CHIC Days at Colegio Virgen de Europa in Spain

/in /by

On 18 March 2022, the school Virgen de Europa with a capacity of more than 1500 students located in Boadilla del Monte, 25 km west of Madrid, Spain, hosted a special CHIC augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) demonstration. During the CHIC Days event, around 40 students in total, aged 16-18, from the Bachelor of Sciences and the Bachelor of Technology, were introduced to the CHIC project’s aims and objectives. For two hours, they had the opportunity to learn about New Plant Breeding Techniques using two different types of immersive technology games, augmented reality MyCHICFarm and virtual reality CHIC-Bubbles. The Interactive Systems Research Group (DEI-Lab) at UC3M in Spain developed both games and conducted the CHIC Days session.

MyCHICFarm is an AR game developed for the CHIC project. It allows students, and the young generation, to learn more about new genome editing techniques and, of course, to learn more about the CHIC project. The game allows users to grow chicory crops and make the most money by planting chicory using Microsoft’s Hololens. In short, a farmer (user) starts with a fixed amount of money to buy chicory seeds, plant them, grow them, collect them, and then sell them in the market. The price of the chicory crops fluctuates based on the quality of crops, which can be affected by unexpected events such as droughts, rain, and insects. The game also includes a way to utilize CRISPR/Cas technique on plant DNA. CHIC-Bubbles organize relevant topics related to the project in a VR hierarchical space or taxonomy. The VR world allows students to explore and acquire knowledge related to the NPBTs technology in a non-conventional and exciting way.

Students enjoyed dissecting the DNA in a lab using AR. They were able to play with plants’ DNA using this immersive technology that is not readily available everywhere. They certainly enjoyed the life-like experience of modifying a virtual chicory plant DNA with their own hands using Microsoft Hololens. At the same time, the CHIC-Bubbles game was also a ‘hit’ with the students. They found the game fun and useful, especially compared to the 2D presentation. They enjoyed playing the games that students had to ask them to give other students a chance.

 

 

 

To find out more about MyCHICFarm, click here!
To find out more about CHIC-Bubbles, click here!

CHIC News!

Policy Brief on research and innovation achievements

Policy Recommendations

Researchers develop chicory plants that contain medical compound: costunolide

Genome editing successfully used to induce chicory plants to accumulate important medical compound: Costunolide

Meet Dr. Armin Spök, WP6 Coordinator

As a researcher, Dr. Armin Spök of TU Graz in Austria thinks…

Meet Maria Hingsamer!

“It is very interesting to collaborate in this project with…

Meet Dr. Paul Bundock, WP1 Coordinator

New plant breeding techniques (NPBTs) have a great future, according…

Meet Dr. Ingrid van der Meer, WP2 Coordinator

Dr. Ingrid van der Meer obtained her Ph.D. in Regulation of Plant…

Meet Dr. Dirk Bosch, CHIC Project Leader

“I am fascinated by the enormous diversity of bioactive molecules…

Follow us!

@H2020_CHIC

@h2020.chicproject

CHIC project

@H2020.CHICproject

Share this:

Regulatory Issues of NPBTs, What is the Process?

/in /by

The process of New Plant Breeding Techniques (NPBTs), even though it’s been used for quite some time, is not widely accepted, especially among the general public. The CHIC project also focuses on assessing the technical, regulatory, and safety aspects of the four conceptional different new plant breeding methods used in the project, and the chicory plants and substances produced by those plants.

This part of the project is divided into five individual tasks:

Task 1 deals with the efficiency analysis of the four conceptional different NPBTs.

Task 2 focuses on the assessment of Off-targets in the genome-edited chicory plants, both tasks contribute to the technical assessment. During the reporting period a current guide RNA has been used to generate chicory plants which each of the conceptional different NPBTs, plants have been generated for all of them (stable, FLP-system, RNP, and Plasmid delivery). Additionally, also off-targets for the common guide RNA have been assessed and tested in first screens which need further validation.

Tasks 3 and 5 assess the regulatory aspects of NPBTs, due to the ECJ ruling the risk assessment of products derived by genome editing is currently the same as for GMOs in Europe but discussions are ongoing. Regulatory regimes are legislations all around the world that are being adapted to genome editing or novel legislations are being decreed. In many countries e.g. Russia and India, discussions are still ongoing and opinions are being collected in this task the first publication on this has been released recently.

Task 4 deals with the safety assessment of products derived by genome-edited chicory. During the current reporting period, terpene samples were tested for cytotoxicity using human intestinal epithelial cells. The work package has made good progress in the current reporting period which will be further improved in the next period.

 

Check out Work Package 4 video –

Work Package Leader

Dr. Thorben Sprink, WP4 Coordinator

Technical, Risk and Regulatory Assessment of NPBTs

CHIC News!

Policy Brief on research and innovation achievements

Policy Recommendations

Researchers develop chicory plants that contain medical compound: costunolide

Genome editing successfully used to induce chicory plants to accumulate important medical compound: Costunolide

Meet Dr. Armin Spök, WP6 Coordinator

As a researcher, Dr. Armin Spök of TU Graz in Austria thinks…

Meet Maria Hingsamer!

“It is very interesting to collaborate in this project with…

Meet Dr. Paul Bundock, WP1 Coordinator

New plant breeding techniques (NPBTs) have a great future, according…

Meet Dr. Ingrid van der Meer, WP2 Coordinator

Dr. Ingrid van der Meer obtained her Ph.D. in Regulation of Plant…

Meet Dr. Dirk Bosch, CHIC Project Leader

“I am fascinated by the enormous diversity of bioactive molecules…

Follow us!

@H2020_CHIC

@h2020.chicproject

CHIC project

@H2020.CHICproject

Share this: