Empowering Do-it-yourself Biology by Doing-it-together: Collective Responsibility in Maximizing Benefit and Mitigating Risk

Rapid technological advances in genome editing and synthetic biology have created an unprecedented ability for science to be conducted outside traditional research institutions. This open science movement, known as do-it-yourself biology (DIY Bio) has gained significant traction and has grown exponentially in the last decade with over 160 active groups and thousands of DIY Biologists from a range of backgrounds worldwide. As a result, the movement has become a platform for biotechnology entrepreneurship and an instrument for discovery-based science education and outreach (Kolodziejczyk 2017; Landrain et al. 2013). The COVID-19 pandemic has also further emphasised the potential positive impact that the DIY Bio community can bring towards enhancing the innovative capacity of the larger scientific enterprise. As DIY biologists and scientists from traditional institutions share experimental data and designs on various platforms including online forums in response to the current pandemic, it is becoming evident that the scientific ecosystem has much to gain by being more inclusive. However, the inherent fast-evolving, open and relatively unregulated nature of DIY Bio creates substantial safety and security concerns. Here, we discuss the benefits and risks of DIY Bio and how multiple stakeholders, especially the government and academia, might work together with the DIY Bio community to co-develop global and locally contextualized policies, regulatory frameworks and action plans for maximum benefit and minimum risk.The Global Young Academy receives its core funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the GYA DIY Biology Working Group’s activities have been co-funded by the Volkswagen Foundation

Towards policies that capture the expected value of biomolecular diversity for drug discovery, human health, and well-being

This paper aims to help policy makers with a characterization of the intrinsic value of biodiversity and its role as a critical foundation for sustainable development, human health, and well-being. Our objective is to highlight the urgent need to overcome economic, disciplinary, national, cultural, and regional barriers, in order to work out innovative measures to create a sustainable future and prevent the mutual extinction of humans and other species. We emphasize the pervasive neglect paid to the cross-dependency of planetary health, the health of individual human beings and other species. It is critical that social and natural sciences are taken into account as key contributors to forming policies related to biodiversity, conservation, and health management. We are reaching the target date of Nagoya treaty signatories to have accomplished measures to prevent biodiversity loss, providing a unique opportunity for policy makers to make necessary adjustments and refocus targets for the next decade. We propose recommendations for policy makers to explore novel avenues to halt the accelerated global loss of biodiversity. Beyond the critical ecological functions biodiversity performs, its enormous untapped the repertoire of natural molecular diversity is needed for solving accelerating global healthcare challenges

INNOVATION IN EUROPE A Comparative Study

Innovation is one of the major factors of the country’s development and wealth. It is generally accepted that economically strong countries can afford to dedicate more funds to research and development, and as such, the economy and innovation are highly interconnected. In addition, while a strong economy allows for more innovation, innovation is recognized as a driver of the economy. In the past decades, many attempts have been pursued to develop the best innovation measures and apply them to identify the most innovative states. The task proved to be difficult, mainly because of the complexity of the topic and a vast number of factors that can potentially contribute to the country’s innovation performance. Moreover, there is an ongoing discussion among experts regarding what innovation is, how to measure it, and what factors should be included in the evaluation framework. The aim of the current study looks at three main innovation indices and attempts to position all 28 European Union member countries in terms of innovation performance. Further, the study also attempts to compare the results of all three indices and discuss similarities and discrepancies which position the same country differently depending on the applied framework. The study is based on existing innovation performances such as the Global Innovation Index, the Bloomberg Innovation Index, or the Global Competitiveness Report. Bivariate analysis and simple data visualization techniques have been applied to reveal differences and similarities and to draw conclusions. The study revealed that the European Union is generally very innovative, which is confirmed by high ranking positions of each of the European Union member states within all three innovation rankings. Further, performed bivariate analysis and data visualization show significant methodological discrepancies of all three frameworks, which result in different ranking outcomes. These innovation indices often play an essential role in national policy developments and are an indication of the country’s status and prestige; as such achieving uniform or similar results despite applied framework is of high importance

Development of novel air electrode materials for fuel cells : solar activated fuel cells

