM-sp

ecificqu

estions

HowdoesiGEMcomparewith

othersciencecompetitions(e.g.

theFirstRoboticsCompetition

)?

Whathuman

practicesissues

doestheiGEMc

ompetitionitself

raise?

HowwouldyouredesigntheiGEMcompetition

tomakeitmore

useful,ortod

evelopparticularapplications,etc

?

iGEMasksth

equestion:Can

simplebiologica

lsystemsbebuilt

fromstandard,interchangeableparts?Orisbio

logysimplytoo

complicatedtobeengineered

inthisway?

Howwouldyougoabouta

nsweringthisquestion?What

differenttypesofanswers

/approachescou

ldyouuse?


17/34

SomeB

IGIDEAS

Bio

safety

Bios

ecurity

Life

Intellectu

alproperty

Publicacce

ptance/understanding

/engageme

nt

Interdis

ciplinarity

Standards

Languageandmetaphor

Expectationsandfutures

Reg

ulation

Aestheticsanddesign


18/34

SomeB

IGIDEAS

Bio

safety

Bios

ecurity

Life

Intellectu

alproperty

Publicacce

ptance/understanding

/engageme

nt

Interdis

ciplinarity

Stan

dards

Languageandmetaphor

Expectation

sandfutures

Reg

ulation

Aestheticsanddesign


19/34

INTE

LLECTU

ALPROP

ERTY


20/34

Intellectualprop

erty

Illustration:AndrewRaeinWired15/09


21/34

Ownersh

ip,sharingandinnovation

www.genomicsne

twork.ac.u

k

AnaimofiG

EMcompetitio

nistobuildac

ommunity

whichsharesvaluesabout

safety,security

andopen

access

Benefitsof

openness:

Itisdemocratic

Itisgood

forscienceand

innovation

Itwillpre

ventthedominan

ceofmultination

alcompanies

thehacker

culturevalueslikeelegantdes

ign,creativity

andsharing

beneficialworksofengineerin

gforall,will

spreadtob

iology(Cohn2

005)


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23/34

Ownersh

ip,sharingandinnovation

Somepeopleworryaboutsyntheticbiologybecoming

widelyacce

ssible:

Theythink

thewrongpeoplecouldusethetechnology

Hackersd

ontalwayshave

agoodreputatio

n

WillopenaccesstoBioBric

ksmeanthatitb

ecomeshardtoget

patentsan

dmakeprofits?

Intellectualproperty,open

ness,access

andsecuritya

re

interconnec

ted


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INTERDISC

IPLINA

RITY


25/34

IN

TERDISC

IPLINAR

ITY

Aconfluenceofdisciplines

Biologists,e

ngineers,com

puterscientis

ts

Physicists?Chemists?

Socialscie

ntists??Designe

rs??Memberso

fthepublic??

Whatareth

eirroles?Wha

tskills,knowledgeorexpertise

dotheybrin

gtosynthetic

biology?

Whatideas

orconceptsareshapingsyn

theticbiology?

Wheredotheseideascomefrom?

Doesever

yoneunderstand

syntheticbiologythesameway?

Is

thisimportant??


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STANDARDS


27/34

Stan

dards

Creatingstand

ardbiologicalparts

Interchange

able(standardsfordesign)

Predictable

(standardmeasuresofbeha

viour)

Instandardconditions?R

obustovertim

e?

Whyhavestandards?

Toensureq

uality,safety

Topromote

compatibility,

interoperability

Economies

ofscaleandw

ork(re)organization


28/34

Stan

dards

BUTdostandardsreducesc

opeforinnovation?

Questionsabo

utstandards

Onestanda

rdormultiplestandards?

Whentodecideonthem?

Whodecide

s?

Whatconsiderationsfeed

intostandards?

Technical,legal,economic,social?


29/34

EXPEC

TATIONSANDFUTURES


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Expectationsandfutures

Discussionofthe

futurehas

realeffects

inthepres

ent

Expectatio

nsare

necessary

tobuilda

newfield

Theyarealsolikelyto

leadtouneaseand

concern


33/34

Syntheticbiology

asahuman

practice

Scientifica

ndtechnolog

icaldevelopm

entsarethe

resultofch

oices,suchasfundingde

cisions

Creatinga

newfieldreq

uirestechnic

al,social,

economicandpoliticalr

esources

Syntheticb

iologistsare

notjustinvolvedinbuildin

g

noveltechnologies;theyarealsobuildinganew

community

Willsynthe

ticbiologists

ofthefuture

havetobe

knowledge

ableabouthumanpractices,asthefield

developsa

ndgrows?


34/34

Question

sforHumanPra

ctices

Whatdowewanttoget

outofourHumanPractices

activitiesasateam?

ArethereinterestingHu

manPractice

squestions

directlyrelevanttoouriGEMproject?

Whatcontributioncould

thisworkma

ketoiGEM

moregene

rally?Tothe

disciplineofsynthetic

biology?

frow & calvert igem talk

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