PART1: OVERVIEW
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015,
provides a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all", now and into the future.
At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action
by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership.
Guided by the goals, it is now up to all of us to work together to build a better future for everyone.
PART2: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 3: INTESTINAL HEALTH AND HUMAN WELL-BEING
Ensuring healthy lifestyles and improving the well-being of people of all ages is essential to sustainable development.
In response to the UN's call to improve the health of the population on a global scale, we focused our attention on IBD,
which is a global disease. IBD was first discovered in developed countries,
and its incidence and prevalence in these countries have consistently stayed at a high level.
According to various research findings, the incidence and prevalence of IBD is increasing in developing countries
such as Asia, South America, countries in the Middle East, and Africa in recent years.
IBD is also known as "green cancer." Although it can be temporarily controlled or relieved by drugs or surgery,
no clear cause or cure has been found yet. In response to the current situation described above,
we genetically engineered bacteria to biologically synthesize long-chain polyphosphate, which is promising for IBD treatment.
Through collecting data and analyzing the results of the questionnaires,
we found that IBD has a relatively fixed incidence in people of all ages.
The treatment of IBD, as a chronic disease, relies greatly on early diagnosis and control,
or the patients’ life would be greatly affected by the long-term accumulation
of intestinal damage and irreversible complications.
However, the public is not fully aware of IBD and the pain suffered by IBD patients is also poorly understood.
Therefore, our society-sustained solutions are to go into communities and schools
to popularize the concept of a reasonable diet and healthy life among citizens of all ages:
the children, students, and elderly.
We also launched IBD science popularization activities on World IBD Day,
which is committed to raising public attention to intestinal health.
PART3: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 4&10: HIGH-QUALITY EDUCATION AND EDUCATION EQUITY
Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, we applied a combination of online and offline methods to popularize the knowledge about IBD,
intestinal flora and synthetic biology in the public. For children, we designed a cute cartoon fan to stimulate their interest
in synthetic biology. For middle school students, we held a lecture with vivid metaphors to help them understand IBD
and intestinal flora for them to appreciate the value of synthetic biology.
On World IBD Day, we introduced IBD to college students through a roadshow
and improved their understandings of IBD through mutual exchange of ideas.
For the elderly, we actively communicated with them and answered their questions about intestinal health issues.
We also created an exclusive official account online, and successively produced tweets to broaden the range
of subjects involved in our education.
While various educational activities in Nanjing are underway,
we have also paid attention to the education in ethnic minority areas in western China.
Through interviews with multiple teaching support teams,
we learned that biological health education is particularly demanding in traffic-blocked and economically underdeveloped areas.
Therefore, we took the local food characteristics into account and spread the knowledge
about intestinal health and synthetic biology
to Yunnan Shuangbai No. 1 Middle School, Tuodian Middle School, and Guizhou Pingba No. 1 Middle School through online classes.
At the same time, we also organized social practice programs based on the status quo of education of ethnic minorities
in the western region, and wrote reports based on interviews and investigations,
hoping to acknowledge more people about the education situation in these areas and promote educational equity.
PART4: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 6: PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL AND WATER PURIFICATION
Safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030 requires we invest in adequate infrastructure,
provide sanitation facilities, and encourage hygiene.
As the largest developing country, China is committed to its international responsibilities in sustainability governance.
The concept of an “ecological civilization” has been enshrined in the Constitution and society’s consensus
that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” is also building.
In order to respond to the call of the country and solve current problems,
we tried to find the intersection of our project and water pollution management.
As an iGEM team in Nanjing, China, we started from our city and set our sights on Xuanwu Lake.
As early as 6500 ~ 4000 years ago, Xuanwu Lake was already connected with the lives of Nanjing residents,
the surrounding area of which in ancient times was the earliest place suitable for human settlement in Nanjing.
Nowadays, Xuanwu Lake still attracts countless citizens and tourists with its beautiful scenery.
However, eutrophication is a common problem of urban lakes.
Since the 1980s, Xuanwu Lake has gradually increased the degree of eutrophication from the initial state of organic pollution.
Phosphorus is an important component of the material and energy cycle of lake ecosystems,
and it is also an important index in the prevention and control of lake eutrophication.
After testing, the phosphorus content of Xuanwu Lake reached 0.2ppm,
exceeding the phosphorus content index for lake eutrophication, which is a wake-up call for us to protect our “mother lake”.
In the first round of experiments, we collected water samples from measuring points in Xuanwu Lake
and added our engineered bacteria to remove phosphorus. Great effects have been achieved as shown below.
For actual practice and production, we also reckoned the cost.
It takes about 3 months to deal with 100 cubic meters of water with 530g of wet bacteria.
The cost of cultivating 530g of bacteria is about 15 dollars,
and continuous carbon source feeding requires roughly 20 kg of glucose per day.
Feeding for 100 days, 3 dollars per day, it aggregates 300 dollars in total.
In response to the problem of eutrophication in Nanjing Xuanwu Lake,
we further planned to design a floating island to remove excess phosphorus in the lake to control the phosphorus accumulation.
At this time, we interviewed Doctor Shang Liu, a scientist of Nanjing Lotus E.P. Technology CO., LTD.,
hoping to get some feasible suggestions. Dr. Liu was very interested in our project
and gave positive feedback on our idea owing to its creativity and versatility.
He also gave us several useful suggestions about designing the integrated equipment
as the carrier of the modified bacteria in the lake.
Therefore, we fleshed out details of our floating island equipment.
There is a solar panel on the upper surface of the floating island as an energy source,
and a carrier is installed inside. The carrier is equipped with our genetically modified bacteria,
which use the phosphate base in the lake to synthesize polyphosphate.
We can regularly extract the bacteria in the floating islands, extract polyphosphate by ashing,
and apply them in experiments or production to achieve "waste utilization"
and form a chain of efficient and sustainable development.
PART5: CONCLUSION
The concept of sustainable development runs throughout our PolyP Neo project.
With the IBD as the entry point, we hope to provide valuable insights into the problem of global intestinal diseases
with synthetic biology and possibly help improve human health and welfare.
We have carried out a variety of educational activities for audiences of all ages,
and have contributed to the promotion of educational equity.
In addition, we have designed a biological phosphorus-removing floating island
by using genetically engineered bacteria to solve the problem of eutrophication of water bodies.
In a short, we were committed to promoting sustainable development from various aspects
such as society, ecology, and economy. Sustainable development is an ongoing and joint human endeavor.
We will continue to actively participate in international cooperation
and make more contributions to the global implementation of the 2030 Agenda.