Homework #1: Design a governance strategy to ensure an ethical future for (your) biotechnology
Broad goal: to capitalize on unique metabolic potentials of low-temperature aerobic ammonia oxidizing archaea (Thaumarchaeota) to conduct critical ecosystem services (e.g. ammonia oxidation/recycling). I propose attempting to harness key Archaea groups in an effort to create biofacilities to, for example, manage wastewater.
Why: The benefits of augmenting wastewater treatment facilities with a low-temperature aerobic operating microbial community would lower energy costs and increase throughput capacity, therefore it is high-priority research for various industry purposes.
The challenges include but are not limited
*Cultivation of Archaea is challenge, many groups not in culture
*Exact protein (pathway) expression challenges unknown
Scaling to testing and eventually, production size
Other…
Ultimately, the goal is to leverage a unique combination of a microbiology, genomics, and bioengineering toolkit to produce novel solutions for environmental and societal problems.
Ethical concern: ensure appropriate usage and minimal chance of harm to humans and environment
Sean Jungbluth, Feb 12 2024
| Goal: Facility-based genetically-modified microbes (Archaea) for applications in ecosystem-services (e.g., nitrogen recycling). | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Below: Governance actions related to ... <prompt>. Effectiveness Score: 1 (low), 2 (medium), 3 (high) | Option 1: Researcher-based | Option 2: Voter-based | Option 3: Non-profit organization-based | Option 4: Industry-based |
| whistleblower mechanism for bad behavior | ||||
| * monitoring | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| * response | 3 | 3 | 1 | |
| licensing and regulation of genetically-modified microbes | ||||
| * monitoring | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| * response | 3 | 3 | ||
| required ethics and safety training to access tools, labs, experts | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
| pre-register dangerous experiments | ||||
| * monitoring | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| * response | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| promoting community awareness | 1-2 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Prioritization: multiple options. All-required for a rounded community-based perspective. Some perspectives require expert knowledge.