HTGAA 2025 Project: Inkling

(This will be the central hub for the final project developed and presented at MIT´s HTGAA 2025 course.)

Description 📖

A collection of biologically-produced colorants, based on a pre-existing idea developed and presented as part of a Bio-business course. The project would include not only the pigment identification, selection and development. It would also deal with the cloning process, the choosing of ideal vectors, and the purification process.

TECHNOLOGICAL ELEMENTS/ISSUES

  1. Gene extraction, isolation, and cloning, as well as proper transformation into viable organisms that would maximize yield. This means general laboratory equipment including thermocyclers, incubators, and consumables going from plates to pipettes, or cloning, as well as mini/maxiprep kits.
  2. The biggest hurdle would be the scale-up process, needing bioreactors of various size and a proper purification system. Beyond the technical side, the venture needs to be able to create a proper network of clients who are able to market the product properly and promote word of mouth.
  3. More than a risk, the biggest hurdle to overcome in this case is a regulatory one. Given the use of the final product directly on humans, multiple studies need to be carried out to ensure its safety, which could delay the delivery of the product, even if all the elements on a scientific and technical level have been cleared. This could also tie into the public perception of such an enterprise, given the connotations sometimes associated to genetically modified organisms. Obviously, a proper formulation and mixing would have to be developed as well, but that would not be as much of a blockage.

PROBLEMS AND OBJECTIVES

  1. What industry will this new venture be in, and what problem will this new company try to solve?

    Biotechnology. The problem to tackle is reducing the cost and increasing the safety of biologically sourced colorants.

  2. The objective of the company is to develop the know-how to produce colorant compounds from biological sources and outsource the scale-up and purification processes. Once the purified product is obtained, the formulation could be handled in-house or further outsourced if necessary.

  3. Despite the practice of tattoo artistry being more or less regulated in different areas of the world (although not at the federal level in the US); currently, the regulation surrounding tattoo ink composition heavily varies depending on the area of the world.

  4. The new regulations have created a climate of uncertainty (https://news.cision.com/must/r/the-european-tattoo-industry-in-legal-limbo,c3475877, https://www.euronews.com/culture/2022/01/05/how-the-new-eu-ink-ban-may-be-permanently-scarring-the-tattoo-industry) that could be of good use for us, if we could provide products that stay within the required guidelines, taking up the artists that are currently unsure of how to approach this new legal framework.

People to address it to:

Regulators (Safety, regulations)

Companies (Method efficiency, reduced risk, profits)

Researchers (Training, technology development)

Users (Better alternatives, novel)

4 main elements

Mission statement 🧪

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The objective is to create a cheaper, healthier and more sustainable alternative to current tattoo dyes using synthetic biology. To the best of our knowledge, we would be the 1st company to be involved in this particular type of production. And there is always the chance that our findings could be used in other settings as well, such as cosmetics, hair dyes, or even medical ones.

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Governance/policies 🧑‍⚖️

Color key

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Actions to be taken by different parties:

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