And We're Off!

We apologize for the extremely long hiatus. With classes and preparations it was difficult to keep this blog going.

In just a few hours, the University of Calgary iGEM team will be heading off to MIT to celebrate our hard work over the summer with 112 other teams around the world. How exciting!

Photos of our events will be uploaded on our Picasa album. Check it out!

Democratic Biology

A group called DIY (do-it-yourself) biology relies on development of open source synthetic biology. DIY supports amateur and underfunded labs. Although, due to the fear of biohackers and synthetic biology misuse, the development of DIY biology has been limited.

Can this company and iGEM go and revolutionize biology to the extent it is available to amateurs? Or will this technology stop its development due to the fear of biohackers and synthetic pathogenic genomes?

Find out more here

Himika

Drug-resistant Superbug

One of the main fears of synthetic biology is that a mutant drug-resistant "superbug" will be accidentially synthesized and there will be no way for humans to combat it. There have been incidents of this forming without the aid of humans with the spread of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hospitals all over the world.

Now, a gene has been found that is capable of making any bacteria resistant to almost all antibiotics used today. Worse yet, the gene has been found in patients in both Canadian and American hospitals. The Canadian cases were specifically found in Alberta and British Columbia. How this bug will change the public's opinion of genetic research with bacteria remains to be seen.

Read more about this superbug here

Chris

Still Cautious Around Synthetic Biology

A recent news article in Medical News Today talks about a survey of 1000 U.S. adults and their opinions of synthetic biology. The survey was conducted by Hart Research Associates and the Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Two thirds of those surveyed believe that synthetic biology should be a field that moves forward, while the remaining third believe we should put a ban on research until the implications and risks are fully assessed.

"The survey shows that attitudes about synthetic biology are not clear-cut and that its application is an important factor in shaping public attitudes towards it," said Geoff Garin, President of Hart Research.

Read the full article here.

Patrick

We're Off to aGEM!

We're all really excited to be heading off to the Alberta Genetically Engineered Machines (aGEM) competition. It's a conference similar to iGEM, but held in Edmonton. The Calgary team, as well as the iGEM teams from the University of Alberta and the University of Lethbridge, give a presentation to a panel of judges, much like what we'll be experiencing at iGEM. We'll be there this coming weekend.

Stay tuned to this blog and our wiki for photos!

Patrick

Over-regulation of Synthetic Biology?

Almost everyone agrees that regulation is needed to keep synthetic biology safe. This is the general consensus from both the public, researchers, and experts in the field. However, how much is too much? Is there the possibility that there can be too much regulation which curbs creativity? This is always the problem. Where do you draw the line? Is there even a too far? Some questions to ponder.

Ethel Machi and Jena Baker McNeill bring up this question briefly as they discuss the endless possibilities of the rapidly expanding field. The title speaks for itself in that the field has the potential to go from one end of the spectrum (Biotechnology advances) to the other (bioterrorism) in its effects.

You can read more about their perspectives here

- Chris

Altruism in bacteria

Dr. Collins from Harvard found that bacteria tend to show altruistic behaviours. Some bacteria can give up their own survival for the better survival of the group, which is termed altruism. This kind of behaviour was only found in mammals but now is found in bacteria. Research shows that a bacterium with antibiotic resistance can
"donate" its plasmid to the other bacteria to create an antibiotic resistant population.
This has medical implications says Dr. Collins. It could mean that, "We'll know that even an isolate that shows no resistance can put up a stronger battle against antibiotics thanks to its buddies." For more information click here.
Synthetic biology could be used to study this altruistic behaviour further and explore its implication more so.

Himika