Education

BUCT-China have conducted science popularization on synthetic biology based on the official video website of bilibili.

As of September, we have released a total of 9 science popularization videos, covering basic knowledge of synthetic biology (such as DNA structure, DNA polymeraseand DNA replication) and advanced technologies in synthetic biology(such as RNA extraction technology, DNA molecular computing, cell-free synthetic biology, etc.).
We also conducted tutorials in the field of synthetic biology research and popularized the basic methods used in the NUPACK web version.

Figure1. Screenshots of content uploaded by BUCT-China on bilibili

In addition, with the help of BUCT-China iGEM official account on Wechat, we released the science popularization content entitled "Precision Medicine", which introduced the development history, future development opportunities and application potential of "Precision Medicine" in detail.

We emphasize that precision medicine is the vane of the 21st century biopharmaceutical industry and has great development potential in the coming decades, based on the project content of BUCT China.

Figure2. Screenshot of content uploaded by BUCT-China on Wechat official account

Community Residents

BUCT-China realizes that online science popularization alone is not enough to fully understand everyone's thoughts on synthetic biology and precision medicine.

Therefore, from August 4th to August 7th, we went to Chengde, Hebei to visit major communities and people of all stripes, and conducted science popularization on synthetic biology. Due to the cutting-edge concepts of precision medicine and precision diagnosis, many people have not been familiar with this aspect of content. In terms of this, we used simple and easy to understand language to explain the concepts and advantages of precision diagnosis, and provide examples that are close to everyone's lives to better understand the popularization content.
We tried to select community members from all age groups as much as possible to ensure comprehensive science education. In the presentation, we focused on different age groups.
For example, for young people, we would promote topics such as correct response to epidemics and cutting-edge diagnostic knowledge to arouse their interest, while for middle-aged and elderly people, we chose to start with economic cost calculation and explain.
We have successfully delivered a presentation to 52 people in this community, and we were pleased and proud that our presentation has received widespread support from community residents, deepened their understanding of precision medicine, and enabled them to pay more attention to their physical health. This is also one of our HP goals.

Figure3. BUCT-China members are doing science popularization and survey on the street

Subsequently, BUCT-China conducted a systematic analysis of the questionnaire used in this presentation.

Based on feedback, we have come to the following conclusion: Young people place more emphasis on the details of high-tech and are more willing to accept new things. However, they do not attach enough importance to the annual physical examination recommended by BUCT-China, and do not care enough about their own health status. They maintain a very optimistic attitude towards accurate diagnosis and future development.
For the middle-aged and elderly population, they attach greater importance to their health conditions. Most of them suffer from certain basic diseases, while a few suffer from serious diseases. They have a basic awareness of annual physical examinations, and they highly recognize accurate diagnosis. At the same time, they also expressed some doubts, and were more concerned about economic costs and the timing of their release. But they had some basic knowledge deficiencies, such as the abuse of antibiotics.
Based on our examples, the majority of people expressed their approval, but there were also a few who have a low level of recognition and believe that the transformation of scientific research results requires a lot of time and cost, and may not be feasible.
After the presentation, we have gained a general understanding of the acceptance of accurate diagnosis by the public and a clearer understanding of the concerns of the public.

Figure4. Two analytical chart from the BUCT-China mass survey

Students

Unlike traditional preaching methods, BUCT-China have innovatively proposed to carry out science popularization related to synthetic biology through a debate competition this year, with the topic of "Whether Can Synthetic Biology Disrupt Traditional Biological Systems or not?".

Debaters from two different colleges expressed their opinions and engaged in intense debates on this topic. We are pleased to fully understand everyone's views on synthetic biology through the debate competition, which is beneficial for us to carry out Human Practice work.

Finally, based on the results of the debate between both parties, we systematically introduced the basic content of synthetic biology to the audience, and the audience expressed great benefits.

Figure5. BUCT-China's science Popularization after the keynote debate

Figure6. A large audience of students interested in synthetic biology and precision medicine

In addition, BUCT-China collaborated with BUCT to conduct a science popularization of synthetic biology for our classmates on October 7th. We first played the Promotion Video of BUCT-China this year and shared our latest research results with everyone;

Subsequently, we detailed the basic content of the iGEM competition and called on students to actively participate in the next iGEM competition, contributing to the development of synthetic biology;

Finally, we introduced key technologies in the development of synthetic biology, such as cost reduction in DNA synthesis, gene editing and iteration, DNA assembly and sequencing, etc.

Delightedly, everyone has a high interest in our presentation. After the presentation, the students had in-depth exchanges and discussions with team members. To our greatest honor, one of the students said, "This ignited my passion for future research in synthetic biology."

Figure7. Synthetic biology and iGEM lecture by BUCT-China and BUCT

Children

BUCT-China believe that children are the most curious group, eager to understand the science around them. However, we are also concerned that children may not be able to receive specialized knowledge, which poses a huge challenge to our preaching.

Therefore, we have discussed and designed a practical education model that combines education with entertainment. We collaborated with a local institution to introduce common diseases and basic diagnostic methods in schools based on children's daily lives.

Among them, we systematically introduced respiratory and intestinal infectious diseases. The children were very interested in the content of our lecture and actively asked questions about the COVID-19 epidemic that occurred in the past few years.
At this point, we have achieved the goal of combining education with pleasure, fully allowing children to understand common diseases and diagnostic methods by combining examples around them.
Our preaching not only received active participation from children, but also received praise from their parents.