Team:SZPT-CHINA/Human Practices
Integrated Human Practices
Background：the Problem
Experimental Design
Product Design
Meetings
Fire is one of the main disasters among various kinds of disasters that most frequently
and universally endangers the safety of the people and property. Almost all fires are accompanied by
personal burns. The physical and psychological damage caused by burns is very huge and the treatment
process is long and easy to cause infection. Therefore, our team decided to carry out our project
for burn treatment this year. By consulting doctors, experts, firefighters, enterprises and
pharmacies, we understood the background, designed the experiment and product, evaluated and
improved them. And focusing on the feedback, improvement and feedback closed-loop mode, we finally
completed our project.
● Background：the Problem
Figure 1. Background overview
Interviews with Firefighters
The first thing that comes to mind is the fire retrograde-firefighters when we talk
about
fire. Our team came to the fire station in Xili Street, Nanshan District, Shenzhen and
interviewed the firefighters (Figure 2). We have learned that there are two main reasons
for
fires: the hidden dangers in residential area fire protection improper use of flammable
products (batteries, sundries, alcohol disinfection products, etc.). During the
interview,
firefighters pointed out that in addition to urban fires in factories, household fires
are
more likely to occur in urban villages.
Figure 2. Interviewed with Xili Fire Station on April 7, 2021
We learned that firefighters have been rescuing the same person on different
occasions. Most burn victims rescued from a fire later tried to end their lives because
of
incurable scars or high medical expenses which shocked our team and motivated us
greatly.
Interviews with Psychological Doctors
After interviewing with firefighters, we learned that burn could have a serious
psychological impact on patients. We contacted psychological doctors and wanted to
understand how burns affect patients. We realized that the main psychological
problems of burn patients are: self-sealing, woebegone, inferiority, worry, fear and
even suicide. This made us wondered, how should we help them?
Interviews with Burn Doctors
We mainly consulted doctors online in the early stage due to the epidemic. We
mainly consulted doctors online in the early stage due to the epidemic. The
following doctors were interviewed online from March 28, 2021 to May 28, 2021,
2020.
Figure 3. Interviewed with Xili Fire Station
on April 7, 2021
Since our team members are not medical majors and do not know much about burn
and treatment, we must consult professionals about medicine. Therefore, we
interviewed and consulted three burn doctors offline (Figure 4, 5). We
consulted the basic knowledge and the treatment of burns. After the doctor's
introduction, we found that the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in
burn wounds is very essential. After brainstorming, our team finally decided to
carry out our project targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. (Interview
content)
Summary of the interview with burn doctors
Question1: Nowadays, how to treat burns?
Answer: Superficial Ⅱ degree burns and small area burns below superficial Ⅱ degree burns are mainly covered by healthy skin growth around the burn wound and skin grafting are not required. However, for deep Ⅱ degree burns or large area burns, because the subcutaneous tissue or skin layer is totally destroyed, the original skin tissue can no longer grow or heal, then grafting or flap transplantation is needed.
Question2: What are the advantages and disadvantages of skin grafting?
Answer: In addition to the high cost, skin grafting is the most advanced technology.
Question3: As we learned in the early interview, scars will cause serious psychological harm to patients. The burn wound has been repaired and treated, why did it still have scars? Can't the current restoration technology solve the aesthetic problem?
Answer：Although severity of the scar is associated with restoration technology, it's mainly related to the degree of burn infection.
Question4: Why does is get infected? What are the main infectious bacteria?
Answer: There are so many possibilities of surgical infection, debridement , hygiene, environment, wound conditions, etc. The main infectious bacteria were Acinetobacter Baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pseudomonas aeruginosa has super intrinsic drug resistance and the ability to produce drug resistance, which makes the treatment effect of many antibiotics for burn patients infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa worse and worse. Therefore, patients with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa need higher treatment cost, longer treatment cycles, and even lead to death.
Question5: Do you have any recommendations for the treatment of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa?
