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UN Biodiversity Conference 2018, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt22 November 2018
Side event 2695: LMOs, SynBio and DSI –
experiences from farmers and young scientists
• 13.15: Opening and Introduction
Joseph Opoku Gakpo, Journalist, Ghana, Alliance for Science
• 13.25: Farmer experiences with first generation of GM crops
• 13.35: Experiences of young scientists with synthetic biology
• 13.45: Experiences of young scientists with DSI
• 14.00: Q&A – Discussion
Agenda
• Edwin Paraluman, farmer from the Philippines
Farmer experiences
• Geoffrey Otim, Africa Synbio
• iGEM Delegation
Experiences of young scientists with SynBio
Synthetic Biology in Africa
Geoffrey Otim, MSc
SynBio Africa
•5
• First Synbio community in Africa
• Legally registered in Uganda
• Platform for scientists, researchers, policy makers, students and the public
• Goal: discuss and engage in SynBio
• over 60 members from Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Somalia
• To become a member: [email protected]
•11/22/2018
SYNBIO Africa
Synthetic biology uses engineering principles to:
Design or redesign and construct biological parts,
devices and systems for useful purposes.
No internationally agreed definition on SynBio
Definition
Synthetic biology promises to provide sustainable, low-cost technologies to many grand challenges of the modern society via innovations in agriculture, health care, energy production and environmental conservation.
https://synbioafrica.com/
Why Synthetic Biology?
Recombinant DNA technology: allows to cut and paste pieces of DNA atdesired locations cleaved by restriction enzymes
Bacterium
Chromosome Plasmids
Extraneous DNA
Chromosome
recom
bin
ant D
NA
Fluorescent Proteins: allow through fluorescence microscopy to measure the concentration of a protein and thus the level of expression of the corresponding gene
gene gfp
•9
Underlying Technologies
• DNA Sequencing • DNA Synthesis• Gene editing (e.g. CRISPR-Cas9)
•10
Underlying Technologies
• Sensing of pathogens, cancer, toxins• Targeted drug delivery• Diagnostics
•11
Applications:Health Care
• Reduction use of fertilizers and pesticides
• Industrial uses of biomass, shift to feedstock production
• Improvement of the nutritional value of foods (e.g. oilseed crops with boosted levels of omega 3 fatty acids)
• Reduction of land usage
•12
Applications:Agriculture
•13
For example, bacteria that…- Produce bio-fuels- Transform waste into energy
Applications:Renewable/Alternative Energy
•11/22/2018
Applications:bioremediation and pollution control
• Ana Sifuentes, iGEM Foundation, Mexico
• Nina Jerala, Slovenia
• Janina Lüders, Germany
• Aiswarya Prasad, India
• Justin Vigar, Canada
•15
iGEM Delegation
+ 42
Countries
+ 30,000
Participants
Production of biofuel from waste
Easy to handle, smart-
phone readable, paper
based and cell-free test-
strip to detect water
pollutants
Proof of principle tackling:
- Drug contamination in
drinks
- Heavy metal pollution in
water
Cat pheromone based bio-synthetic deterrent
to reduce grain loss due to rodent attacks
The Alberta Oil Sands have
generated over 1.18 trillion
litres of contaminated
wastewater, stored in
tailings ponds.
Proof of principle tackling:
- Engineering microbes able
to degrade toxic organic
compounds and sequester
toxic heavy metals
• Fabian Rohden, German Association for SynBio, Germany
• Noemi Santamaria, University of Basel, Switzerland
Experiences of young scientists with DSI
Digital Sequence Information and
Access & Benefit Sharing
Fabian Rohden
[email protected] Association for Synthetic Biology@gasb_synbio
Access and Benefit Sharing
Country ofOrigin
PIC/MATCommercial
Product
Benefit Sharing
DSI - Questions about the term
• “Digital” - What about non-digital information?
• “Sequence“ - What is a sequence?
• “Information“ - data + X
--> The term is far away from being well-defined!
DSI in research
DSIABS
Conservation
ResearchPublic Health
F & A
The nature of nature
Metabolites
DNA [4 Bases]
RNA [4 Bases]
Proteins [20 AA]
DSI
Products
--> The focus should be on the commercial products
Experiences with DSI – Zika Outbreak
• Guillain–Barré syndrome
• Congenital Microcephaly
congenital Zika virus syndrome
Speakers:
• Edwin Paraluman, farmer, Philippines
• Geoffrey Otim, SynBio Africa, Uganda
• Ana Sifuentes, iGEM Foundation, Mexico
• Nina Jerala, iGem, Slovenia
• Janina Lüders, iGem, Germany
• Aiswarya Prasad, iGem, India
• Justin Vigar, iGem, Canada
• Fabian Rohden, German Association for SynBio, Germany
• Noemi Santamaria, University of Basel, Switzerland
Feel free to contact
Q&A – Discussion
