<p><span>During the initial stage after team CPU_CHINA 2021 was established, we’ve brainstormed for

                        several

                        times to explore how synthetic biology may change the real world from every aspect of our

                        society

                        and lives. </span></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--1.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--1" style="zoom: 25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 1: Brainstorming</strong></p>

                 <p><span>After multiple heated discussions, the current issue of excessive packaging in express industry

                        captured our attention. In China, with the rapid development of e-commerce, express has

                        gradually

                        become an indispensable part in our daily life. Yet the convenience and efficiency that express

                        delivery brought to us was inevitably accompanied by a large number of waste plastic packaging.

                        These waste plastic packaging can not be easily recycled and reused like other packaging

                        materials.

                        And the white pollution problem they brought has seriously affected the living environment of

                        human

                        beings. With the passion for doing something to change the current situation, CPU_CHINA started

                        from

                        our surrounding environment and tried to carry out related investigations.</span></p>

            </div>

            <div class="section" id="section2">

                 <p><span>In order to explore </span><strong><span>the story behind discarded express packaging and how

                            it

                            became discarded plastic</span></strong><span>, we focused on their origin by going to the

                        site

                        for acquiring first hand information.</span></p>

                 <h3 id='chapter-1-express-depositories'><span>CHAPTER 1. EXPRESS DEPOSITORIES </span></h3>

                 <p><span>The first location that came into our mind was the </span><strong><span>Cai Niao Courier

                            Station</span></strong><span> </span><strong><span>in our campus</span></strong><span>. It

                        is a

                        logistics service platform, which provides package collection services for online purchasers in

                        communities and campuses. More than </span><strong><span>40,000</span></strong><span> Cai Niao

                        courier stations constitute the widely scattered terminal express networks in cities around

                        China.</span></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--2.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--2" style="zoom:25%;" />

                </p>

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 2 : Interviewing the staff of the Cai Niao Courier Station</strong></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--3.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--3" style="zoom:25%;" />

                </p>

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 3: The person who took the packages</strong></p>

                 <p><span>We interviewed the staff of the Cai Niao Station in China Pharmaceutical University. According

                        to

                        their knowledge, the amount of express delivery and plastic packaging consumed solely by this

                        very

                        station in our school was already considerable. Normally, there are about

                    </span><strong><span>7000

                            received packages</span></strong><span> at the station </span><strong><span>per

                            day</span></strong><span>. On average, every student of the school receives

                    </span><strong><span>4.5 packages per week,</span></strong><span> and this number will increase

                        significantly during sales promotion of many e-commerce platforms. In addition, logistics

                        companies

                        and merchants tend to apply </span><strong><span>excessive packaging</span></strong><span> in

                        order

                        to ensure the safety or improve the exquisiteness of the goods before sending them out. All of

                        these

                        factors contributed to the accumulation of discarded plastic packaging, which needs to be

                        cleaned up

                        by the staffs for many times on a daily basis. </span></p>

                 <p><span>The data and records collected during this interview revealed to us the shocking volume of

                        express

                        delivery industry, and the accompanying plastic packaging waste, which prompted us to conduct a

                        more

                        veritable research outside the campus to acquire a more comprehensive and general understanding

                        on

                        the issue. Therefore, the next stop we visited were several </span><strong><span>residential

                            areas</span></strong><span> in Nanjing. Shortly after our arrival, we found that there were

                    </span><strong><span>many discarded plastic packaging in the express depositories of the

                            community</span></strong><span>, just like what we had seen back in our school. After

                        randomly

                        interviewing some residents, we learned the following things:</span></p>

                    <li><span>The development of online shopping in China has led to a boom in the express delivery

                            industry, which clearly benefits everyone. A community resident who was signing for packages

                            told us that everything she needed in daily life can be mostly bought online, thus saving

                            her

                            time of shopping in grocery stores and supermarkets for other meaningful purposes. The

                            storage

                            racks full of parcels in the express depositories also illustrated the importance of express