Answer: In the face of the emergence of more and more multi-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we need a lot of time and economic cost to develop new antibiotics. Therefore, it is very necessary to replace antibiotics with new drugs. The first expectation of new drugs is that they are effective and have few side effects.
Answer: Superficial Ⅱ degree burns and small area burns below superficial Ⅱ degree burns are mainly covered by healthy skin growth around the burn wound and skin grafting are not required. However, for deep Ⅱ degree burns or large area burns, because the subcutaneous tissue or skin layer is totally destroyed, the original skin tissue can no longer grow or heal, then grafting or flap transplantation is needed.
Question2: What are the advantages and disadvantages of skin grafting?
Answer: In addition to the high cost, skin grafting is the most advanced technology.
Question3: As we learned in the early interview, scars will cause serious psychological harm to patients. The burn wound has been repaired and treated, why did it still have scars? Can't the current restoration technology solve the aesthetic problem?
Answer：Although severity of the scar is associated with restoration technology, it's mainly related to the degree of burn infection.
Question4: Why does is get infected? What are the main infectious bacteria?
Answer: There are so many possibilities of surgical infection, debridement , hygiene, environment, wound conditions, etc. The main infectious bacteria were Acinetobacter Baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pseudomonas aeruginosa has super intrinsic drug resistance and the ability to produce drug resistance, which makes the treatment effect of many antibiotics for burn patients infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa worse and worse. Therefore, patients with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa need higher treatment cost, longer treatment cycles, and even lead to death.
Question5: Do you have any recommendations for the treatment of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa?
Answer: In the face of the emergence of more and more multi-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we need a lot of time and economic cost to develop new antibiotics. Therefore, it is very necessary to replace antibiotics with new drugs. The first expectation of new drugs is that they are effective and have few side effects.
Figure 4. Dr. Bai Zheng ( the fifth ) , Dr. Ding Weijia ( the third
), Department of Burn, Longgang Central Hospital, Shenzhen on April 10, 2021
Figure 5. Interviewed with Dr. Sun Dongyuan , Department of Burn,
Shekou People's Hospital, Shenzhen on May 19, 2021
Interviews with Doctors in Other Departments
During the interview, we found that in chronic wounds
Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection may appear. Then we visited the doctor of
Chronic Wounds Department (Figure 6), who said Pseudomonas aeruginosa is
mainly common and difficult to deal with in burns, but rarely in chronic
wounds, which can be treated with ordinary dressing.
Figure 6. Interviewed with Dr. He Taofang, Department of Chronic
Wound, Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology,
Shenzhen on April 29, 2021
According to the same thinking, team members believe that major orthopedic
surgery is easy to cause infection. We also contacted Dr. Zhu Jinyu,
Department of Bone and Joint Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Southern
University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen (Figure 3) and Dr. Liu Jaquan,
Osteomyelitis Department of Orthopaedic Hospital, Henan (Figure 4). Both of
them said orthopedic surgery are less likely to cause infection. During the
operation, doctors will make sure that the wound is not infected as much as
possible, and the environment and surgical tools will be disinfected. During
the interview, doctors told us that Pseudomonas aeruginosa is mainly
found
in burns.
In order to get more accurate and reliable information, we searched online
to contact regional hospital doctors (Figure 8, 9, 10, 11), accidentally
found that burn infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa was related to
the
geographic location. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is more susceptible to
cause
infection in humid climates. Therefore, in humid climates (Shenzhen is a hot
and humid climate), burn infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa are
more
common.
● Experimental Design
Figure 7. Experimental design overview
Engineering Bacteria
Our team completed the preliminary design of the experiment
under the guidance of our instructors. We contacted Dr. Tang Mingxing,
Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Figure 8). We expressed our
ideas to Dr. Tang and he was very optimistic about
our design and asked us a question: What is the carrier of our
antibacterial protein? The best option is to find a carrier that can
help heal the wound.
Figure 8. Had a meeting with Dr. Tang at SZPT on June 9,
2021
After interviewing with firefighters and psychologists, our
team always wanted to have a deeper understanding of wound repair.
Inspired by Dr. Tang, we found bacterial cellulose after researching
literatures consulting our instructors. In order to understand the usage
of biological dressing on the market, our team paid a return visit to
Dr. Ding Weijia (Figure 9). We asked him about the feasibility of
bacterial cellulose and the use of existing dressing, and received a
positive response. At the same time, the doctor also showed us many
cases, and taught us about burn grade judgment and burn treatment. We
benefited a lot from the interview and got help in education. In the
end, we decided to use Gluconacetobacter hansenii ATCC 53582 as
the
chassis and the bacterial cellulose produced by it as the carrier of
antibacterial protein, so as to achieve the purpose of antibiosis and
repair.
Figure 9. Return visited to Dr. Ding Weijia, Department of
Burn, Longgang Central Hospital, Shenzhen on June 14, 2021
Near Infrared Light (NIR)
Because the bacteria cellulose production is very low,
we have to find ways to speed. In the literature, we found that the
visible light is widely used in medical field, so we thought of
genetics of the light. We found Processor Jin Fan (Figure 10). Jin
Fan introduced genetic knowledge, led us to analyze the production
principle of bacteria cellulose. Finally, he suggested that we could
add NIR light control module to improve the production of bacterial
cellulose, in order to achieve the regulation of NIR light, we
finally added a degradation module to control it not to produce
bacteria cellulose in dark condition. However, we don't know
whether NIR light has an effect on burned skin. We also ask question
when learning about the infection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
After
getting doctors' approval did, we officially confirmed and started
the experiment, and finally we made it.
Figure 10. Communicated with Professor Jin on April 14,
2021
At the beginning of the experiment of regulating
bacterial cellulose by NIR light, we found that the production of
bacterial cellulose did not increase significantly under NIR light,
so we consulted Dr. Ye Haifeng, an expert in Optogenetics (Figure
11), who suggested optimizing the parameters such as the light
distance and the composition of the culture medium. According to the
above suggestions, we found through a series of experiments that
bacterial cellulose can be generated quickly under NIR light.(For more details, please
click results).
Figure 11. Connected with Dr. Ye Haifeng, East China
Normal University on June 21, 2021
Safety and Drug Release Module (Blue Light)
Since the antibacterial protein is synthesized in
the body of Gluconacetobacter hansenii ATCC 53582, it is
necessary to find ways to release the drug protein to make it
play a role. In addition, considering safety issues, we need to
add lysis module for Gluconacetobacter hansenii ATCC
53582. Our
team paid a return visit to Professor Jin Fan who recommended
the pDawn promoter. We used NIR light to control the production
of bacterial cellulose. If we also use light to lysate
bacterial, it will be more convenient and save medical
consumption, which should be our best choice.
● Product Design
Figure 12. Product design overview
Source of Inspiration
In the process of the experiment, we began to
imagine the form of our product. In the literature, we found
the spray of Bacillus subtilis, which is suitable for the
prevention and treatment of small area second degree burn
wound infection we were inspired to use our product in the
form of live bacteria.
Pharmacy interview: visit pharmacies to gain information about products. We visited each pharmacy (11 pharmacies) near school and learned about the existing burn treatment products and the forms of live bacteria products.（Content of interview）
Pharmacy interview: visit pharmacies to gain information about products. We visited each pharmacy (11 pharmacies) near school and learned about the existing burn treatment products and the forms of live bacteria products.（Content of interview）
Figure 13, 14. Interviewed with pharmacies on
August 18, 2021
Question1: What are the main types of
treatment burn products on the market today?
Answer: Most of them are ointment types, such as MEBO, which is the most convenient, most consumers prefer to buy them.
Question2: What are the types of live bacteria products?
Answer: Capsule, tablet, infusion and ointment.
