An overview of GES Center Research Activities, January - August 2017.

1. Genetic Engineering & Society Center
Internal Advisory Committee Meeting
Wednesday, August 30, 2017 | Hunt Library, Room 4103
Integrating scientific knowledge and public values in
shaping the futures of biotechnology

2. Student Presentations
 Jayce Sudweeks, CHASS
 Jessica Barnes, CNR
 Megan Serr, COS
 Mike Jones, CALS

3. Graduate Experience: Jayce Sudweeks
Research
IGERT
Experience

4. Engineering conservation:
The politics and geography of species resurrection
Jessica Cavin Barnes
Forestry & Environmental
Resources

5. Graduate Experience: Megan Serr

6. Teaming up in Mexico
against storage pestsDissecting the diversity of
yield gains from biotech
corn in the Philippines
Gauging perceptions and
potential consumer responses
to gene drives in agriculture
Mike Jones
Agricultural & Resource Economics | Cohort: Agricultural Pests

7. Staff Highlights

8. Open Philanthropy Grant: DIYbio
GES Center Receives $706K Grant to Create Biosafety Practices in DIYbio Labs
The two-year DIYbio program, launched this summer, is focused
on developing and promoting accessible safety
resources for this growing network of community biotech labs.
Kuiken and Grushkin are visiting multiple labs across the U.S. &
abroad to document first-hand the state of DIYbio as related to
capabilities, trends, and needs around biosafety and security.
The next phase involves recruiting biosafety/biosecurity
fellows to embed into three community labs for a year. There,
they will work side-by-side with lab managers and members,
learning about their needs and developing pilot programs
around biosafety and security protocols.
Todd Kuiken, NC State, CoPI; Dan Grushkin, Genspace, CoPI
DIY Safety & Security
While the DIYbio community has proactively developed biosafety/security protocols; as
the number of labs multiple and become more sophisticated they face additional
challenges with regards to safety and security. The culture of informality, open
access, and broad experimentation make the labs great places for community
exploration and innovation; yet without dedicated lab safety professionals they risk
being porous, may struggle to adapt their circumstances to traditional lab safety
standards, and face biosafety/security circumstances unique to community biotech labs.

9. Patti Mulligan,
Communications
Director
- Printed materials
- Research/students resources
- Website overhaul
- Podcasts
- Issue Briefs
- Twitter
- Events
- Newsletters

10. - Thoughts on moving to a smaller,
more concise design
- Focused on visual storytelling
See examples:
- Chancellor’s Annual Report
- College of Sciences
Annual Report

11. Faculty Highlights

12. Synthesizing Engagement for Synthetic Biology
Public Engagement Portion of $6.4M DARPA Safe Genes Project Grant
Jason Delborne, PI
Research Objectives:
- Measure & analyze public perceptions of environmental impacts of SynBio
- Perform value assessment of emerging SynBio technologies
- Technical transfer and dissemination of results
Potential activities in Years 2-4:
- Conduct stakeholder workshop to identify preferred strategies of public
engagement re: environmental impacts of SynBio
- Conduct public engagement activities, as informed by workshop, to collect data
about public understandings and perceptions
- Submit two or more papers for publication & complete report on recommended
best practices for communicating about SynBio with public audiences
“The outcomes of engagement may be as crucial as the scientific outcomes to
the decision about whether to release a gene-drive modified organism into the
environment. Thus, engagement cannot be an afterthought; it requires
effort, attention, resources, and advanced planning.” — NASEM, 2016, p. 131

13. USDA-NIFA: Assessing Public Perceptions of Gene
Drives for Invasive Species and Pest Control
Zack Brown, PI; J. Delborne & P. Mitchell, CoPIs
IGERT Students: Michael S. Jones, Johanna Elsensohn
Objective: Analyze public perceptions & ex ante social values
regarding important facets of gene drive technologies as they relate
to agriculture and natural resources.
1/ Intensive focus groups to gather qualitative data on public
understanding and formative views towards gene drives
2/ Using focus group data, conduct survey of the U.S. general
public’s attitudes & values towards expected benefits and risks
of gene drives in the context of agriculture.
Completed focus groups at NCCU (Durham), the Raleigh Farmers'
Market, & Dunn, NC. Nationwide web survey to 1,000+ respondents
to launch soon, and additional targeted focus groups.

14. NSF: Meanings of Responsible Innovation Across
Communities in Bioengineering Cultivating Cultures of Ethics
Jennifer Kuzma, PI
CoIs: F. Gould, D. Berube, E. Banks, J. Delborne, J. Herkert
Highlights:
• Training workshop for 20 students in responsible innovation
and leading focus groups
• Engaged 125+ stakeholders from academe, industry, trade
orgs, advocacy groups, and government
• Increased awareness of RI in Triangle Biotech community
• Novel policy process theory/practice: 2 students Ph.D.
theses work, 3 peer reviewed papers in progress
• Student training and engagement model developed in
"engineering ethics" that NSF and other agencies can utilize in
the future.
• Established linkages between IMSD and GES programs
• Forward looking: Responsible Innovation online community

15. Fred Gould, CoPI
Project included a one day show at the Contemporary
Arts Museum (CAM) with over 1000 visitors, and was
followed by a full day workshop with the artists and
scientists to envision a semester-long exhibit at the
Gregg and the Libraries in Fall of 2019 that could
also include classes and greenhouse projects. The
exhibit would then move to the University of Pittsburgh.

16. Discussion