                            delivery in the lives of Chinese people.</span></li>

                    <li><span>Large numbers of packages can bring not only convenience, but also trouble. The staff at

                            the

                            express depository said that in order to ensure the integrity and safety of goods during

                            their

                            transportation, the express companies have to put necessary but often excessive packaging on

                            the

                            goods. But by the time these packages reached to consumers, the packaging materials would

                            instantly turn into garbage, which was in line with our previous observations. Some

                            residents

                            who came to pick up the couriers also complained about the inconvenience caused by

                            overpacked

                            plastics on their parcels.</span></li>

                 <p><span>The situations and findings in the residential areas were similar to what we&#39;ve discovered

                        in

                        the campus. As a result, we realized that without an appropriate treatment, these single-used

                        plastic waste are bound to cause serious consumption of resources, as well as the environmental

                        pollution.</span></p>

                 <p><span>When we asked about the disposal methods of these discarded plastic packaging, one of the

                        resident

                        suggested that we should look for the garbage transfer trucks and follow them to explore the

                        next

                        stop for garbage disposal.</span></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--4.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--4" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 4: A lot of plastic waste</strong></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--5.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--5" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 5: Talking with residents</strong></p>

                <p><span>In light of the acquired findings from the two preliminary visits, we realized that

                <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 11: The flow of waste plastic</strong></p>

                 <p><span>Therefore, to close the loop of the journey of disposed plastic waste, we decided to conduct

                        further interview to plastic recycling enterprises, and to make visits to garbage disposal

                        plants.</span></p>

                 <h3 id='chapter-3-the-end-of-discarded-plastics'><span>CHAPTER 3. THE END OF DISCARDED PLASTICS</span>

                </h3>

                 <p><span>Lanzhou Jintudi Plastic Product Company Limited is a large entity enterprise which specializes

                        in

                        recycling waste plastic into new materials, such as agricultural mulching film, for production

                        and

                        transaction. We contacted the chief manager of this enterprise, Mrs. Sun, as well as her

                        student,

                        Mr. Liu, through team DUT_China, to learn about the existing PE products and the recycling

                        status of

                        PE.</span></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--12.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--12" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 12: Contacting Mrs. Sun and Mr. Liu of Lanzhou Jintudi Plastic Product Co. Ltd with team

                        DUT_China</strong></p>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>Mrs. Sun introduced us to the technological process of plastic recycling.</span></p>

                        <p><span>She told us that China&#39;s plastic recycling market only began to develop in recent

                                years. The existing technology is not particularly mature, thus the requirements on

                                waste

                                plastic as raw materials for recycle are relatively high. However, the sources of waste

                                plastics are complex, and they often mixed with impurities such as fabrics, rubber,

                                metals,

                                and silts, making them difficult to be processed for now. So the fact is, there are

                                currently not many types of plastic can be recycled and reused. The remaining portion

                                can

                                only be landfilled or incinerated. There is no doubt that the plastic recycling market

                                has

                                huge development potential in the future, but nowadays the proportion of plastic that

                                can be

                                recycled is still small, which requires the joint efforts of academia and

                                industry.</span>

                        </p>

                    </li>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>With increasing emphasis on sustainable development by government, numerous enterprises

                                have begun to develop degradable plastics. However, they encountered many difficulties,

                                such

                                as high cost, long degradation time, incomplete degradation and so on. There is still a

                                long

                                way to go for biodegradable plastics to be used on a real scale.</span></p>

                    </li>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>During the communication, we learnt that there were strict regulations on the

                                degradation

                                assessment of plastics. Mrs. Sun reminded us that we must pay attention to national

                                standards when verifying the plastic degradation efficiency of our system.</span></p>

                    </li>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>Mrs. Sun highly recognized the practical significance of our project. She also

                                generously

                                offered to provide relevant technical support for our subsequent research.</span></p>

                    </li>

                 <p><span>We learned from the interview that plastic recycling market only began to develop in recent

                        years,

                        and the relevant technologies of recycling cannot be applied well due to many practical

                        problems. In

                        addition, there is still way to go for biodegradable plastics to be used on a much larger scale

                        for

                        replacing traditional plastic products. The status of two fields in plastic industry both have

                        their

                        own advantages and disadvantages, which gives us some thoughts that we should use a dialectical

                        thinking to evaluate our project in order to improve it. </span></p>

                            standards</span></strong><span> when verifying the plastic degradation efficiency of our

                        system.

