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Breastfeeding is widely recognized as the optimal source of nutrition for infants. However, due to various challenges—such as balancing career and childcare, health issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and economic pressures—many mothers are unable to exclusively breastfeed. Families often rely on formula milk, which frequently lacks complete nutrition and is expensive. Our project aims to address these issues by using synthetic biology to produce two key nutritional components—lactoferrin and N-acetylneuraminic acid—using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Through comprehensive stakeholder engagement, expert consultations, and public surveys, we have developed a solution that meets real-world needs, adds value, and is responsibly designed.

Highlights of our HP:

  • In-depth understanding of the problem: Through investigations and consultations, it is learned that parents have insufficient demand and awareness of key nutrients for infants and young children.
  • Identification of key nutrients: The decision was made to focus on lactoferrin and N-acetylneuraminic acid, which are critical to infant health.
  • Selection of production chassis: Saccharomyces cerevisiae with glycosylation capacity was selected as a chassis for lactoferrin production on the advice of experts.
  • Improvement of experimental methods: Under the guidance of experts, the production and detection experiments of lactoferrin were improved, the successful expression of the protein was verified by adding fluorescent proteins, and strategies to improve the expression level were proposed.
  • Cost control measures: Adopt the advice of industry experts, detail various costs in the business plan, develop a reasonable pricing strategy, and improve product competitiveness.
  • Market and customer research: In-depth study of market demand and target customers to ensure that the product meets market demand and has good sales prospects.
  • Public attitudes and popularization of science: Through surveys to understand the public's misgivings about genetically engineered products, explain the advantages of synthetic biology in popularization of science, and try to eliminate public misunderstanding and enhance trust.

Based on the suggestions of experts and the results of questionnaires, we decided to use Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce lactoferrin and N-acetylneuraminic acid at low cost, which are often added substances in formula milk, to promote the healthy growth and intellectual development of infants and young children. Among them, the improvement of the lactoferrin production and detection experiment benefited from the expert's suggestions, clarifying the direction for improving the expression level.

The suggestions related to reducing product costs from experts have enabled us to pay more attention to cost calculation and market demand when formulating the business plan. After understanding the factors that the public considers when choosing products and their attitudes towards genetic engineering products, experts and professors have provided guidance for resolving concerns and eliminating misunderstandings, and also made us more clear about the focus of our publicity work.

In short, various interviews and questionnaires have provided important information and support for our project, helping us to fully understand the problem, make reasonable decisions, and promote the project in the right direction.

Why Do We Focus on Formula Milk?

The health and nutrition of newborns are critical issues in global public health and a focal point of social concern. Proper growth and development during infancy are essential for the well-being of individuals and families. Despite the well-documented benefits of breastfeeding, over half of mothers are unable to exclusively breastfeed their infants due to several factors:

  • Work-Life Balance: Challenges in managing career commitments alongside childcare responsibilities make exclusive breastfeeding difficult.
  • Health Concerns: Declines in maternal health, partly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's aftermath, hinder the ability to breastfeed.
  • Economic Pressures: Financial constraints limit access to resources that support optimal nutrition.

As a result, many families turn to formula milk as a supplement or alternative. However, the formula milk currently available often has incomplete nutrition profiles and high prices, causing significant difficulties for these families.

According to our survey, in recent years, consumers have paid more and more attention to the nutritional composition and price of formula milk, and the demand for high-quality, nutritionally comprehensive infant and young child products has been increasing.

  • Perceived Nutritional Gap: 66.74% of respondents believe that most formula milk is less nutritious than breast milk.
  • Nutritional Vigilance: More than 60% of consumers closely examine the nutritional information when purchasing milk powder.
  • Supplement Use: Many parents are willing to choose additional nutritional supplements for their children if needed.
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More than 60% of families in China spend more than $1,680 on formula milk every year, while the per capita GDP is only $5,491. The greater economic pressure has also become an important reason for many families to choose not to have children or to have more children.

Data source: https://www.naifenzhiku.com/article/cate-7/detail-6496.html

Why Choose Lactoferrin and N-Acetylneuraminic Acid?

We decided to focus on two substances, lactoferrin and N-acetylneuraminic acid. This is because most parents are more familiar with and understand calcium and vitamins as essential nutrients for the growth of infants and young children, but they know relatively little about lactoferrin and N-acetylneuraminic acid, and these two substances are crucial for the healthy growth of infants and young children.

Pro. Bai, Jinan University

Professor Bai Weibin, vice dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Jinan University and an expert in food safety, nutrition, and biotechnology, believes that lactoferrin can regulate the immune system, protect infants and young children from infection and disease, and also has antioxidant effects, which can help infants and young children develop healthily; it can protect the intestinal flora and also prevent anemia. N-Acetylneuraminic acid can improve cognitive function, enhance the immune response ability, and protect nerve cells, which can help the healthy development of the nervous system. Therefore, these two substances play a key role in the healthy growth of infants and young children and can fully support their healthy growth.

