Our Goal
7-methylxanthines have diverse applications from medicine to agriculture, and our goal was to share this information with the broader community. To do so, our team created a handbook outlining the different applications of methylxanthines. However, through our education initiatives, we extended our outreach beyond just those who would use our product to educate children through events like Sciencenter and Splash, our science video series, and hosting ethics debates at various nursing homes. Every event was designed with a specific goal and group of people in mind. We loved speaking and engaging with the community as we learned much about their perspectives on synthetic biology and we hope they learned as much from us as well.
Splash
April 29, 2023
For Splash this year, we decided to focus on teaching students about bioethics. We felt that this was an area that a lot of schools don’t focus on when teaching students about science and biology, so we thought this would be a nice supplement to what they may be learning elsewhere. Our target group was high school students, many of whom have taken at least one semester of science (however, that was not a requirement). Splash brings students from all over the New York tri-state area, allowing us to reach not only students in the local Ithaca community but in the greater Northeast as well. We taught two sessions during the day, approximately fifteen students per section. We had three different stations that presented three different case studies addressing different issues within synthetic biology. The students were divided into small groups of 5 and rotated through each of the stations, having discussions and asking questions about the case at hand. We decided on this lesson plan because we thought this would be a great way to engage and encourage the students to think for themselves rather than following a traditional lecture style lesson plan.
Splash is an event that Cornell iGEM participates in on an annual basis. Last year, some of the feedback we got was that our activities, which included making slime and candy DNA, while fun and engaging, didn’t always feel age appropriate for high school students. That is also a large reason why we decided to move to a discussion and debate style class as it would give students the same chance to have fun and be engaged with others, but also be more intellectually stimulating and age-appropriate. We love that Splash has become a Cornell iGEM tradition, allowing us to build and improve from the work that we do in previous years.
After class, students were asked three questions: how excited are you to learn more about this topic, what was the difficultly level, and how engaging did you find this class? Students, on average, ranked their excited-ness level a 4/5, or more excited than they previously were. On average the difficult was a 3/5, or just right. Lastly the class was on average 2.5 for engaging, or between pretty engaging and very engaging. We loved that we were able to get feedback from them and hope to reincorporate this for our new Splash session in November.
Sciencenter
March 4, 2023
For our first Sciencenter event of the year, we decided to make the theme of our event synthetic biology in general as we hadn’t chosen a topic for our project yet. The age range for the Sciencenter is often children as young as 2-3 and as old as 8-10, so we wanted to have a range of activities that could appeal to all age groups. Throughout the couple hours we were there, we had approximately seventy children and their families come through and engage with us.
We had three different stations, each addressing different fields in bioengineering. We had one station that used the Building with Biology Kits that was meant to teach children about Bio Bricks and the potential applications of synthetic biology. This station was more geared toward our older childrenwho were more comfortable reading, but we did our best to explain the concepts and read the materials out to the younger children who were interested in this station. Our second station had candy DNA where we taught the children about DNA structure including nucleotide base pairs and its double helix structure, and our last station was focused on polymer chemistry and had children making slime while learning about polymers and chemical bonding. We thought this would not only cover a wide range of age ranges but also interests and focuses within synthetic biology.
Overall, the event was a success as we had many students come through and state that they learned a lot from our activities. We look forward to returning to the Sciencenter soon.
CURIE Academy
July 20, 2023
The CURIE Academy at Cornell aims to help high school junior and senior girls from underrepresented backgrounds develop engineering skills as a potential future career. This week-long program was designed specifically to prepare these students for a future in engineering specifically in a collegiate academic setting, with exposure to robust STEM resources, experiences and other educational opportunities.
During this week, wet lab members from Cornell iGEM were able to help give insight on experiences both in the engineering field, and in a narrower context in an academic setting through research. They hosted a panel discussion on the goals of iGEM, provided insight into the field of synthetic biology, as well as explained the current planned project for this year, ENERGEM. In addition to this panel, students were given a guided tour of the lab and performed various different experiments under the supervision of the lab coordinator and following all safety protocols in place. Students were also allowed to ask any questions pertaining to synthetic biology, career planning, as well as general college advice. Students were extremely interested in Cornell iGEM’s work, and were appreciative of the guided lab tour and the advice provided by wet lab.