                        In response to the advice provided by Mrs. Sun, we made adjustments on our experimental design

                        regarding the evaluation of plastic degradation by </span><strong><span>adding multiple means of

                            instrumental analysis approach to evaluate the degradation of PE more

                            comprehensively</span></strong><span>.</span></p>

                 <p><span>Our last stop is the garbage treatment plant located in Jiaozishan. The unrecyclable PE,

                        together

                        with other urban garbage, were collected by the garbage disposal transit stations in all

                        districts

                        and counties and were transported to here, waiting for their final destinies.</span></p>

                 <p><span>With the increase of the urban population and the improvement of people&#39;s living standards,

                        the

                        output of municipal solid waste is also increasing. According to statistics,

                    </span><strong><span>two-thirds of China&#39;s 668 cities are surrounded by

                            garbage</span></strong><span>. The total land area of garbage storage in the country has

                        reached

                    </span><strong><span>500 square kilometers</span></strong><span>, and

                    </span><strong><span>one-quarter

                            of the cities</span></strong><span> have developed to a stage where no suitable land is

                        available for storage. China&#39;s municipal waste is growing at an annual rate of 8% to 10%,

                        reaching 340 million tons by 2020.</span></p>

                 <p><span>In the aerial photos on the Internet, the three urban garbage mountains just like three scars

                        of

                        Nanjing. Their impact on the natural environment may take hundreds of years to resolve.</span>

                </p>

                 <p><span>The unrecyclable PE waste is transported to the landfill for sanitary burial. Such a treatment

                        method makes the degradation of municipal solid waste very slow, not to mention the strategy of

                        accelerating their degradation is relatively scarce. Thus, these accumulated waste will

                        inevitably

                        lead to a huge impact on the environment for a long time.</span></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--13.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--13" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 13: Interviewing the staff of the plastic disposal plant</strong></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--14.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--14" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 14: Watching the scale video of the landfill site together with the staff</strong></p>

                 <p><span>The technicians managing the landfill told us that the natural degradation process of municipal

                        waste may be accompanied by occurrence of multiple physical, chemical and biological reactions

                        in

                        reality. During this process, </span><strong><span>microorganisms may play a leading role in

                            biodegradation of the waste</span></strong><span>. Therefore, we suggest that

                    </span><strong><span>applying</span></strong><span> </span><strong><span>biological

                            factors</span></strong><span> to accelerate the disappearance of plastics in landfills

                        should

                        alleviate the serious white pollution.</span></p>

                 <p><span>We shared the collected information with other members of the team. By integrating results of

                        preliminary literature investigations and field researches feedback, a consensus was established

                        in

                        the whole team that </span><strong><span>microbes and their associate enzymes can play an

                            important

                            role in promoting degradation of many types of pollutants, including plastic

                            wastes</span></strong><span>. So our team further skimmed through a lot of extra literatures

                        and

                        databases hoping to discover agents that have the potential to degrade PE. After putting up

                        extensive efforts, we discovered </span><strong><span>manganese peroxidase</span></strong><span>

                        (MnP), a lignin peroxidase derived from the white-rot fungus </span><em><span>Phanerochaete

                            chrysosporium</span></em><span>. It has been reported in literature that MnP secreted by the

                        fungus still has a significant degradation efficiency when applied on the PE film alone.

