Welcome to the Human Practices page of the Hydro Guardian. Discover how we engage with stakeholders, experts, and more to ensure our synthetic biology project is socially responsible and ethically sound. Learn about our outreach initiatives, collaborations, and the impact of our work beyond the lab.
Dear Friend,
You’ve arrived at this page to learn how I, the Hydro Guardian, have interacted with and integrated into the human world. I’ve made this page personal so that I can speak to you directly.
I will share the story of my journey—how my project’s ideas have evolved, how I’ve received and thoughtfully considered feedback, and how I’ve come to understand a community that, while not fully capturing my abilities, is still crucial to address in light of the issues my work tackles. Finally, I’ll explain why I’ve chosen to focus on the Sustainable Development Goals on the long run.
My journey began last September on a typical rainy day in Germany (not the reason for my name!) when something suddenly clicked in Leon's mind — he wanted to start an iGEM team. He already had a clear vision: he aimed to detect heavy metal particles. There was just one problem — Leon was a trained physicist with only some basic cell biology knowledge from his bachelor’s thesis, and no real experience in synthetic biology. So, he needed to assemble a team.
With the help of his supervisors, Leon started sending emails, talking to people, and gathering interest. Eventually, the team came together — a mix of physicists, biologists, microbiologists, and plant biologists. And let me tell you, defining a project topic wasn’t easy! In the end, two major ideas emerged: "detecting heavy metals," which my dear physicist Leon seemed to favor, and "detecting antibiotic residues", a concept that the microbiologists, especially Lisa, were particularly excited about. I liked both ideas, so rather than letting Leon and Lisa debate it out, we decided to tackle both—detecting heavy metals and antibiotic residues. However, we quickly realized that our scope was far too broad but also that both quantities affect each other.
The first task I gave the team was a literature review: gather everything they could find on heavy metals and antibiotic residues in wastewater, and explore pathways that might allow us to detect them. Some of my physicist teammates came back with interesting responses, like, "We can build a Raman spectrometer." Well, they weren’t wrong, but we needed to integrate that with synthetic biology.
To make a long story short, we eventually developed a biological solution (see Description), along with some complementary physics-based measurements (see Spectroscopy Analysis) and modeling (see Model). I turned this into a friendly competition: could the physicists, using their ideas and devices, measure lower concentrations, or would synthetic biology come out on top? Personally, I was rooting for the latter.
But now, both physicists and biologists had real work ahead — get into the lab, generate results, and most importantly, communicate and inspire each other. Wait, hold on — I forgot to mention something important! During our initial reflection, we discovered the vast and complex world of antibiotics. There are so many different classes! And how could we detect something designed to kill bacteria? It was at this point I realized I probably wouldn’t be modeled as a bacterium but rather as a mammal! YES!!!! My biologists suggested using HEK cells, though that decision would later become a topic of further debate.
At the very first stage of my quest to develop an innovative solution for detecting antibiotic and heavy metal residues, I recognized that it was essential to collaborate with experts from various fields. I identified four key specialists: an expert in wastewater treatment, a professor of environmental microbiology, a specialist in dental implant research (healthcare), and the company What-a-bird, which produces water filters. These interviews were crucial not only for gaining valuable insights but also for aligning my sensor technology with the real-world needs and challenges of the field.
One of the primary reasons I consulted a wastewater treatment expert was to leverage his understanding of how water quality is managed daily. Wastewater treatment plants are on the front lines when dealing with pollutants, including antibiotics and heavy metals, that enter the environment through industrial, medical, and agricultural activities. Peer Lindenhayn from Hannover's wastewater treatment department was the ideal specialist to answer my questions. With his practical experience in current detection methods and regulations, he helped me understand the limitations of existing technologies and assess the potential of my biosensor as a future tool for water monitoring.
Additionally, his knowledge of Germany’s legal requirements for wastewater treatment gave me a clearer understanding of the standards that must be met. His insights into the practical implementation of a biosensor in wastewater plants were invaluable, highlighting both the potential benefits and the challenges I might face when moving from lab research to real-world application.
I discovered that antibiotics aren't routinely tested for because there’s currently no legal requirement to do so. This surprised me and led to a shift in my project’s direction: without a legal requirement, there’s no set minimum concentration that I need to detect. With that in mind, I assigned this challenge to the modeling group. Since we didn’t have official guidelines to follow, I asked them to come up with estimates based on their models. They really dove into the task and were able to identify some minimal antibiotic concentrations. Please see my model here.
It was also clear to me: I have to find something more about the science from the community and started to consulting two academic experts from the microbiology and healthcare field.