Verkefnið er unnið í tengslum við Háskóla Íslands og Háskólann á AkureyriFuel cells convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy and heat with high efficiency and low emission of pollutants. However, before fuel cell technology can gain a significant share of the energy market, many important issues have to be solved. These issues include many different aspects, one of them is the development of alternative materials for fuel cells. Present fuel cell prototypes very often use materials selected when fuel cells gained interest, it was more than 25 years ago. Commercialization aspects, including cost and durability, have revealed inadequacies in some of these materials. This paper describes research and its results on development of new electrode materials for fuel cells. Main interest was concentrated on conducting polymer – PEDOT, and its blends with non-conducting polymers. What more, during research some very interested properties of tested materials has been discovered. PEDOT and its blends with PBTh and PTTh can be light activated, this phenomena increases overall electrode performance when light is introduced. This leads to new types of fuel cells, a hybrid of fuel cell and photovoltaic cell. This paper summarizes research and development of this innovative and alternative materials. Now when European Union proposed energy policy for member countries, this research can have great importance for Poland as well as for other countries.Final Version of Master's Thesi

Development of novel conjugated polymer materials and structures for organic electronics and energy applications

While much research in the field of conducting polymers and organic electronics focuses on development of novel polymers and other related materials, or enhancing the properties of existing materials and understanding the mechanisms behind them, in many cases, clear and reliable future directions or applications of the research are unclear. Developing an understanding of the roles of different physical and chemical mechanisms and establishing simple, cheap and reliable manufacturing and processing technologies for conducting polymers will be crucial to guide future research to uncover modern materials for advanced practical applications. In the present work, several novel manufacturing and processing routes have been established to firstly create organic materials with desired properties and, later, to apply them in functional devices. Several adjustments have been made to the synthesis of conducting polymers, and novel ways for patterning of thin organic films developed, so that high-quality materials can be made cheaply and relatively quickly and then used to create functional devices with improved properties. Conducting polymers such as polyacetylene, polythiophene, polyaniline or poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) have been studied for several decades now; however, their properties have not been sufficient for widespread commercial application. Only recently have developments in the field and improvements in the properties of these materials, as well as better understanding of mechanisms underlying their functionality, allowed their use in prototype devices. The conductivity of organic materials is still relatively low compared to that of their inorganic counterparts, although some applications do not require such high electrical properties. A critical step was to better understand conductivity mechanisms and improve them using several different methods. Examples of methods to improve properties include blending two or more conducting or non-conducting polymers, co-polymerizing different monomers together or designing polymers and their surfaces on the nano-level. This work presents a study of two conducting polymers: poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and poly(thiophene) and some attempts to increase their current properties or develop new properties to meet requirements for specific applications. Most of the effort focuses on the development of properties that are important for application in fields like energy production and storage, photonics and electronics. These critical properties include high electrical performance and high conductivity, good electrochemical properties, high surface area, broad light absorption spectra, biocompatibility, good mechanical properties and long lifetime. Chapter 3 discusses vapor phase co-polymerization of bithiophene and terthiophene as a route to widen absorption spectra of polythiophene materials. Chapter 4 describes processes responsible for formation of polythiophene nano-structures during vapor phase polymerization. It also explains conditions and polymerization parameters responsible for formation of different nano-structures so that those materials can be tuned for desired applications. Chapter 5 shows development of a laser ablation technique as a way to pattern conducting polymers to get the shape and architecture required for a specific device or application. The laser ablation technique is applied to manufacture organic electrochemical transistors and gas sensors. Lastly, Chapter 6 builds on knowledge from previous chapters to develop organic light sensors and opto-logic gates that can be used in an optical-to-electronic interface. This work significantly advances the state of knowledge of conducting polymers within the organic electronics field, and gives insights into how those materials interact with each other and how to tailor their properties. The findings here can serve as a basis for developing new conducting polymers, as well as direct investigations for new applications using the materials presented here

Development of novel conjugated polymer materials and structures for organic electronics and energy applications