In order to increase the public's understanding of these two nutrients, we also promoted the role of these two substances and their importance in the growth process of infants and young children in our subsequent promotional activities, see our Education page, and decided to use synthetic biology to produce lactoferrin and N-acetylneuraminic acid in our project to reduce the cost of these two nutrients that need to be added to formula milk and solve the problems of incomplete nutrition and high prices of formula milk.

Project Design and Feasibility

Choosing an effective and safe method to produce these nutrients was paramount. We engaged with experts to assess our options:

At the beginning of the project, we encountered difficulties in choosing the chassis cells. Our instructor, Dr. Shi, said that her family had used zinc-enriched yeast tablets, which are chewable tablets with inactivated zinc-enriched yeast as one of the main ingredients, which can be used for children to supplement zinc and other nutrients abundant in yeast. We believe that this may serve as a reference for the form of our product.

After discussion, most students believed that since we chose to make food-related products, we should choose Saccharomyces cerevisiae - a microorganism that is widely used in the food industry to produce lactoferrin and N-acetylneuraminic acid.

Since we found no precedent in the literature for the production of N-acetylneuraminic acid using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and learned that previous attempts by the iGEM team to produce lactoferrin had failed, we interviewed Prof. Wu of Zhejiang University and Dr. Liu of the Union Medical College for feasibility suggestions.

Pro. Wu, Zhejiang University

Regarding our choice, Professor Wu from Zhejiang University said that the expression of human lactoferrin requires a glycosylation process, and prokaryotes commonly used in synthetic biology, such as Escherichia coli, do not have this function. However, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a eukaryotic organism, may be able to complete this process. Moreover, using edible fungi for fermentation and omitting the extraction step may reduce the cost of the product.

Dr. Liu Yaofu, Union Medical College

Dr. Liu Yaofu from the Union Medical College believes that yeast, as a eukaryotic organism, has similar post-translational modifications to human cells, which is particularly important for the expression of functional human proteins. And yeast, as a GRAS organism, is widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, and is easy to genetically manipulate and can be cultured on a large scale, which is conducive to industrial production.

In addition, although there is no previous precedent for the production of N-acetylneuraminic acid from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it is expected that the expression of relevant enzymes and the yield of N-acetylneuraminic acid can be improved by selecting suitable plasmid expression vectors and optimising the pathway for the synthesis of relevant products.This view was also endorsed by Professor.

Troubleshooting on Lactoferrin Production and Detection

With the help of several expert professors and instructors, we finally decided to use synthetic biology technology to produce these two substances in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

During the synthesis of lactoferrin, we did not detect whether it was successfully synthesised by SDS-PAGE. We consulted Dr. Liu Yaofu, and he said that it is possible that the protein cannot be detected by SDS-PAGE when the expression level is low. Under his suggestion, we used fluorescent proteins to verify the feasibility of our system and confirmed that the protein expression system of our Saccharomyces cerevisiae can function normally. Moreover, by adding the fluorescent protein gene after the lactoferrin gene, we confirmed that we did successfully synthesize lactoferrin.

However, the current low content of lactoferrin still deserves our attention. In the future work, we will follow the suggestion of Professor Wu from Zhejiang University and try to split lactoferrin into two structural domains, the N-lobe and the C-lobe, which are more suitable for the expression of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, to improve its expression level in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and further reduce the production cost.

Cost Reduction Strategies

We hope that our products, lactoferrin and N-acetylneuraminic acid, are inexpensive. However, we believe that the current production cost is still too high and does not meet our requirements.

Dr. Wang Lei, Beijing Tuojie Biomedical Technology Co. Ltd.

Dr. Wang Lei, the general manager of Beijing Tuojie Biomedical Technology Co.Ltd., suggested that we can reduce costs by negotiating with raw material suppliers, improving production process efficiency, outsourcing non-core production links, cooperating with universities or research institutions to share R&D resources, and regularly auditing the production process.

Dr. Wu, T&J Bio-engineering

Dr. Wu from T&J Bio-engineering believes that cost control should start from the beginning. That is, the profit margin, material cost, operating cost, labor cost, etc. should be accurately calculated at the research and development stage, and amplified according to the industrial goals. After it is feasible, it should be put into practice and improved, and the sales population and market demand size should be determined at the initial stage of the product.

The answers of the two experts gave us a lot of inspiration. In the later formulation of the business plan, we listed the various costs in detail and formulated a more reasonable price policy to improve the competitiveness of the product; we paid more attention to the research on the sales population and market demand to ensure that the product can meet the market and achieve good sales performance. Finally, and most importantly, we strengthened our goal: we want to further reduce the production cost of the two products by optimizing the production process to obtain more affordable and high-quality products.