First, I had the opportunity to interview Professor Marcus Horn from the Institute of Microbiology at Leibniz University Hannover. His insights into the development of bacterial antibiotic resistance, especially in the context of environmental contamination, deepened my understanding of the scientific importance of my work. Professor Horn also helped me explore the broader societal implications of biosensors, particularly how they could be used to detect and mitigate environmental contamination before it escalates into a major public health issue. His feedback on the feasibility of my sensor in future applications allowed me to refine my approach, ensuring that it was scientifically sound and practical. This gave me a clearer vision of how my technology could contribute to ongoing efforts to combat antibiotic resistance and improve environmental health.
I also consulted Dr. Andreas Winkel from the NIFE Institute in Hannover, whose research focuses on peri-implant infections and bacterial biofilms. His expertise in biofilms and interdisciplinary research provided me with a broader understanding of biosensor technology and the complexities of biological systems, adding a unique perspective to my development process. Dr. Winkel expanded my knowledge of how multispecies bacterial biofilms communicate and form in complex environments. While biofilm formation often causes problems—such as in dental implants, where it contributes to a 25% failure rate—it’s also a natural and necessary process in healthy ecosystems, including the human body.
Dr. Winkel offered key insights into the sensitivity of HEK cells, which I use in my biosensor, pointing out that these cells are fragile and may require stabilization or pre-treatment of samples to prevent them from dying upon exposure. He suggested considering more robust bacterial systems as an alternative. Additionally, he highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of modern scientific solutions, emphasizing the importance of combining expertise across fields to successfully bring the biosensor from concept to real-world application. His input broadened my perspective on how biosensor technology can be adapted for various environments and how complex biological interactions must be carefully considered in sensor development.
To gear up for the Grand Jamboree in Paris, I also showcased my project to scientists at the NIFE (Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research, and Development). The feedback I received from experts in medicine, biology, and chemistry guided me in steering my project in the right direction and highlighted unresolved issues that needed attention. Furthermore, I conducted a simulated jamboree presentation for Prof. Dr. Alexander Heisterkamp’s working group, which greatly aided in refining my presentation and sharpening my concept.
In between I also thought about broadening my understanding and getting involved scientifically in our iGEM community with the hope of getting valuable feedback for my concepts – and indeed I did!
I proudly participated in the BFH European Meet-Up in Bielefeld from May 24 to 26, 2024, where I presented me, the Hydro Guardian, to fellow iGEM teams. During the poster session, I received insightful feedback from judges and other teams, which proved instrumental in enhancing both my project and its presentation. These interactions not only advanced my own work but also broadened my understanding of different approaches in synthetic biology and helped me network within the community. I extend my gratitude to the three teams—Bielefeld-CeBiTec, Hamburg, and GU-Frankfurt—for hosting this wonderful meet-up.
More importantly, I reached out to other iGEM teams developing biosensors to promote collaboration, share knowledge, and learn from their journeys. The importance of biosensors has surged in recent years due to their potential for detecting harmful substances that threaten both the environment and human health. Many iGEM teams focus on biosensor development because they offer advantages over traditional detection methods, such as greater sensitivity, faster results, and adaptability to various settings. These features make biosensors ideal for tackling critical global issues, from environmental pollution to healthcare challenges.
One key reason for connecting with these teams is that many are working to detect substances that pose serious risks to ecosystems and human well-being. For instance, some teams are focusing on microplastics—an emerging pollutant pervasive in water bodies with severe ecological and health repercussions. Others are developing biosensors to detect toxic heavy metals like cadmium, lead, arsenic, copper, nickel, and mercury, which are hazardous even in low concentrations and often found in industrial wastewater. Additionally, teams across different regions are tackling the detection of antibiotics like rifampicin, commonly present in water systems due to pharmaceutical runoff, contributing to the growing global concern of antibiotic resistance.
My goal was to learn about the various approaches these teams employed in their biosensor development and to understand the challenges they faced along the way. To facilitate this exchange, I posed several key questions to them:
The team DTU BioBuilders from Denmark graciously responded to my inquiries, sharing valuable insights. They are developing a biosensor to detect a wide range of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are detrimental to both wildlife and human health. Their biosensor utilizes a fluorescent aptamer as the reporting molecule, delivering a clear signal upon detection. A notable advantage of their approach is its cost-effectiveness and versatility, allowing for the detection of a broad array of non-predetermined compounds compared to traditional methods. They foresee future applications of their biosensor in monitoring domestic water supplies, a crucial area for safeguarding public health.
By engaging with these teams, I aimed to gain insights into the latest innovations in biosensor technology while learning from their successes and challenges. I hope this exchange of information allows me to reflect on my development process and refine my approach to designing my heavy-metal and beta-lactam antibiotic-detecting biosensor, ultimately contributing more effectively to addressing pressing global issues.
