Ethics

Ethics
Analyzing the ethical implications of
our project… CONTACT A TEAM MEMBER
TODAY:
Human
The goal of our ethics project was to reach
out to the general public, addressing
concerns and analyzing issues that relate to
the field of Synthetic Biology as well as our Students
Practices
project in particular. Jamie Feng:
From our exploration of ‘ethical issues in jfen@ucalgary.ca Engaging our community on various levels
Emily Hicks:
synthetic biology’, an ethics webinar echicks@ucalgary.ca
organized by the Hastings Centre, we Jeremy Kubik:
started our work by examining ethical jfkubik@ucalgary.ca
issues through two different frameworks: Fahd Mirza:
the Proactionary and Precautionary fmirza@ucalgary.ca
frameworks. We then examined the E3LS: Prima Moinul:
environmental, economic, ethical, legal and pmoinul@ucalgary.ca
social implications of our project in Facilitators
particular focusing on both positive and Sonja Georgijevic:
negative possible impacts. sgeorgij@ucalgary.ca
With these issues in mind, we are Thane Kubik:
developing a list of topics for further talkubik@ucalgary.ca
discussion during our Second Life ethics Christian Jacob:
conference. Using this virtual world as a cjacob@ucalgary.ca
platform, we hope to be able to foster Anders Nygren:
debate and discussion between nygren@ucalgary.ca
individuals with different backgrounds in
biology and ethics.

Outreach: Plans are underway for

presentations in the Fall at local high
schools discussing the promise of Synthetic
Biology and the potential for being
recruited to our team University of Calgary iGEM
University of Calgary
Ethics: Following planning, we will hold
Health Science Centre
an ethics conference in Second Life on our
island
3330 Hospital Drive NW.
Calgary AB T2N 4N1
Marketing: Completion of designs and T- (403) 210-8704
shirt ordering. Beginning our marketing
http://2009.igem.org/
efforts for iGEM 2010, in line with the
corporate community’s fiscal calendar.
Team:Calgary
www.

www.
 TARGET
BUSINESS CONSULTING
Marketing
Reaching out to the corporate
community…
Our team dove right in to marketing
our project and fundraising with the
creation of a sponsorship package
outlining our project goals,
marketing initiatives, partnership
opportunities and corporate
benefits. The initial proposal was
emailed to numerous biotech and
pharmaceutical companies. Later,
follow-up phone calls, organizing
one-to-one meetings and the
sending of monthly updates focused
on our team’s progress helped
establish a relationship with
companies and tremendously
improved our fundraising team.
Our University of Calgary iGEM team
successful at raising over $100, 000 from a
variety of very generous donors who
recognize the importance
undergraduate student education and
Synthetic Biology.
We hope to raise the fundraising
target bar next year by gathering
project information and contacting
companies from early November, as
this marks the beginning of the
budget allocation for the upcoming
fiscal year.
Outreach
Encouraging future participation…
Human Practices
Our outreach program targets high
school students who may be
h
interested in pursuing iGEM in the
future. Six interested high school
and undergraduate students were
able to gain hands-on lab experience
during the iGEM summer camp.
They learnt about our project and
receive hands-on wetlab training.
Not only were the students
introduced to Synthetic Biology, our
team gained experience presenting
the project to individuals from
various backgrounds.
UofC Campus Fair gave us a chance
to bring our project to a younger
audience. Through crafts and games
we introduced kids to bacteria, DNA
and genes. We also had the
of
opportunity to speak to parents and
older siblings about our project and
the promise of Synthetic Biology.
We advertised last year’s lab poster
in a fun, easy to understand way.
Campus fair was a great way to give
people an idea of what we do, to get
kids engaged and to have fun!
Elementary students took part in
a fierce Pipetting competition at
the iGEM booth during Campus
Fair (June 6, 2009).
A team picture with a high school
student taking part in our hands-on
wetlab iGEM summer camp.
Co-team leader, Thane Kubik
featured on CTV News June 3rd 2009
for iGEM broadcast.
Collaboration
Working together to help other
teams…..
In collaboration with the UChicago team,
we are working on designing an outreach
package containing materials such as
powerpoint presentations, videos and
pictures that can be used for outreach and
recruitment presentations. This kit will
be distributed to other teams at the iGEM
Jamboree to help continue to build the
iGEM community down the road.
Furthermore, in the spirit of
collaboration, we introduced the Chicago
team to Second Life. We had the
opportunity to meet with them virtually
and show them around Genome Island
while describing some of our visions for
our own project.
Various media sources broadcasted our
team’s innovative approach to Synthetic
Biology. CTV and various campus (NUTV,
CJSW radio and the Gauntlet paper) news
outlets successfully promoted various
aspects of our project.