In developing our project on colorectal cancer, we evaluated its accessibility, feasibility, and long-term value by grounding our ideas in clinical needs. Insights from hospital doctors shifted us from abstraction to patient-centered realities, while public health officials highlighted the regulatory and policy hurdles to adoption. The results of the social survey strengthened our confidence in focusing on colorectal cancer. Dr. Mingli Yang emphasized the therapy’s likely role as a complementary treatment requiring rigorous preclinical validation, and an entrepreneur stressed the demands of commercialization—clinical trials, patents, and a viable product strategy. These perspectives underscored that our project must integrate scientific rigor with policy, economic, and industrial considerations to achieve meaningful translation.

As our project developed from concept to experimentation, we did literature research,and sought expert guidance to ensure that our wet lab design was not only technically feasible but also clinically relevant. Our wet lab design evolved step by step as we integrated insights from the experts we interviewed. After our first discussion with Professor Yang Liang, we confirmed E. coli as the most suitable chassis, moving away from riskier options like Salmonella and Clostridium, and established a practical foundation for our work. In a follow-up interview, he advised us to exploit the c-di-GMP pathway to control bacterial adhesion and retention within tumors, which led us to redesign our targeting mechanism and strengthen biosafety systems. Later, our conversation with Professor Margherita Montorsi expanded our perspective by introducing the potential of ultrasound-assisted delivery to improve c-di-GMP uptake, and by suggesting bacterial encapsulation as a way to enhance targeting and reduce immune clearance. Together, these interviews transformed our initial concept into a refined design that balances technical innovation with feasibility.

Our dry lab work grew stronger through an iterative process shaped by expert advice and clinical feedback. In our first interview with Professor Vishwesh Kulkarni, we presented our early ideas for the inducer diffusion, spatial diffusion, and adhesion models. He confirmed their feasibility and encouraged us to move forward, while stressing the importance of integrating wet lab data to improve accuracy. Taking this to heart, we built a preliminary inducer model, and in a follow-up discussion with him, we refined it by incorporating an ODE framework with Hill functions, improving parameter fitting, and adopting systematic data collection strategies. Later, when we developed our Colon Tumor-on-a-Chip model, feedback from Dr. Wei Huang prompted us to redesign its structure, enlarging the central lumen channel, adding thinner, denser capillary channels, and shifting from ELISA to more sensitive detection methods such as chemiluminescence. Each of these steps reshaped our modeling approach, from confirming feasibility, to refining mathematical frameworks, to aligning structural and analytical design with clinical reality.

We believe that science should serve everyone, yet the elderly are too often overlooked in research, education, and public engagement. As one of the fastest-growing populations worldwide, they face unique barriers to accessing, understanding, and participating in science, leaving their voices underrepresented in shaping the future of biotechnology. Our mission is to change this. By identifying the challenges that prevent elderly communities from engaging with synthetic biology. Like limited scientific literacy, digital divides, and vulnerability to misinformation, their barriers are numerous. We aim to design thoughtful, practical, and inclusive approaches that bridge these gaps. Through this work, we seek to build a more equitable scientific community where the perspectives of older generations are recognized, respected, and integrated into the progress of synthetic biology.

Collaboration and exchange played a central role in shaping our project. By participating in the Greater Bay Area iGEM Human Practices Symposium, the SUSTech-SynBio Community Exchange Meeting, the Southern China Regional Meeting, the iGBA Industry–Academia–Research Forum, and the China iGEMer Community (CCiC) & Synbiopunk 2025, we connected with teams, experts, and industry partners to share progress, receive feedback, and spark new ideas. These events broadened our technical knowledge, helping us refine experimental designs, improve safety strategies, and strengthen modeling approaches. They also enriched our human practices work, inspiring initiatives such as the collaborative handbook on doctor–patient communication. Through presentations, poster exhibitions, and networking, we learned to better communicate uncertain aspects of our project, adapt our models, and design more inclusive outreach activities. Collaborations with teams like XJTLU further encouraged us to critically reflect on our design while exploring new possibilities for bacterial therapies. Altogether, these experiences showed us that our MAGIC system is not just the outcome of our own work but also a product of community-driven growth that balances scientific rigor with social responsibility.