                        Therefore,

                        we decided to </span><strong><span>focus on this very enzyme and eventually designed a

                            polyethylene

                            degradation system based on three functional proteins, including MnP, and two connect

                            systems.</span></strong><span> </span></p>

                    </span><em><strong><span>Design</span></strong></em><span> page).</span></p>

                            positioning</span></strong><span>. Our product, the polyethylene degradist (PEDe), can not

                        only

                        solve the pollution of the existing enormous amount of discarded PE waste towards the soil and

                        water, but also improve the resource utilization rate so that the existing landfills can

                        maximize

                        their effectiveness. Therefore, our project can provide a positive influence for the

                        environment.

                        CPU_CHINA hopes that our efforts can help the world to recover from the burden of white

                        pollutions.</span></p>

            </div>

            <div class="section" id="section3">

                 <p><span>Listening to the world allows us to establish the themes, design and application ideas of our

                        project. Afterwards, we continued to send out evaluation invitations to stakeholders, government

                        agencies, etc., trying to get meaningful feedback from them to benefit the entire project and

                        make

                        our voice be heard by the world.</span></p>

                 <h3 id='industry-exhibition--market-development-forum'><span>INDUSTRY EXHIBITION &amp; MARKET

                        DEVELOPMENT

                        FORUM</span></h3>

                 <p><span>In order to further </span><strong><span>explore the market system and determine the business

                            model

                            of our product</span></strong><span>, CPU_CHINA participated in the </span><em><span>2021

                            China

                            (Nanjing) Plastics Industry Exhibition &amp; Biodegradable Plastics Chemical Technology and

                            Market Development Forum</span></em><span> held in Nanjing International Exhibition Center

                        on

                        June 17, 2021. On this exhibition, we interviewed stakeholders from Wujiang Green Forest

                        Resources

                        Recycling Company Limited and SANER International.</span></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--15.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--15" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 15: Industry Exhibition &amp; Market Development Forum visit card</strong></p>

                <p><strong><span>Wujiang Green Forest Resources Recycling Company Limited</span></strong></p>

                <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--16.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--16" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 16: Taking photo with Mrs. Lin</strong></p>

                 <p><span>Enterprise attributes: Recycle and utilization of renewable resources</span></p>

                    <li><span>A Brief introduction of the main business of the enterprise.</span></li>

                 <p><span>The enterprise recycles scraps, defective products generated in the factory and daily

                        necessities

                        (cosmetics, toiletries). They set up sorting points and deep-processing plants in China and

                        Japan to

                        classify and recycle the collected plastic waste. With the help of physical, chemical and other

                        kinds of methods, plastic waste is transformed into new plastic particles.</span></p>

                    <li><span>The source of plastic waste.</span></li>

                 <p><span>Most of the recycled plastic waste comes from China. The current recycling situation is

                        relatively

                        good. The recyclable plastic waste will be purchased directly from plastic manufactories or

                        companies. Compared with recycling from the garbage disposal station, it is more efficient and

                        more

                        professional. A part of the domestic waste collected by the recycling station can also be used,

                        but

                        specific evaluation and classification are required.</span></p>

                    <li><span>The prospects of the plastics market.</span></li>

                 <p><span>According to the current orientation of policies in China, and the development trend of global

                        environmental protection, the future plastics market will definitely develop towards the

                        direction

                        of degradability and recycling. Degradable plastics can solve the problem of plastic pollution

                        from

                        the source, while plastic recycling uses different technologies to make recycled discarded

                        plastics

                        into plastic particles for reuse, which can create greater economic value. But there is still a

                        long

                        way to go for the ideal future.</span></p>

                    <li><span>Advice on our project of plastic degradation.</span></li>

                 <p><span>Mr. Lin expressed appreciation on our ideas, but he also pointed out that we must pay attention

                        to

                        practical issues, such as cost and budgets, as well as the project&#39;s possibility to be

                        applied

                        to reality, etc. He reminded us that the transformation of technology into products is a

                        difficult

                        process, thus we should contact various stakeholders for suggestions, and analyze the economic

                        effects that can be created by our products.</span></p>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--17.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--17" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 17: Taking photo with manager Shen</strong></p>

                    <li><span>Main business of the enterprise.</span></li>

                 <p><span>The main business of the company is to recycle waste plastic and use them to produce new

                        plastic

                        products through crushing, washing, and pelletizing. But unlike other companies, the main raw

                        materials of this company are plastics in household waste.</span></p>

                    <li><span>The main source of raw materials.</span></li>

                 <p><span>Most of them come from Europe, America, Japan and other regions. Only a small amount of them

                        comes

                        from China. Because the foreign waste classification system is more mature and the plastic

                        recycling

                        market is also more developed, the recycling work is easier. China&#39;s garbage classification

                        started later and there are still many areas that need to be improved.</span></p>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>Through communication with stakeholders, based on their feedback, we learned that

                                besides

                                technology itself, we also need to pay attention to the process of transforming

                                technology

                                into products and assess the economic benefits of products. Therefore, after that, we

                            </span><strong><span>made a business plan for PEDe</span></strong><span> to analyze the

                                market

                                or competition and formulate marketing strategies. </span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>For details, please see(“ENTREPRENEURSHIP” link)</span></strong></em></p>

                    </li>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>We were reminded that the domestic waste classification is not yet mature enough, as it

                                is

                                the reason why the raw materials for plastic recycling come from foreign regions.

                                Therefore,

                                we decided to </span><strong><span>use the iGEM platform to promote the importance of

                                    waste

                                    sorting to the masses, hoping to raise public awareness of waste

                                    sorting.</span></strong><span> Based on this, we have opened a waste sorting

                                publicity

                                activity. </span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>For details, please see (“EDUCATION” link)</span></strong></em></p>

                    </li>

                 <h3 id='environmental-protection-online'><span>ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ONLINE</span></h3>

                 <p><img src="D:\Desktop\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--18.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--18" style="zoom:25%;" />

                 <p class="imgdescribe"><strong>Fig. 18: Taking photo with manager Wang</strong></p>

                 <p><span>Enterprise attributes: &quot;Internet Plus&quot; service platform for environmental protection

                        industry</span></p>

                    <li><span>Main business of the enterprise.</span></li>

                 <p><span>The main purpose of this enterprise is to build an information exchange platform for green

                        companies, such as degradable plastic production companies and plastic recycling companies, to

                        display their marketing and purchasing information. Also, the platform promotes environmental

                        protection technologies, as well as pollution control methods on a daily basis. There are

                        websites

                        and apps ready for use.</span></p>

                    <li><span>Advice on our project of plastic degradation.</span></li>

                 <p><span>There are many companies in this area that they have cooperated with. From an academic point of

                        view, our idea and technology are with high value and significance, which is awesome and worth

                        of

                        praise. When these technologies become more mature, Environmental Protection Online is willing

                        to

                        cooperate with CPU_CHINA to further promote our products and concepts.</span></p>

                    <li><span>Suggestions for the promotion of the CPU_CHINA project</span></li>

                 <p><span>Nowadays, young people are becoming more accustomed to receiving information from the Internet,

                        without the rapid development of online social media not could be true. Therefore, CPU_CHINA can

                        make use of Weibo, Bilibili, YouTube and other online platforms to expand influence when

                        promoting

                        our project. In addition, we can implement some more interesting ways to attract public

                        attentions.</span></p>

                 <p><span>Members of human practices gained a lot from this conversation. Based on the inspiration we

                        acquired, </span><strong><span>CPU_CHINA set up official accounts on major social platforms,

                            planned

                            an art exhibition named Meddy: Relight My Star and produced comic

                            strips.</span></strong><span>

                        All of these have won the favor of the public and provided great help for the promotion of our

                        project.</span></p>

                                link)</span></strong></em>

                 <h3 id='ecology-environment-bureau-of-nanjing'><span>ECOLOGY ENVIRONMENT BUREAU OF NANJING</span></h3>

                 <p><span>After determining the project positioning and related technologies, we contacted the staff of

                        Ecology Environment Bureau of Nanjing by phone and consulted their opinions on our project.