As I approached the end of my lab journey, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Yet, I recognized the challenge of translating my scientific findings into practical applications. To navigate this path, I decided to consult experts who had successfully bridged this gap.
In my quest to develop a cellular sensor for detecting antibiotic and heavy metal residues in water, I reached out to What-a-bird, a company renowned for its portable water filtration solutions. Their expertise was invaluable, shedding light on how my sensor could enhance existing water quality assessment methods, particularly in decentralized and resource-limited environments.
During our conversation, I learned about the real-world challenges of water contamination detection and how my technology could fill critical gaps in filtration processes. Moreover, What-a-bird shared their perspective on how my project aligns with global clean water initiatives and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), offering insights into the feasibility and scalability of my solution across various water treatment contexts.
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and talk about our project. First of all, please introduce yourself. What do you do at What a Bird and what is your professional background?
We are Dipl. Ing. Lars Trappe and Dipl. oec. troph. Kristin Skibba. Lars studied production horticulture with a focus on soils. Kristin studied nutritional sciences with a focus on quality management and adult education. At the end of 2017, they noticed in northern Uganda that the daily supply of drinking water is a major challenge for the people there. Most of the time they have to get their daily water from sources that are sometimes not safe, and they use canisters for this. The water then has to be treated, often by boiling, which is time-consuming and uses a lot of resources. Even if the water source is safe, the canister can contaminate the water because canisters are difficult to clean. The canister is an essential part of the water infrastructure, especially on the last mile. This gave rise to the idea of developing a water filter specifically for canisters, with the aim of giving people access to clean drinking water. And with our product, the canister becomes a water dispenser with an integrated water filter.
How do you rate the relevance of our project based on cellular sensors for the detection of antibiotic and heavy metal residues in water samples for agricultural or resource-restricted areas where your water filtration system is used?
Our target group are people who have no or limited access to clean drinking water. Our filters are used primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. Our current version removes microorganisms from the water using purely mechanical means. In the next version, we will also use activated carbon to filter possible heavy metals out of the water. Often, you don't even know whether there are heavy metals in the water. Therefore, a simple test of the water is very useful in order to decide whether the target group should also use activated carbon. In sub-Saharan Africa in particular, there are regions and areas that have increased heavy metal levels. For example, mercury is often found near oil mines.
In our view, water contamination by antibiotics is not a big problem in sub-Saharan Africa, but it is just a feeling. Here too, it would be exciting to be able to test this and develop appropriate solutions.
Could you imagine that your water filtration system and our cellular sensor for water quality testing could be a useful combination? If so, what could such a combined system look like?
A combination of the two systems can be very useful for aid organizations, because they have to present appropriate reports in their projects to prove that the resources used (especially financial resources) were effective. A before and after analysis of the water using the two products would easily show what improvements are made by using the what a bird water filter and thus a positive impact on people can be derived.
Where do you see overlaps between the mission of What-a-bird and our mission? Where do you think we might be thinking in the wrong direction?
Improving access to clean drinking water around the world is our motivation. We are focusing directly on water treatment at household level. We want to enable people to treat their own daily water. We see the "Hydro Guardians" project as very exciting in the area of monitoring, in order to determine in a simple and straightforward way whether there are additional contaminations in the water. As already mentioned, the combination of both systems can be very interesting for the work of aid organizations.
In which regions where you are active do you see the greatest need for our sensor technology?
That's a good question. Basically, it's always exciting to find out what substances are in the water. A simple solution to this, especially in rural areas, can raise awareness of the problem and also enable organizations and authorities to take appropriate measures.
As we are mainly active in sub-Saharan Africa, we can look at Ghana (mercury in water) and Ethiopia (arsenic in water due to leaching of rock) as two exciting regions. But tests of urban water in Africa for the presence of heavy metals and antibiotic residues could also be very interesting and conclusive.
In this regard, what role could such early detection play in the further development of your water filtration systems, especially in regions where the infrastructure for other, complex water analyses is lacking?
Our approach is at household level, so we do not currently see the implementation of these tests for our target group. It is often women with little school education who use our product, and explaining to them what other pathogenic substances (not just bacteria) can be in the water is a big task that we are not yet up to. We see the early detection of the parameters primarily at the level of the water authorities and waterworks. They are supposed to ensure that the water is of good quality and, if this is not the case, take appropriate measures. Aid organizations can use this technology to document the efficiency of their water projects.
Since your company is already focusing on innovative water filtration solutions, what role does the integration of new technologies for water quality monitoring, such as our cellular sensor, play in your future product development? Which products could be further developed with it and in what way?