Sciencenter
August 5, 2023
Over the summer, we returned to the Sciencenter again in August. This time, in addition to the slime, model DNA, and Biobrick activities, we also added in a fourth activity to represent our project for the year, which we did with Orbeez. Since we are using alginate beads in our reactor to encapsulate our engineered enzymes, we thought that the Orbeez could represent these beads. We inflated the beads, set them out in bowls and when children visited the station they were able to play with the beads and we told them about alginate beads in connection to our project.
For the other stations, they all stayed the same aside from a change to the model DNA station. Last time we went to the Sciencenter, we noticed that the kids became a bit distracted with the candy we used to make the DNA at that station. It also was not as safe to have candy out for the kids when many people were touching it and they wanted to eat it. In order to help with this, we decided to switch over to using pipe cleaners to construct the DNA instead. At the event in August, while the kids were definitely not as interested as when we used candy, we overall thought that they were able to better absorb the information about DNA as they were not focused on consuming the candy.
In general, we thought that the event went well. We were also able to collect some feedback from the parents of children through a survey we asked them to fill out at the end. Results of this survey are summarized below.
Overall, based on survey results the experiments that were most enjoyed were slime and orbeez based on responses from parents.
Ithaca Farmer’s Market
August 20, 2023
Another event we held over the summer was tabling at the Ithaca Farmers Market, which is a weekly market and local favorite that runs every Saturday and Sunday in Ithaca during the spring, summer and fall. At the market, we set up a table with various infographics we had made about our project as well as ones about iGEM and synthetic biology in general. We were able to talk with a lot of different people while we were there, from retired professors to families living in Ithaca. Overall, we went to the market to get a chance to talk to a wider audience about our project and synbio in general than we could on campus alone, and after the event we did feel that having a table at the farmers market definitely allowed us to speak with a greater diversity of people.
Kendal at Ithaca
September 14, 2023
We presented and hosted a bioethics debate comprised of many different ethical issues in synthetic biology at Kendall at Ithaca, a retirement home. We first presented on what Cornell iGEM does, who we are, and our overarching mission regarding synthetic biology. We then expanded upon it with our current project, ENERGEM, and current ethical questions in it, such as the regulations behind 7-methylxanthine testing, pre-clinical and clinical trials involved and the differences in testing in different world locations. Then, more prevalent issues in synthetic biology such as genetically engineering animals to target invasive species, and genetically engineering crops to be more nutritious were discussed.
We were able to have an extremely engaging conversation with the seniors about all the topics previously discussed. They brought up nuanced point of contention and questions that were extremely beneficial to our own understanding of our project and synthetic biology as a whole. Often times, conversations can branch off and another topic in synthetic biology that was different but still relevant to the conversation would be addressed, such as the impact of toxicity in food and population changes. It was a very interesting discussion and we will definitely be returning for another discussion.
Longview Senior Living Community
September 18, 2023
Since we wanted to get as many perspectives as possible, we decided to host another event at Longview Senior Living Center. Similar to what we did at Kendal, we prepared synthetic biology case studies for a bioethics debate, including one about our own project ENERGEM. We started off with a general introduction to what our team does and iGEM in general, followed by a discussion about our project and a question and answer session about it. We then moved on to the other case studies which were the same ones previously described we went through at Kendal.
Overall, hosting this event was a great way to hear different perspectives on our project as well as on topics in synthetic biology in general. The participants brought up a lot of great ideas and suggestions that we had not thought about previously, and they also seemed genuinely interested in the topics and integrated their personal experiences as members of an older generation than ours. When collecting feedback, we learned that they really enjoy engaging in scientific discussion such as this and are actually looking for more activities of this type at their center, so we would love to return in the future as it seemed that everyone involved including ourselves really enjoyed and benefited from it.
Beverly J. Martin Elementary School
October 4, 2023
Cornell iGEM conducted an outreach event at the Beverly J. Martin Elementary School located in Ithaca, NY. About 50 students between grades 3 and 5 attended the event. We divided the students into groups to maximize individual interaction with students and maximize their learning and engagement with the material. This event was similar to the Sciencenter, where we had three different stations that children rotated through including chemistry polymerization, DNA Synthesis, and Orbeez (which relates to our project ENERGEM). This outreach event was popular amongst students as it challenged them to think about the potential of biology in an engaging manner . The after school program supervisor expressed her delight for the event and desire for us to return. The students were also eager to participate and learn in the event. When taking pictures of the event we made sure to get consent from the supervisor. The one comment that the supervisor had was to have an additional event where students in grades kindergarten through second could also participate since it was such a big hit. In addition, for future events we would love to include a survey for kids to fill out so they could indicate how much they learned and if this changed their perspective on science. We look forward to continuing to partner with the elementary school to host these educational outreach events and raise interest in synthetic biology.