In conclusion, we hope to further reduce the production cost by optimizing the production process to obtain more affordable and high-quality products.

See our Entrepreneurship page.
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What Consumers Care about

Concerns on GMOs product

Parental Concerns:

In the course of the interviews and surveys, we noticed that safety is still the most important concern of consumers. The public is still concerned about the safety of GMOs foods, and many people are still prejudiced against GMOs products. Therefore, this may be the major dilemma facing our products.

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Interviews with working mothers showed that when choosing infant and young child products, their primary consideration is safety. They will pay attention to whether the product has passed national safety reviews, whether there is a professional scientific research team, and whether it has a good reputation. Secondly, they consider factors such as the cost performance, convenience, effectiveness, and form of the product. For genetically engineered products, if they meet the needs of the child and pass the safety review, they will consider choosing them, but they will also conduct research and refer to the evaluations of others.

Considering that the two mothers we interviewed are highly educated, the public's misunderstanding of genetically engineered products is still worrying.

Expert Suggestions:

Pro. Bai, Jinan University

Professor Bai from Jinan University told us that a considerable part of the more common soybean oil and cotton in daily life are genetically modified products. Compared to soybean oil, the public acceptance of genetically modified cotton is currently much higher because it is not a food. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on communicating with the public. For our product, he suggested using science and technology to prevent risks, keeping an eye on the development of new technologies, and doing our best to predict and avoid risks.

Dr. Wang Lei, Beijing Tuojie Biomedical Technology Co. Ltd.

Dr. Wang Lei said that resolving consumers' concerns and prejudices is a major challenge in the promotion of genetically engineered products. First, it is necessary to establish the credibility of the product through scientific evidence and authoritative certification. Inviting authoritative experts to participate in the research and development and publicity of the product can effectively enhance the public's trust in the product. Secondly, the production process and raw material sources of the product can be made transparent to show consumers the safety and advantages of genetic engineering technology. In addition, by holding science popularization activities, publishing science popularization articles or short videos, and popularizing relevant knowledge to the public, we can help them better understand and accept such products.

The views of several experts have boosted our confidence and also clarified our arduous task. Therefore, in our publicity activities, we have shown the superiority of synthetic biology technology to the public more and tried to eliminate the public's prejudice against genetically engineered products. Our work may only have made a small splash, but we believe that every step we take is closer to a better future created by synthetic biology.

Our Approach and Action:

  • Transparency and Education:
    • Conducted educational outreach to explain synthetic biology and its benefits.
    • Published accessible content to demystify genetic engineering.
  • Regulatory Compliance:
    • Ensured adherence to all safety regulations and standards.
    • Sought guidance on risk prevention and management from experts like Professor Bai.
  • Building Trust:
    • Collaborated with respected professionals to endorse our project's safety and efficacy.

Market Access and Policy Support:

To advance our product, we conducted market research and consulted with Dr. Wu of T&J Bioengineering on relevant policies.

Dr. Cao, Want Want Group

Dr. Cao from Want Want Group said that in recent years, parents have been paying more attention to early infant nutrition, especially to brain development and immune system support, so products that can improve the immunity and cognitive development of infants and young children are welcomed by the market. And in recent years, the formula market has shown a trend of segmentation, with consumer demand shifting to products with specific functions. Therefore, milk powder with N-acetylneuraminic acid and lactoferrin fits this consumer demand.

Dr. Wu, T&J Bio-engineering

Dr. Wu told us that synthetic biological nutrients, compared to the extraction methods of traditional nutrients, reduce the cost of purchasing and transporting raw materials. At the same time, synthetic biology is relatively green and environmentally friendly, and has certain advantages compared to chemical synthesis products. At the same time, there is also national policy support. Moreover, compared with naturally extracted nutrients, the nutrients produced by synthetic biology technology are basically the same, which is exactly the concern of many parents.

She also said that synthetic biological nutrients have the potential to reduce costs and increase production, and their share in the nutrition market will further expand. At the same time, the market tolerance and regulatory tolerance for synthetic biological nutrients will further increase. With the maturity of technology and the further understanding of vectors and gene fragments, the loosening of regulations makes it possible to produce and promote these products.

Future Challenge

Based on the above work, we believe that our program continues to face many challenges in the future, including marketing, safety reviews and product improvements. In this regard, Pro. Wu also gave relevant suggestions.

Pro. Wu, Zhejiang University

Professor Wu said that similar to the modification of insulin, in theory, we can design lactoferrin with stronger activity and higher immunity through synthetic biology technology, which is impossible for natural products. In addition to increasing production, we have decided to make this one of our priorities for the future, in order to provide the public with cheaper and more effective products.

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