Question3: What are the live bacteria in the current live bacteria products?
Answer: Probiotics and Bifidobacterium.
Question4: What kind of diseases are these live bacteria products mainly used to treat?
Answer: Stomach.
Question5: Do you have any suggestions or expectations for our project?
Answer: The first point of live bacteria products is the safety issue, the second is the good effect, and the last is the price.
Answer: Most of them are ointment types, such as MEBO, which is the most convenient, most consumers prefer to buy them.
Question2: What are the types of live bacteria products?
Answer: Capsule, tablet, infusion and ointment.
Question3: What are the live bacteria in the current live bacteria products?
Answer: Probiotics and Bifidobacterium.
Question4: What kind of diseases are these live bacteria products mainly used to treat?
Answer: Stomach.
Question5: Do you have any suggestions or expectations for our project?
Answer: The first point of live bacteria products is the safety issue, the second is the good effect, and the last is the price.
Interviews with Burn Doctors
In order to determine the product form, we
once again consulted Dr. Ding Weijia, from the Burn
Department (Figure 7), about his views on live bacterial
dressings. Dr. Ding asked us questions, can we ensure
the safety of live bacteria? Is the secretion of live
bacteria harmful to the human body? What is the
patient's acceptance of live bacteria? In response to
safety issues, we introduced our safety and drug release
module to Dr. Ding. Dr, Ding said that the idea was
fabulous. In terms of treatment and use, live bacteria
dressing products have good feasibility, but we still
need to consider safety issues, such as for the blue
light lysis bacteria.
Questionnaire survey
Reminded from Dr. Ding, we considered our
stakeholders (the public). Based on the content of
the project, we published a questionnaire to
investigate public's understanding and acceptance of
live bacteria products, as well as their
recommendations and needs for burn drugs.
According to the statistics, the public's understanding of live bacteria is mainly from food, and they are willing to try live bacteria drugs. The main suggestions are products should be convenient to use and effective. survey data
According to the statistics, the public's understanding of live bacteria is mainly from food, and they are willing to try live bacteria drugs. The main suggestions are products should be convenient to use and effective. survey data
Interviews with Biological Security Expert
During the investigation, we have been asked
many times about the safety of live bacteria. We
found Dr. Xiong Yan, a biological security
expert, to assess whether the bacteria we were
using was dangerous. Dr. Xiong told us that the
strains we were using had high safety
performance, and there was a suicide module,
which would not have much impact on the safety
of human body. And the coconut we usually eat
was cultivated by Gluconacetobacter
hansenii, so
its safety is relatively high. These results
allowed us to move towards the direction of
viable bacteria.
Artificial Leather Enterprises
We visited Shenzhen Lando
Biomaterials Co.,Ltd., Lando artificial
leather is the first leather regeneration
and repair technology in China. We had a
conversation with the technical director of
Lando, who introduced the company and their
product technology. Later, our team visited
the company's laboratory and various
equipment in the laboratory. We gained
advice. Technical director suggested that we
should first determine our product type,
whether to simply make dressings or tissue
scaffolds. Dressing is relatively simple.
However, if it is a tissue scaffold, the
degradation of the material and the pore
size should be considered, which determines
whether the new cells or blood vessels can
penetrate and regenerate.
Figure 15. Communicated with a
technical director in Lando on August 11,
2021
After the communication with the
technical director of Lando, we also visited
the laboratory and production workshop. At
the same time, we had an in-depth
communication with the technical personnel
involved in the research and development of
artificial leather project, and learned
about the material, production process and
use mode of artificial leather.
