iGEM Edinburgh 2020 developed a cell-free biosensor to detect a range of water contaminants

Inspired by the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of “ensuring access to water and sanitation for all,” a group of students at the University of Edinburgh recently joined the iGEM program on Just One Giant Lab (JOGL).

The iGEM Edinburgh 2020 team developed a cell-free biosensor for the detection of heavy metals and arsenic in drinking water. Their testing kit provides a fast and easy way for non-professionals to detect water quality at home, and the team says the biosensors could also be applied to the other industries such as healthcare and agriculture.

To learn more about the project, we interviewed the team members by email.

Why is your research important? What are the possible real-world applications?

Alexandru Popov:

We believe that our research is important because it can bring a cheap and easy-to use biosensor to people throughout the world. One of the best ways to deal with a disease is to identify it as early as possible and to know exactly what kind of disease you are dealing with. Our system can help identify the root of the problem, preventing its further development. Examples of such applications in the real-world are detection of contaminants in water (heavy metals, pathogens, antibiotics), fungal and bacterial pathogens in agriculture, soil pollutants and even point-of-care diagnostics.

How did your project get started? How did you become interested in this topic?

Alexandru Popov:

In the light of the COVID-19 outbreak, it seemed obvious that there was a need for a fast and affordable detection mechanism that can be used by everyone. All our team members were given the opportunity to pitch an idea of their own that they wanted to implement and work on. After all the ideas were presented and all the pros and cons were considered, we took a vote on what the project should be. We ended up choosing to build a cheap, modular, and fast biosensor to detect multiple analytes.

What is the coolest thing about your project?

Alexandru Popov:

The coolest thing about our project is the fact that it is cell-free! We harness the mechanism of transcription of a cell without the need to keep it alive. This gives us better control over the transcription mechanisms, without the problem of metabolic burden, reproduction, and cell wall permeability.

What kinds of challenges are you facing?

Alexandru Popov:

The biggest challenge we are facing is tied to the COVID-19 outbreak, which severely impacted our ability to conduct laboratory work. Collaboration and group-level tasks became more difficult to coordinate but we did a great job in accommodating this inconveniency: we coordinated everything remotely, took shifts working in the lab, which was quite challenging but equally rewarding when we made progress despite the restrictions.

What are your next steps? What do you want to achieve with your research?

Alexandru Popov:

Our next step is to create a mathematical model of our system and get some wet-lab results to back up our mathematical model. We want to test the efficiency of our system in the lab and see how it can be improved to give the most accurate results that can be detected by the naked eye.

How can scientists harness synthetic biology to meet the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Fynn Comerford:

We have demonstrated very well how synthetic biology can be exploited to meet the SDGs: we primarily concentrated our efforts on applying the biosensor to detect water contaminants, which is our contribution to SDG 6: ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’. Billions of people around the world still lack access to water and sanitation services, with a severe lack of safely managed drinking water. Pathogens, antibiotics, metals and many more contaminants are found in water in many parts of the world. Our cell-free, modular, cheap and mobile water quality test kit is just one example of how efforts in synthetic biology translate to progress with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals. Many other current and previous iGEM teams have already demonstrated other ways to come closer to the SDGs: projects with applications in therapeutics, diagnostics, energy and environment.

Matteo Cese:

Scientists and iGEMers should always remember that synthetic biology is a powerful tool to tackle the UN Sustainable Goals but it is not the remedy for all of our societal problems… at least not yet. As for now, most of the SDGs are closely tied to economic, social, political and technological factors that could not be resolved with synthetic biology, hence, scientists and non-scientists must collaborate.

What actions can other iGEM teams take this year in order to achieve some of the SDGs?

Fynn Comerford:

All teams show promising approaches to using synthetic biology, most of them with the aim to somehow build something that contributes to meeting the SDGs. With so many teams working in parallel, the efforts can sometimes appear fragmented. It is, therefore, extremely important for the teams to cooperate in order to potentiate their efforts. Exchanging newly acquired knowledge, tips and tricks helps them progress faster and better and is not only mutually beneficial but also benefits the overall goal they are striving towards — to help meet the SDGs. We, thus believe, that besides being inclusive and putting emphasis on ethical and moral aspects of their project, collaboration is the key element for the teams to make the greatest impact on the journey towards reaching the SDGs.

For this reason, we have created a collaborative manual in which we hope all teams can contribute an outline of their efforts, tips and information that might be beneficial to other current teams and teams to come in the following years.

Matteo Cese:

iGEM teams are already doing a wonderful job assuring that their projects are aligned with the SDGs, but as for now, I see two main issues. The first is that young biologists are not very familiar with the SDGs. In this case, even if most societal needs of the SDGs are contextualised, developing comprehensive frameworks, handbooks, guides or manuals tailored for iGEMers could be very useful. The second issue is that iGEM projects are often too diverse and even if different projects are designed to achieve the same SDGs, it is very difficult to find a common ground for collaborations. Under these circumstances, I would like to encourage the next group of iGEMers and iGEM teams to promptly communicate to the community the key SDGs of their project and join, coordinate and work under big SDGs-related working groups.

Learn more about how to join the iGEM program on JOGL, check out the video below.