Education

In order to promote knowledge of synthetic biology within China and expand the influence of our project, our team's logistics department has designed various media, including posters, brochures, educational videos, and science-themed games. In addition, our team has organized four public outreach events targeting students, local communities, and the general public. Our team has also established and actively manages official accounts on various social media platforms, continuously updating project introductions and providing real-time progress updates.

Hangzhou Biological Camp Communication Activities

July 14, 2023, we held an academic sharing activity on synthetic biology at the Biological Experimental Center of Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. During the activity, our team had a good communication with the iGEM team Bioplus-Shanghai, OTIA-Hangzhou and the students from biological camp.

First, Xie Lin, as a representative of Bioplus-China, introduced our team's project of using spider silk protein and PET enzyme to solve the degradation of microplastics. She talked about what microplastics are, the dangers of plastics to our planet, and then explained how we are inspired by the natural material properties of this spider silk, we tend to synthesize a protein complex composed of plastic degrading enzymes and spider silk, and then use it to capture and break down microplastics floating in the ocean.

After the introduction of our project, the students in the bio camp were very interested and asked us some questions about the project, including the specific application and feasibility of this research.

Next up is a project by the OTIA-Hangzhou team to present research on spider silk proteins in the medical field, using spider silk proteins to treat burns, and adding human epidermal growth factor to spider silk proteins to help humans recover quickly after burns.

Finally, Bioplus-Shanghai team showed that their project used Escherichia coli to synthesize Isais lignans glycosides, a key component of antiviral drugs with stronger antiviral activity, to obtain Isais lignans glycoside glycosyltransferase and test its activity to help the production of antiviral drugs.

This academic exchange activity has benefited various teams. On the one hand, it has publicized the harm of plastics to our earth to a certain extent, and it is hoped that people will realize how to protect the environment in this process, reduce the generation of plastic waste, and contribute to the sustainable development of the earth. On the other hand, it also made the participating teenagers deeply understand the importance of the field of synthetic biology, spread the knowledge of synthetic biology among high school students, and understand the infinite possibilities in the field of biology. For example, synthetic biology has great significance in environmental protection, medical treatment, antiviral and other aspects, which aroused the enthusiasm of teenagers. Hopefully, this group of teenagers will continue on the road to synthetic biology.

Approaching Synthetic Biology - 2023iGEM Exchange Meeting

On August 5, 2023, the "Approaching Synthetic Biology - 2023iGEM Exchange Meeting" was held in the Academic Exchange Hall of Zhejiang Science and Technology Museum. Zhejiang University iGEM Team (ZJU-China), Zhejiang University of Technology iGEM Team (ZJUT-China), Hangzhou Olive Tree School team (OTIA-Hangzhou), Bio+ Research Institute Hangzhou (Bioplus-China), Bio+ Research Institute Shanghai (Bioplus-Shanghai) has conducted extensive and in-depth academic exchanges on their respective biology projects. At the meeting, each team sent a representative to introduce their project. Dr. Dong Shan, Dr. Zeng Xianfu, Dr. Shi Jing, Teacher Li Jiajia, Teacher Han Penghao and other team members, parents and teachers from Bio+ Research Institute asked questions and discussed the issues of interest in the projects of each team.

Our team came out the fourth, and the team's Zhong Anyuan and Li Jingzhe introduced the project on site as representatives. Like the team of ZJUT-China, our project also focuses on environmental pollution of microplastics. The difference is that the students of Bioplus-China plan to capture and degrade microplastics by means of fusion expression of spider silk protein and PET enzyme, and use the stickiness of spider silk protein and the degradation ability of PET enzyme to achieve this purpose. Our common goal is to protect our earth environment and contribute to the protection of our beautiful home!

We learned a lot from this activity. The students of ZJUT-China also developed a wiki content editor based on LAN visualization, which is convenient for their own team and other iGEM teams to edit the wiki. The students from Bioplus-Shanghai team made full preparations, and they introduced the experiment process in detail. The experts interviewed by OTIA-Hangzhou cover many fields, including lawyers. ZJU-China's pesticide program is pretty cool.

After this grand communication activity, we have a more profound understanding of synthetic biology.

Public Science Education Activity in Hangzhou Low Carbon Science and Technology Museum

On August 6th, three iGEM teams, Bioplus-Shanghai, Bioplus-China and OTIA-Hangzhou held an activity to popularize the utilization of synthetic biology and the knowledge of micro plastics at Hangzhou Low Carbon Science and Technology Museum. Considering our target audience, mainly children aged between five and nine and their parents, our team had elaborately designed three games concerning the uses of PET materials, the formation process of micro plastics and the basic structures of engineering bacteria. The level of difficulty of those games were moderated to be suitable for primary-school-aged children. Our team’s logistics department also prepared some presents, such as toy cars, notebooks and stuffed animals, in order to attract more children to participate in our activity. Brochures that contained our team’s project description, basic experimental methods and the means to sponsor us were also prepared for the adult participants. Our team hoped to present a more precise view of micro plastic pollution as well as its solution to the public, and in a broader extent expand the influence of synthetic biology within China.