                    </span>

                 <p><span>The Ecology Environment Bureau is a functional organization of the local government in charge

                        of

                        environmental protection. </span></p>

                 <p><u><span>(</span><em><span>The marketization of public services does not mean the transfer of

                                government

                                &#39;s responsibility. So the Ecology Environment Bureau is still responsible for

                                supervision and management.</span></em><span>)</span></u></p>

                 <p><span>After inquiring relevant laws and regulations, we found that the government has paid great

                        attention to the phenomenon of excessive packaging in the express industry and has issued

                        regulations to restrict it. The Ecology Environment Bureau of Nanjing expressed support for our

                        project and advised us to </span><strong><span>focus on the practical meaning of this

                            project</span></strong><span>. The staff suggested that we try to advertise the project for

                        investment through various ways, and transform the project into products when the technology is

                        mature. At the same time, we should determine the product orientation for subsequent promotion.

                        They

                        also reminded us to focus on risk assessment and control as the project proceed.</span></p>

            </div>

            <div class="section" id="section4">

                 <p><span>The main end users of our product are garbage disposal plants and government environmental

                        protection departments, supplemented by non-profit organizations, ecological restoration

                        companies,

                        and biotechnology companies.</span></p>

                 <p><span>Our entire system can be distributed to users in the form of protein/nucleic acid freeze-dried

                        powder. A set of product includes four types of protein freeze-dried powders and four types of

                        nucleic acid freeze-dried powders. After receiving the product, the user only needs to

                        re-dissolve

                        the powder into designated solutions, and assemble the entire degradation system in a few simple

                        steps as instructed. Subsequently, the assembled system can be directly applied to the surface

                        of

                        PE. By adding the required substrate solution, the degradation reactions will be

                        activated.</span>

                 <p><span>Based on the novelty of our plastic degradation product, PEDe will start promoting from a small

                        scale. Taking the Jiaozishan Landfill, Tianjingwa Landfill, and Shuige Landfill in Nanjing as

                        examples, the construction of the three landfills have played a vital role in solving domestic

                        garbage outlet and realizing harmless waste treatment for the city. We planned to set the three

                        Nanjing municipal landfills as the starting point of our product, to explore the

                        commercialization

                        potential of PEDe. Through seeking cooperation with the government, biotechnology companies and

                        non-profit organizations, a transaction can be concluded with the landfill to degrade the

                        collected

                        PE plastic waste. And by gradually expanding the product market, we hope to realize a

                        comprehensive

                        development in many provinces and cities across the country, and finally promote out product to

                        the

                        world. </span><em><strong><span>(“Entrepreneurship”link)</span></strong></em></p>

                 <p><span>Based on the principle, the final product of this project has the potential of degrading

                        polycyclic

                        aromatic hydrocarbons, azo dye and other organic pollutants in addition to PE, which are also

                        the

                        causes of water and soil pollution. Therefore, PEDe can be used to explore more possibilities in

                        the

                        field of ecological restoration beyond degrading PE, such as cooperating with ecological

                        restoration

                        companies to help them complete the comprehensive management of the ecological

                        environment.</span>

                 <p><em><span>&quot;Nowadays, the Chinese government pays more attention to the negative impact on the

                            environment during the process of economic development, and continues to increase its

                            efforts in

                            environmental governance. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly

                            stated that efforts should be made to solve environmental problems, and the government has

                            issued relevant policies to promote water and soil conservation, urban ecological

                            restoration,

                            land management, river, lake and wetland protection, marine ecological protection and other

                            fields. With the strong support of national policies and the rapid growth of market demand,

                            the

                            ecological restoration industry has developed rapidly and the market scale has continued to

                            expand. From 2015 to 2019, the scale of fixed asset investment in China&#39;s ecological

                            protection and environmental governance industry has gradually increased, with an average

                            annual

                            compound growth rate of 21.27%, and the market size is expected to reach 956.3 billion yuan

                            in

                            2021. At the same time, traditional landscaping companies have been seeking business

                            breakthroughs and transformations. Their business structure has clearly shifted to the field

                            of

                            ecological protection and restoration; enterprises in the industry are gradually developing

                            towards comprehensive ecological restoration. The future of the ecological restoration

                            industry

                            has unlimited potential!&quot;</span></em></p>

                 <p><span>Although the function of the final product of this project focuses on using the synergy of

                        functional proteins to accelerate the green degradation of PE plastic, the CRISPR/dCas9

                        anchoring

                        system used to connect functional proteins has quite flexible modularity and programmability.

                        That

                        is, through the special sequence design of the double-stranded DNA, the spacing, number and

                        arrangement of the binding sites of the dCas9: sgRNA complex on the chain can be customized.

                        Combining with the SpyCatcher/SpyTag connection system, the anchor of an ordered assay of

                        functional

                        proteins can be achieved. </span></p>

                 <p><span> Studies have shown that using this system to connect enzymes on specific metabolic pathways in

                        series can effectively accelerate the rate of conversion of the original substrate into the

                        target

                        product, and greatly increase the yield of the target product. That is to say, the design of the

                        double connection system, combined with diversified functional proteins or enzymes, complexes

                        with

                        distinct function can be generated, enabling them to play a role in many known or potential

                        fields,

                        such as industrial production, basic scientific research, analysis and testing!</span></p>

            </div>

            <div class="section" id="section5">

                    <li>

                        <p><span>“Increasing the concentration of linearized plasmid and freshly preparing your

                                competent

                                cell, these two methods may improve your high-voltage electroporation.”</span></p>

                        <p><img src="D:\Desktop\HP wiki\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--20.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--20"

                                style="zoom:25%;" /></p>

                        <p><span>Two methods to improve electroporation</span></p>

                        <p><span>Yucheng Zhao</span></p>

                        <p><span> </span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>Background</span><span>*</span></strong></em><span> </span>

                        </p>

                        <p><span>We chose </span><strong><span>Pichia pastoris</span></strong><span> as our major

                                chassis

                                and planned to transfer vectors into

                            </span><strong><span>P.pastoris</span></strong><span>

                                by electroporation. This was a vital step in our whole project, which determined whether

                                or

                                not </span><strong><span>P.pastoris</span></strong><span> could express the proteins we

                                hope

                                to get. In order to polish our electroporation methods, we turned to a professor in this

                                field for advice.</span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>Why was this person

                                        contacted?</span><span>*</span></strong></em>

                        </p>

                        <p><span>We expect some professional suggestions on the electroporation of

                            </span><strong><span>P.pastoris</span></strong><span>. Luckily, we got contact with Yucheng

                                Zhao, an expert in China Pharmaceutical University, who is major in synthetic biology

                                and

                                metabolic engineering.</span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>What we have learned?</span><span>*</span></strong></em></p>

                        <p><span>Dr. Zhao provided us with better ways of electroporation. Among those, he emphasized

                                the

                                importance of linearized plasmid concentration. According to him, the higher

                                concentration,

                                the better electroporation result would be. Besides, he mentioned that we should freshly

                                prepare the competent cells. Finally, he assisted us with the preparation and then we

                                gradually mastered this skill. Taken his advice, our experiment went more

                                smoothly.</span>

                        </p>

                    </li>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>“You should evaluate the plastic degradation from not only qualitative but also

                                quantitative perspectives.”</span></p>

                        <p><span> </span><img src="D:\Desktop\HP wiki\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--21.jpeg"

                                referrerpolicy="no-referrer" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--21"></p>

                        <p><span>Instruments of detecting degradation products of polyethylene </span></p>

                        <p><span>Wenyuan Liu</span></p>

                        <p><span> </span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>Background</span><span>*</span></strong></em><span> </span>

                        </p>

                        <p><span>Our project is about using enzyme complex to degrade plastic waste. Because of that,

                                how to

                                measure the degree of plastic degradation is an urgent problem for us to solve.</span>

                        </p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>Why was this person

                                        contacted?</span><span>*</span></strong></em>

                        </p>

                        <p><span>Dr. Liu, a professor from China Pharmaceutical University, is expert in Pharmaceutical

                                and

                                instrumental analysis research. We hoped to get some advice on degradation detecting

                                instruments. So, we interviewed her on those questions.</span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>What we have learned?</span><span>*</span></strong></em></p>

                        <p><span>We learned from Dr. Liu that there were corresponding national standard documents

                                containing methods for the analysis of polyethylene degradation, such as Fourier

                                transform

                                infrared spectroscopy, high temperature gel permeation chromatography and so forth.

