Sustainability

By 2030, reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.

This year, our project aims to propose a new therapeutic for cancer treatment, which is a non-communicable disease. Living-bacteria-mediated therapy with the use of hydrogel is a new approach in an unharmful localized drug delivery treatment, causing few or no negative impacts on the organism. The lack of side effects also plays a crucial role in mental health, mainly regarding the stress on the organism itself and the patient's further journey in treatment.

Living-bacteria-mediated therapy can become one of the most affordable treatments for cancer. Our final product can also be referred to as an attenuated microorganisms-based anticancer vaccine aimed to cure solid carcinoma tumors. Being a cheap and easy-to-construct vaccine, our product can be delivered to all developing countries, drastically reducing the rate of mortality throughout the next several years.

More about the project can be found here.

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete accessible, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education, leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes.

Our team is eager to provide an opportunity for high schoolers to study new spheres, subjects, and skills, especially during the summer breaks when most of them are free.

In July 2023, our team organized an iGEM Summer Camp on synthetic and cancer biology for one week among high schoolers. This Summer Camp aimed to increase students' interest in synthetic and cancer biology. The Camp was run in online and offline formats in Kazakh, Russian, and English languages. Students attended lectures from professors and highly qualified specialists in synthetic and cancer biology spheres, had meetings with abroad iGEM Teams, and learned how to write academic papers. Our team tried to provide an opportunity for all students to get knowledge in synthetic and cancer biology in any language, place, and format. The program Summer Camp was targeted at the development of student's skills in conducting scientific research. At the end of Camp, high school students were able to write research projects on cancer and bioethics topics. Some students were even motivated to continue their research at school and eager to pursue their degree in biology-related spheres in the future. Finally, by having meetings with highly qualified specialists in biology spheres, students get an opportunity to learn more about career prospects.

By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and children in vulnerable situations.

iGEM Summer Camp was conducted in online and offline formats to provide an opportunity for all high school students to attend. Our team built a program in Kazakh, Russian, and English languages to make sure that every student, despite their language group, will get deep knowledge of synthetic and cancer biology in the language of their interest. For offline Summer Camp, 20 quota places for students belonging to socially vulnerable categories were given to our team.

By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, incredibly least developed countries, and small island developing states.

Unfortunately, the interest in science among students is decreasing in Kazakhstan. The government tries to encourage students to choose science majors and pursue their master's and Ph.D. degrees in science¹.

Summer Camp aimed to increase students' interest in synthetic and cancer biology through lectures from professors, meetings with highly qualified specialists, working in a laboratory, writing research projects, and presenting career prospects in biology spheres. Students' feedback showed that almost half of them are motivated to continue their studies in biology-related spheres. Kazakhstan is in need of specialists in STEM, and our Camp helped students understand how their potential could be used in biology and the importance of scientists in the modern world.

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere 5. B Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women

Gender Equality is one of the significant problems of modernity, especially in academia and STEM. 2.4 billion females are economically discriminated against worldwide and are unable to have the same economic rights as males². For instance, females in Kazakhstan have 25.3% less salary than males³. Furthermore, the representation of women in workplaces, including incredibly leading positions and those in STEM, could be better. Despite the goal to minimize gender inequality by 2030, it was estimated that at the current pace, it would take only 140 years to ensure equal gender representation in leading positions². The alarming statistics are also available for STEM and academia: only 35% of graduates in STEM majors and 33.3% of researchers are females⁴.

However, our team was able to address these issues and achieve positive results within our team and events. For the 3rd year in a row, our team is led by an active, hard-working female student, who, in return, has achieved a high representation of females within the team itself. This year, the ratio of females to males in our team is 60:40%, which shows that we have achieved positive results within our team for female representation. Furthermore, our team aimed to popularize gender equality and equal opportunities to a broader audience through our events. Specifically, the central event by our team, which achieved excellent results in addressing the issue, was Biology Summer Camp. Out of about 80 participants from various high schools, 72% were females. By using technologies for both offline and primarily offline formats of the Camp, we were able to educate and help girls learn more about opportunities in academia and STEM.

Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of research and development workers per 1 million people and public and private research and development spending.

In this year's project, we were able to explore new possibilities for current cancer therapy through new insights into living-bacteria-mediated treatment. Our project aimed to synthesize a specific drug delivery system against carcinoma using genetically modified bacteria encapsulated in a hydrogel. The main modification is the protein synthesis triggered by a high concentration of lactate, which is produced by cancer cells.

In addition, we had conversations with many other iGEM teams and experts from other countries like iGEM Eindhoven, McGill University, National Scientific Oncology Center, AstraZeneca, National Center for Biotechnology. These meetings helped us to gain more knowledge about bacteria-mediated therapy and improve the potential of design.

Communication, science, and research can develop faster and be more inclusive and diverse. Via collaboration, fostering of science development, and discussion of research designs assist in improving the quality of our projects. This way, we can enhance scientific research and construct a plan for the future application of our projects, thus leading to the development of vaccines or drug manufacturing sectors.

By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status.

For offline Summer Camp, our team provided 20 quota places for students from socially vulnerable categories and specialized schools. By quota, we mean that we guaranteed 20 places in our Camp for students from socially vulnerable categories, covering all their expenses related to Summer Camp (meals, transportation, and additional expenses). To make sure that all interested students can participate in the Summer Camp, our team conducted it in an online format. Students from the cities and villages got an opportunity to participate and gain deep knowledge about synthetic and cancer biology during the offline format.

By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution

Water pollution and the consequent threat to the health of water life remain a huge problem worldwide and in Kazakhstan especially. As reported by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2015, only 14.6% of the water reservoirs corresponded to the water quality standard for domestic and cultural uses⁵. Multiple cases of massive fish deaths in the country raise concern as well, out of which the most significant accident was the mass mortality of more than 120 tons of fish due to negligence of an enterprise responsible for the water supply and sanitation system in Atyrau in 2018⁶. The regular ecological tragedies show how it is vital to decrease the number of pollutants discharged to water bodies and how wastes detrimentally affect water lives. One of the newly concerning pollutant types is pharmaceuticals such as chemotherapy drugs, used mainly in cancer treatment. Most chemotherapy drugs have a massive list of side effects that affect healthy cells of organisms aside from tumors. Furthermore, since the majority of cancer treatment drugs are excreted unchanged, sewage wastewater, if untreated, especially from hospitals, contributes to aquatic pollution the most. In review research, it was observed that 33 out of 100 anticancer drugs registered by the FDA were observed in water ecosystems, and 7 of them showed the highest threat to aquatic life⁷.

The discussion with an environmental and material chemist with extensive experience in sustainability, Dr. Mannix Balanay, emphasized that one of the essential points to consider is the side effects on healthy tissues. Since our approach in our research is to use genetically modified bacteria instead of introducing a new chemotherapy drug to target cancer cells, the machinery is expected to be more specific, having significantly lower adverse effects on healthy cells. The double specificity in targeting cancer cells is achieved by using genetically modified E.coli, which responds to the tumor's microenvironment (high lactate concentration) and colicin E1's natural selectivity in the cytotoxic effect on tumor cells⁸. This specificity may help in producing a necessary amount of drug in response only to certain conditions and having a less toxic effect on other tissues and potentially on other non-bacterial organisms as well. Also, Dr. Balanay emphasized that most pharmaceutical pollution is negligent sewage treatment of industries, which we should consider. In these terms, our project is more advantageous due to the easy disposal of unspent bacteria by simple autoclave procedures, unlike chemotherapy drugs that need complicated treatment procedures. Thus, our project is expected to be more sustainable and less harmful to water life than chemotherapy drugs.