The activity began at 8:00a.m., same as the opening time of the museum. The first people to visit quickly noticed us, and a few children voluntarily played the games. In the first game, children were asked to distinct three objects that were made of PET from other three objects that were composed of other materials. (Figure 1) Most children were able to recognize plastic bottle and plastic film, yet they mistakenly interpreted PET as plastic rather than a thermoplastic polymer that could serve for a wide range of uses, so only a few could pick polyester clothing.

Figure 1: Products Composed of Plastics or Other Materials

The second game asked children to order four diagrams of the micro plastic formation process. (Figure 2) The first and the final stage were pretty easy to recognize, represented as intact plastic waste and micro plastic residue, respectively, in Figure 2. However, our team found that quite a lot of people were confused between the second and the third step. The second step should be landfill of plastic wastes; the third step should be landfilled plastic wastes being catalyzed by natural conditions such as wind, sun and rain, and slowly broken down and decomposed. While a participant pointed out that in the picture of step three, those landfilled plastic wastes were presented to be exposed instead of covered, which might lead to misunderstanding of the process. Our team learned from this mistake and would double check materials in subsequent events.

Figure 2: The Formation of Microplastics

As for the third game, the Bioplus-Shanghai team provided inspiration for the game, which was brilliantly executed. our team aimed at not only offering children the knowledge about engineering bacteria, but also evoking children’s interest, creativity and imagination about microcosm. Following this principle, our team provided a brief and sometimes intentionally defective introduction of bacteria, guiding children to ask questions to get a full picture of bacteria structures. Our team also encouraged children to use the colors they like to draw their own “bacteria” rather than strictly copying the sample picture on the slide. Addition of decorations like glasses or bowknots and minor changes to the bacteria’s structure were allowed since our aim included the presence of children’s creativity.

During the whole day of activity, our team received hundreds of participants in total, from which we felt the public enthusiasm toward synthetic biology. Despite of the primary aim of popularizing micro-plastics-related knowledge and fundraising for our project, this activity was especially successful as it planted the seeds of science in children’s hearts.

Synthetic Biology in High School Class

• At the class meeting on September 28, our team member Boyu Yang introduced synthetic biology and our iGEM team——Bioplus-China. The whole publicity activity was divided into three parts. First of all, he introduced the emerging major of synthetic biology to his classmates, and introduced that it may involve the fourth technological revolution and the application of synthetic biology.
• In the second part, he introduced some specialized biological knowledge, such as what is polymerase chain reaction，"Why is Escherichia coli an ideal receptor cell?" He introduced it from its structure and genetic particularity, and used synthetic bovine insulin as an example, so that they could has a better understanding of the advantages brought by the biology.
• The third part is the most important part, Boyu introduced the mission of our team, the content of the experiment, and the goal of our team：using synthetic biology and genetic engineering techniques, we can combine the adsorbent spider protease with the plastic degrading pet enzyme to make a compound that can adsorb and effectively degrade microplastics. He also took this opportunity to introduce the harm of microplastics and the importance of protecting the environment.
• Finally, most of the students showed great interest in this topic and listened actively to the introduction, which makes us believe that our publicity work was very successful, and also greatly enhances the popularity of our team.

Spreading Knowledge on Social Media

• Our team has accounts on several of the most well-liked online media platforms in China to update project-related content and promote synthetic biology in an effort to spread the concept of about our project.
• Our team leader, Xie Lin, gathered a lot of information about the harm and examples of microplastic pollution and then published it on our various social media accounts because the results of our survey indicated that the general public was unaware of about the environmental pollution caused by microplastics.
• Through our campaign, we seek to raise awareness of the harm microplastics cause to the environment and increase awareness of how synthetic biology is transforming the planet.

Summary

Through the aforementioned activities, our team have successfully disseminated knowledge about micro plastic pollution and the current viable solutions within the communities, establishing a meaningful societal impact for our project. Furthermore, of greater significance, our actions have provided those around us, particularly preschool children and high school students, with a more concrete and comprehensive understanding of synthetic biology. Perhaps unintentionally, we have become guides for certain individuals embarking on the path of exploring synthetic biology. This unintentional yet purposeful transmission of knowledge represents the utmost significance of our educational endeavors.