Figure 16. Communicated with
technicians from Lando on August 11, 2021
live bacteria enterprises
In our cooperation and
communication with NWU-China-A team, we
also helped each other to find
enterprises we need. NWU-China-A found a
live bacteria enterprise for us (Xi'an
Donghai Live Bacteria Brand Promotion
Co., LTD.). Due to epidemic prevention
and control, we online consulted the
manager of the enterprise about live
bacteria products. The manager of the
enterprise introduced to us that the
main types of live bacteria products on
the market are tablets, capsules and
ointment, and the existing live bacteria
products are mainly used in clinical,
health care products, food, medical
beauty and additives. It is not
recommended to make tablet viable
products because of the high cost of
tablet technology. Instead of just live
bacteria, experts suggested we make our
own live by-products.
Then we also visited a Biotechnology company, Shenzhen Agrecoe Bio-technology Co.,Ltd, . After learning that there were microbial agents in the products produced by the enterprise, we first visited the workshop of Shenzhen Agrecoe Bio-technology Co.,Ltd, and consulted technical personnel for problems we encountered when making our products. We also met with the president of the board and introduced our project as well as our ideas on product design to him. The president talked about his experience and told us that the company's sales volume of bactericide was relatively good, and the market feedback of bactericide was better than that of bactericide powder. The production process of the two products were the same, but the final form was different.
Then we also visited a Biotechnology company, Shenzhen Agrecoe Bio-technology Co.,Ltd, . After learning that there were microbial agents in the products produced by the enterprise, we first visited the workshop of Shenzhen Agrecoe Bio-technology Co.,Ltd, and consulted technical personnel for problems we encountered when making our products. We also met with the president of the board and introduced our project as well as our ideas on product design to him. The president talked about his experience and told us that the company's sales volume of bactericide was relatively good, and the market feedback of bactericide was better than that of bactericide powder. The production process of the two products were the same, but the final form was different.
Figure 17, 18. Communicated
with Shezhen Agrecoe Bio-technology
Co.,Ltd on August 23, 2021
The president's sharing
inspired us. We wanted to make our live
bacteria into cream form, which could
also follow the results of our previous
pharmacy surveys. Most consumers choose
the ointment type drugs.
The design of devices
Since our products need to
be
illuminated when in use, we need
to
design a lighting device. During
the
early interview with the
firefighters,
firefighters mentioned that what
they
needed most for the product was
portable. In the early
interview, we
also sought advice from a
doctor,
who
thought that our product needed
two
different kinds of light
illumination,
and the device could consider a
dual-light type to reduce
consumables.
Therefore, our team discussed
and
designed a portable light device
with
dual light control (as shown in
the
Figure 26), which can be used
with
our
live bacteria product. However,
this
portable device is only suitable
for
small area burns, and for large
area
burns, we need a larger device.
And
finally, we designed another
device
with
LED arrangement (as shown in the
Figure
27).
Figure 19. Portable
light
control device for small area
burns.
Figure 20. The
apparatus
with an
array of LEDs for treatment of
large
area
burns
● Meetings
Central China Regional Meeting
Due to the strict
prevention and control of the
epidemic, this year's Central
China
Regional Meeting was held online
on
May 29th. For the project
introduction of each team, our
team
found that the experimental
design
of FAFU-China was similar to
ours.
After the meeting, we got in
touch
with them and confirmed our
long-term cooperation.
Figure 21. Central
China
Regional Meeting on May 29, 2021
Southern China Regional Meeting
On August
6th, the
South China Regional Meeting
was
held online by SZU-China.
More
than 20 teams from South
China
introduced the project
respectively. After watching
the
project introduction of
other
teams, the instructor found
our
team's shortcomings in
project
summary and English speech.
Then
we made timely adjustments
and
improvements after the
meeting.
CCiC
From August
27
to 29, 2021, 79 teams
from
China were having an
online
and offline exchange,
which
was organized by Fudan
University. During the
conference, we actively
communicated with other
teams (NWU-China-A,
Jiangnan-China,
NUDT-CHINA).
While making
suggestions, we
also received many
valuable
opinions and finally won
the
Active Participation
Awards.
We discussed the
comments
from experts immediately
after the project.
Figure 22.
CCiC
announced the winning
teams
on August 29, 2021