New and uncomplicated solutions for detecting different substances are certainly exciting. We could imagine using this solution to support organizations in their work. So it's a kind of service package: We test the existing water, create a report, can then explain to those responsible which options for water treatment would make sense, and then another test is carried out to document the success of the project.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges in the widespread implementation of technologies aimed at detecting environmental pollutants?
A big challenge can be the importance of the issue, i.e. how important it is to carry out regular testing. Are there any government regulations to implement the testing? We believe that local authorities must be encouraged to document environmental pollution with the important goal of eliminating or preventing it.
In your previous work in water-restricted regions, have there been cases where technologies like ours - for monitoring antibiotics and heavy metals - would have been particularly helpful? Or have there already been such approaches in general? Do you have a specific example for us?
Unfortunately, we do not have a concrete example of this, as our work so far has only focused on the elimination of microorganisms and turbidity. With our new product (additional activated carbon), your technology can document and evaluate the effectiveness of our filters for us.
What contribution do you think young scientists and research projects like ours could make to sustainable development and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
We value the work of young scientists, but also of all people who are dealing with the UN's sustainability goals and looking for solutions. The approach of researching sustainable ideas and, ideally, implementing them gives us the feeling that the focus is not only on monetary goals, but much more that impact is being created for people and nature.
What-a-bird is strongly committed to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in the area of clean water and sanitation. Do you think our project could contribute to achieving goals, such as promoting health and well-being (SDG 3) or environmental sustainability (SDG 13-15)?
What a Bird is already contributing to improving water hygiene (SDG 6) and helping to prevent diseases such as cholera. The integration of sensor technology could further support these efforts and contribute to the achievement of others, such as UN Goal 3 (health). We naturally also see improvements in the achievement of other SDG goals (13-15) through this technology, because only by documenting the current situation can measures be taken to move closer to the individual goals.
I thought that I should really concentrate on these Sustainable Development Goals and push my project right in that direction! I have prepared a very detailed page on this issue for you to read here.
You might think my story is wrapping up, but there are two more facets of this journey I want to share. Early on, my team and I discussed who receives antibiotics in healthcare and the associated challenges. I found it particularly intriguing that antibiotics are often prescribed to children in outpatient settings. However, I also discovered that adherence to these prescriptions and the proper disposal of antibiotics were suboptimal in this context Text. This prompted me to reflect and draw three conclusions: 1. Engaging with this community is challenging since it involves a close relationship between parents and children, rather than targeting a specific individual; and 2. Many iGEM teams likely encounter similar issues when addressing antibiotics and prescribed medications. 3. Based on weekly reports of young people identifying with climate change and sustainability, maybe at a certain age children’s can be directly addressed.
I started to deal with the third issue, and me and my team prepared a school visit: During a visit to the 6th graders at IGS Langenhagen, my interdisciplinary team and I introduced ourselves as part of competition. We began by diving into the basics of synthetic biology, explaining how organisms like bacteria can be modified to perform new functions. To connect with the students, we encouraged them to work in groups to explore the roles of cells and bacteria, helping them understand how these tiny organisms affect our lives—both positively and negatively. We used relatable analogies to ensure the concepts resonated with the 6th graders.
As the conversation shifted to water pollution, the students brainstormed potential causes like antibiotics and heavy metals from everyday sources such as hospitals and agriculture. This seamlessly led to my introduction, I AM HYDRO GUARDIAN, who is designed to identify pollutants in water that standard treatment methods might overlook. We drew parallels to rapid COVID-19 tests, allowing students to connect with a concept they were already familiar with.
We concluded our session by discussing practical ways students can contribute to preventing pollution, such as responsibly disposing medications. The Q&A session that followed was particularly engaging, as students eagerly interacted with both the topic and my project. They offered various ideas rooted in the fundamentals of synthetic biology, providing me with fresh perspectives and potential inspiration for future initiatives. It was truly an enriching experience for everyone involved, blending education with inspiration!
But I also thought about the first and second issue: How can I address parents and children together and make this also easier for fellow teams: My team created a children's book about me. This initiative aimed not only to educate but also to gather feedback on our project. I reached out to teachers and practitioners for their thoughts on the book and whether it helped them grasp our project better. Overall, they agreed that it was a valuable tool for understanding our work and emphasized the importance of sustainability. Please have a look at the children's book and provide your feedback.
Now for the fun part: I love you, iGEMers! While I may appear as a well-crafted creation (thanks to Veronika and Emily's great work), I truly have a soul. I wanted to contribute something special to the iGEM community, so I’m thrilled to present my dedicated iGEM cookbook, featuring contributions from me, my team, and especially you! A big thank you to all the friends and teams who contributed. Happy soul-cooking!