While much research in the field of conducting polymers and organic electronics focuses on development of novel polymers and other related materials, or enhancing the properties of existing materials and understanding the mechanisms behind them, in many cases, clear and reliable future directions or applications of the research are unclear. Developing an understanding of the roles of different physical and chemical mechanisms and establishing simple, cheap and reliable manufacturing and processing technologies for conducting polymers will be crucial to guide future research to uncover modern materials for advanced practical applications. In the present work, several novel manufacturing and processing routes have been established to firstly create organic materials with desired properties and, later, to apply them in functional devices. Several adjustments have been made to the synthesis of conducting polymers, and novel ways for patterning of thin organic films developed, so that high-quality materials can be made cheaply and relatively quickly and then used to create functional devices with improved properties. Conducting polymers such as polyacetylene, polythiophene, polyaniline or poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) have been studied for several decades now; however, their properties have not been sufficient for widespread commercial application. Only recently have developments in the field and improvements in the properties of these materials, as well as better understanding of mechanisms underlying their functionality, allowed their use in prototype devices. The conductivity of organic materials is still relatively low compared to that of their inorganic counterparts, although some applications do not require such high electrical properties. A critical step was to better understand conductivity mechanisms and improve them using several different methods. Examples of methods to improve properties include blending two or more conducting or non-conducting polymers, co-polymerizing different monomers together or designing polymers and their surfaces on the nano-level. This work presents a study of two conducting polymers: poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and poly(thiophene) and some attempts to increase their current properties or develop new properties to meet requirements for specific applications. Most of the effort focuses on the development of properties that are important for application in fields like energy production and storage, photonics and electronics. These critical properties include high electrical performance and high conductivity, good electrochemical properties, high surface area, broad light absorption spectra, biocompatibility, good mechanical properties and long lifetime. Chapter 3 discusses vapor phase co-polymerization of bithiophene and terthiophene as a route to widen absorption spectra of polythiophene materials. Chapter 4 describes processes responsible for formation of polythiophene nano-structures during vapor phase polymerization. It also explains conditions and polymerization parameters responsible for formation of different nano-structures so that those materials can be tuned for desired applications. Chapter 5 shows development of a laser ablation technique as a way to pattern conducting polymers to get the shape and architecture required for a specific device or application. The laser ablation technique is applied to manufacture organic electrochemical transistors and gas sensors. Lastly, Chapter 6 builds on knowledge from previous chapters to develop organic light sensors and opto-logic gates that can be used in an optical-to-electronic interface. This work significantly advances the state of knowledge of conducting polymers within the organic electronics field, and gives insights into how those materials interact with each other and how to tailor their properties. The findings here can serve as a basis for developing new conducting polymers, as well as direct investigations for new applications using the materials presented here

New one-pot poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(tetrahydrofuran) memory material for facile fabrication of memory organic electrochemical transistors

The discovery of a new poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) composite with unique memory characteristics has led to the demonstration of durable Organic ElectroChemical Transistors (OECT) based memory devices. The composites of PEDOT with polytetrahydrofuran undergo a structural collapse during electrochemical reduction that requires approximately 800 mV overpotential to re-open and is thus hindering the re-oxidation of the composite. This effect causes the composite at intermediate potentials to be able to have two different oxidation states and thereby resistances, depending on the “on” or “off” switching potential applied prior to the intermediate potential. Notably, this hysteresis is lasting over time and no drift has been observed. Impedance spectroscopy, in-situ UV-Vis spectroscopy, conductivity measurement, in-situ electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance, and differential scanning calorimetry were used to confirm and explain the switching memory phenomena. The OECT platform was used to validate the PEDOT:PTHF as a one-pot memory source-drain material where a threefold increase in drain current was observed between “off” and “on” mode of the transistor after modulation of the Ag/AgCl gate

New junction materials by the direct growth of ZnO NWs on organic semiconductors

ZnO NWs were directly grown on vapour phase polymerised (VPP) PEDOT. I–V measurements of the ZnO grown on PEDOT showed an ohmic contact, whereas a PEDOT electrode sandwiched on top of ZnO NWs produced a Schottky contact.</p