                                Moreover, she suggested us to evaluate the plastic degradation from not only qualitative

                                but

                                also quantitative perspectives. Therefore, we decided to apply multiple instrumental

                                methods

                                to better evaluate the degrading effect of our system.</span></p>

                    </li>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>“When choosing samples for trail, take their additives into account.”</span></p>

                        <p><span>“It is usually measured by multi means to reflect the degradation degree.”</span></p>

                        <p><span>“Significant degradation of polyethylene material requires about 3 months, but

                                microcosmic

                                changes also mean a lot.”</span></p>

                        <p><img src="D:\Desktop\HP wiki\IHP\T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--22.jpeg" alt="T--CPU_CHINA--IHP--22"

                                style="zoom:25%;" /></p>

                        <p><span>Commented on our projects, provided detailed feedback on problems we occurred during

                                project development.</span></p>

                        <p><span>Chaomin Sun, xx/xx/2021</span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>Background</span><span>*</span></strong></em><span> </span>

                        </p>

                        <p><span>While designing our project, we happened to know Prof. Sun, whose research provided us

                                with

                                much inspiration. We managed to interviewed him, and received precious advice on the

                                whole

                                process of our project.</span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>Why was this person

                                        contacted?</span><span>*</span></strong></em>

                        </p>

                        <p><span>Chaomin Sun is a professor from Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

                                During the early stage of our project, we got to know Prof. Sun by his latest paper

                            </span><strong><span>A marine bacterial community capable of degrading poly(ethylene

                                    terephthalate) and polyethylene</span></strong><span> on

                            </span><strong><span>Journal of

                                    Hazardous Materials</span></strong><span>. This paper is about enzymes derived from

                                bacteria which have the potential to degrade polyethylene and this result served as a

                                confirmation of our idea. Considering that, we were hoping to interview Prof. Sun about

                                the

                                possibility of microorganism or microorganism-derived protein in degrading polyethylene.

                                And, if possible, sought some guidance from him. So, we tried to contact Prof. Sun and

                                his

                                team members by e-mail.</span></p>

                        <p><em><strong><span>*</span><span>What we have learned?</span><span>*</span></strong></em></p>

                        <p><span>We obtained many insightful opinions and kind advice from Prof. Sun. He pointed out

                                that

                                although enzymes are with better specificity and higher efficiency, they are generally

                                less

                                robust and are tend to be inactivated under non-physiological conditions. As a solution

                                to

                                this issue, we firstly characterized the stability of our key PE-degrading enzyme, MnP,

                                under different physiochemical environment, then we applied semi-rational directed

                                evolution

                                on it to obtain mutants that have better tolerance on higher temperature, more acidic pH

                                as

                                well as higher concentrations of organic solvents. Prof. Sun also reminded us that we

                                shall

                                choose PE samples without additives so that the PE-degradation ability of our system

                                would

                                not be affected by this factor. Therefore, we cut PE flakes from PE gloves that are not

                                only

                                deprived of additives, but also resemble PE packaging applied in real world scenarios.

                                Also,

                                Prof. Sun suggested us to apply multiple means to detect PE degradation, as well as

                                extend

                                the processing duration of our system on PE, so that to increase the chance for us to

                                observe degradation effect. Therefore, we revised our strategy of incubation to make

                                sure

                                the activity of our degrading system remains optimal.</span></p>

                        <p>&nbsp;</p>

                    </li>

                    <li>

                        <p><span>“Due to the relative inert properties of polyethylene, it is better to apply physical