Astroyeast SDG Tracker
Sustainability is a core focus of our project this year. A foundational advance is something that can be used as the basis for future technologies to build off of and to ensure that these future technologies are good for our society and our environment, it must have a sustainable basis. For this, we used the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals to guide many of our design decisions. The United Nations Sustainability Development Goals define 17 different Goals that should be acknowledged when making design decisions such as no poverty, clean water and sanitation, and climate action. While not every project or development can work with all 17 goals, it is important to determine which ones can be followed and to do so to work towards a common goal of sustainability.
Our project, the AstroYeast Microfarm focused on 10 of the 17 goals. These were zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, responsible production and consumption, climate action, and partnership for the goals. Our project, having a possible food production application clearly works towards zero hunger as our system can be used as a sustainable nutrient source not just for space but for isolated communities as well. This works in together with good health and well-being. Our HP is focused on quality education through our science communication efforts that take place mostly on social media. Additionally, our team, being as diverse as it is, focused strongly on inclusivity and did a lot of work about women in STEM positions, working towards gender equality. Our platform also provides an opportunity for work and economic growth as it serves as a new platform for technology, one that can be expanded upon by companies and other groups in the future. This is similar to how we are working towards industry innovation and infrastructure, again by developing a new platform for future technologies to base themselves on.
What is more, while our project does have food production applications, it also can be used as a sustainable source for useful molecules such as pharmaceuticals and other petroleum derived products, aiding with climate action. Finally, in working with other groups, both during this iGEM competition and whichever groups carry this technology on in the future, we are sharing the impact of this work with the world, serving as our point for partnership for the goals.
| SDG 2: Zero Hunger | SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being | SDG 4: Quality Education | SDG 5: Gender Equality | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entrepreneurship | Astroyeast System | X | X | X | |
| Education & SciComm | Word of the Day | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Mentor Q&A | X | X | ||
| Education & SciComm | Synbio Leaders | X | X | ||
| Education & SciComm | Did You Know? | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Let SynBio Wow You | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Scientific Blurs | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Interactive Quiz | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Code of Conduct | X | X | ||
| Education & SciComm | Anonymous Feedback Form | X | X | ||
| Education & SciComm | The Women In STEM Diversity & Inclusion Workshop | X | X | ||
| Education & SciComm | Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) Initiative | X | X | ||
| HP & Integrated HP | GE3LS Framework | X | X | ||
| Genetics | Lab Training | ||||
| Genetics | Interviews | ||||
| Genetics | Research | ||||
| Hardware | X | ||||
| Software | AstroBio | ||||
| Software | Wiki | X | |||
| Overall | Astroyeast 2021 Project | X | X | X | X |
| SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities | SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entrepreneurship | Astroyeast System | X | X | X | X |
| Education & SciComm | Word of the Day | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Mentor Q&A | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Synbio Leaders | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Did You Know? | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Let SynBio Wow You | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Scientific Blurs | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Interactive Quiz | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Code of Conduct | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Anonymous Feedback Form | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | The Women In STEM Diversity & Inclusion Workshop | X | |||
| Education & SciComm | Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) Initiative | X | |||
| HP & Integrated HP | GE3LS Framework | X | |||
| Genetics | Lab Training | X | |||
| Genetics | Interviews | X | |||
| Genetics | Research | X | |||
| Hardware | |||||
| Software | AstroBio | X | X | X | |
| Software | Wiki | X | |||
| Overall | Astroyeast 2021 Project | X | X | X | X |
Promoting Sustainable Development
We collaborated with iGEM Patras to create a video about the Sustainable Development goals our project hoped to accomplish. A twenty second clip explaining how the education and science communication goals of the project along with the project’s code of conduct contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals for quality education and reduced inequalities was created and sent to iGEM Patras at the end of May 2021.