Biotechnology Product Project
Statement of Purpose
Problem:
We have chosen to pursue the problem of the lack of growth in the economy and the poverty in places such as West Africa and Asia, that grow cacao plants used to create chocolate. The cacao farmers in these areas are extremely poor and many have resorted to child labor in order to bring in some extra money. In Africa it is hard to find work for most people so producing this chocolate will provide many africans with jobs. Only 28% of Africans have a stable wage paying job. 60% of Africa’s crop land is unused allowing for Cacao plants to be planted in many different places. By 2020 Africa is on track to produce 8 million more jobs and that number could be multiplied if this plan works. Mining, oil, and gas contribute significantly to Africa's GDP, but these sectors employ less than 1 percent of the workforce. Our plan will provide Africa with many more jobs and a growth in the GDP.
Previously Attempted Solutions:
Donations and fundraisers have attempted to improve the lives of the poor people in those areas.
Current Limitations of Those Solutions:
These solutions are useful in the short term but you can only give and donate so much. With so many other projects being donated to, it is highly unlikely that there will be enough donations and fundraising to completely support countries like these. We need to fix the problem from the inside rather than just pouring support in from the outside.
Our Proposed Solution:
The idea for our proposal is to obtain the gene that controls the flavors of other plants such as Vanilla Planifolia, Mentha, and Saccharum Officinarum (sugar cane) and genetically modify the seeds of the cacao plant in order to create a “blended” flavor with the traditional flavor of cacao plants. We would insert the flavor causing gene into a vector. The vector would deliver the flavor gene into the nucleus of the cacao seed cells. We would coat tungsten with the DNA vectors and place those particles onto a teflon bullet. We would then load those bullets into a gene gun and shoot the gun at the cells. The release would be so great that the particles penetrate the plant cells. The cells would be plated on a selective antibiotic media so only the cells crossed with other flavors will grow and then those cells will be transferred onto media that is more suitable for plant growth. These would then grow into our prototype plants that produce the desired flavor.
The intended result from this new type of chocolate is to create a new market around genetically engineered chocolate, thus bringing money to these areas and providing more jobs. The new product and the business that went along with it would allow for the farmers to keep more of the profit from the plants that they pick because as of now the pickers only receive 3-6 % of the profit from the produce they pick. Another plus to using chocolate is that it naturally releases dopamine and seratonin which make people feel happier.
Citations:
http://www.cocoainitiative.org/en/documents-manager/english/20-ici-fact-sheet-child-labour-in-cocoa/file
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/fairtrade-partner-zone/chocolate-cocoa-production-risk
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-africas-economy-8113876.html
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/science/gmfoods/
https://gmoanswers.com/ask/how-much-time-does-it-take-and-how-much-does-it-cost-successfully-develop-hybrid-one-or-more
https://gmoanswers.com/ask/what-difference-cost-production-gmo-vs-non-gmo
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/hs92/1801/
Virtual Mentor and Credentials:
Dr. McCarthy
Ph.D. UC Berkeley
B.S. Ch.E. University of Florida
Efficacy Tests:
Statement of Purpose
Problem:
We have chosen to pursue the problem of the lack of growth in the economy and the poverty in places such as West Africa and Asia, that grow cacao plants used to create chocolate. The cacao farmers in these areas are extremely poor and many have resorted to child labor in order to bring in some extra money. In Africa it is hard to find work for most people so producing this chocolate will provide many africans with jobs. Only 28% of Africans have a stable wage paying job. 60% of Africa’s crop land is unused allowing for Cacao plants to be planted in many different places. By 2020 Africa is on track to produce 8 million more jobs and that number could be multiplied if this plan works. Mining, oil, and gas contribute significantly to Africa's GDP, but these sectors employ less than 1 percent of the workforce. Our plan will provide Africa with many more jobs and a growth in the GDP.
Previously Attempted Solutions:
Donations and fundraisers have attempted to improve the lives of the poor people in those areas.
Current Limitations of Those Solutions:
These solutions are useful in the short term but you can only give and donate so much. With so many other projects being donated to, it is highly unlikely that there will be enough donations and fundraising to completely support countries like these. We need to fix the problem from the inside rather than just pouring support in from the outside.
Our Proposed Solution:
The idea for our proposal is to obtain the gene that controls the flavors of other plants such as Vanilla Planifolia, Mentha, and Saccharum Officinarum (sugar cane) and genetically modify the seeds of the cacao plant in order to create a “blended” flavor with the traditional flavor of cacao plants. We would insert the flavor causing gene into a vector. The vector would deliver the flavor gene into the nucleus of the cacao seed cells. We would coat tungsten with the DNA vectors and place those particles onto a teflon bullet. We would then load those bullets into a gene gun and shoot the gun at the cells. The release would be so great that the particles penetrate the plant cells. The cells would be plated on a selective antibiotic media so only the cells crossed with other flavors will grow and then those cells will be transferred onto media that is more suitable for plant growth. These would then grow into our prototype plants that produce the desired flavor.
The intended result from this new type of chocolate is to create a new market around genetically engineered chocolate, thus bringing money to these areas and providing more jobs. The new product and the business that went along with it would allow for the farmers to keep more of the profit from the plants that they pick because as of now the pickers only receive 3-6 % of the profit from the produce they pick. Another plus to using chocolate is that it naturally releases dopamine and seratonin which make people feel happier.
Citations:
http://www.cocoainitiative.org/en/documents-manager/english/20-ici-fact-sheet-child-labour-in-cocoa/file
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/fairtrade-partner-zone/chocolate-cocoa-production-risk
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-africas-economy-8113876.html
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/science/gmfoods/
https://gmoanswers.com/ask/how-much-time-does-it-take-and-how-much-does-it-cost-successfully-develop-hybrid-one-or-more
https://gmoanswers.com/ask/what-difference-cost-production-gmo-vs-non-gmo
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/hs92/1801/
Virtual Mentor and Credentials:
Dr. McCarthy
Ph.D. UC Berkeley
B.S. Ch.E. University of Florida
Efficacy Tests:
We never got in contact with our virtual mentor.
Reflection:
For this project we thought of a variety of world problems and once we had chosen which one we wanted to focus on, we then came up with a biotechnology solution in order to solve it.
Two things that we did well were that our project was very outside of the box and creative and we collaborated and worked well together. Our project was very creative because we chose a problem that has never been attempted to be solved through a biotech solution and when you think of solutions for the poverty and poor economy in developing countries, you don't usually think of a biotechnology. We also worked well together because in the beginning we had two different ideas but we ended up compromising and thinking of project that combined both. In the end we ended up resorting back to one of the original ideas because it was much more realistic but that ordeal still demonstrates our collaboration. We were also able to distribute an equal amount of work throughout our group.
Two things that we could have improved were our time management and for our project we could have researched a bit more. We could have worked a bit more on our time management because we are a little behind and are struggling to finish our poster in time before it is due. We could have researched the different pieces of our project a bit more so that we were more familiar with the "flavor gene"(and its location, size, etc.). Along with that, it also could have been helpful to research our methods even more in depth than we did. We also could have researched our problem more in depth as well.