Science Experiment Video Series
This year, we decided to create a video series for children that focused on teaching them important science concepts related to iGEM and our project. We wanted to be as engaging as possible and interactive so we filmed a series of experiments, the majority of which people can do from their home. We wanted them to be as accessible as possible, which is why we filmed them online. We had 4 total videos, focusing on topics ranging from DNA, polymer chemistry, to 7-methylxanthines and released them throughout the end of the summer and the fall.
View Videos >Pipe Cleaner DNA
For the first video in our summer science experiment series we showed students how to make pipe cleaner DNA. DNA is one of the most important and first science topics that students are exposed to. It is also important to understand DNA to manipulate cellular organisms when synthetically engineering organisms. Throughout the video we explain what DNA is, its monomers, its structure, and its importance in biology. Afterwards, we showed viewers how to construct their own DNA using pipe cleaners and beads.
Slime
As a part of our summer science experiment series, we produced a slime video. Throughout the video we went through a slideshow reviewing the chemistry of polymerization - the fundamentals of what makes slime possible. Since this is a complex scientific topic that many do not learn about until college, we used an analogy of a necklace to make the topic more understandable. We were able to relate the covalent bonds to the chain of the necklace which connects the monomers (or the beads on a necklace) to create a larger complex (which is represented by the necklace). At the end of the presentation, we connected this topic back to synthetic biology to indicate its importance with respect to how biological engineers can use this principle to manufacture biological organisms. After explaining the basic chemistry behind this phenomenon, we demonstrated how to make slime. By creating an interactive experiment, we are able to engage a younger community and show them the possibilities as to how fundamental science topics can be fun and interesting!
Strawberry DNA
For our third video of the summer, we decided to record a how-to video on how to extract DNA from strawberries. Even though we had an earlier video on the structure of DNA, we thought this would be a good opportunity for children to see actual DNA for themselves using just materials found in their own household. Given that the previous videos were focused on DNA structure, we thought it would be a good idea to focus on the central dogma of biology, explaining to them how DNA is transcripted into RNA and then how RNA is translated into proteins. In addition, considering that this experiment was the first in our series with more extensive steps, we thought it would be a good idea to also explain why we used the materials we did and followed the steps we did. For instance, we used dish soap to burst the strawberry cells open, allowing us to access the DNA for the experiment. We also thought this was a good experiment, not just because we hoped it would be interesting for the students to see actual DNA for themselves, but also because understanding DNA and how it gets translated into proteins is important for understanding how we can edit genetic information to produce proteins of interest in synthetic biology and iGEM.
Sodium Alginate Beads or Popping Boba
In our fourth video of the summer, we decided to focus on a project that is specific to ENERGEM. Making popping boba was an apt lesson because of its relation to spherification, a key component of the design of the cell-free immobilized enzyme reactor. In the video, we created a slide show that introduced the purpose of ENERGEM and the reason behind creating methylxanthines. This then led into the chemistry behind popping boba via spherification. Since this is a decently complicated topic in chemistry and engineering, spherification was explained in terms of chemical purposes. For example, the chemical sodium alginate was explained as a key component in making the liquid condensed enough to properly be encased. The calcium chloride was explained as a sort of activator, where the sodium alginate can not start until it comes in contact with the calcium chloride solution. These chemicals were then shown in a proper demonstration using coca cola as the encased popping boba liquid. Through this interactive experiment, we were able to create an engaging, educational video that related to Cornell iGEM’s current project while still being fun and interesting.
BioBuilder: The Game
Over the course of this past semester we developed a synthetic biology game which also relates to our project for this year (ENERGEM). The purpose of this game is to introduce fundamental synthetic biology projects. The game teaches users about synthetic biology techniques (including separation and recrystallization) and biobricks (DNA sequences that are used for larger biological circuits) by providing definitions as to what each component does. The gamer has to combine various biobricks and techniques to manufacture their own synthetically engineered project. We have also included previous iGEM projects such as Lumiderm (a model cancer bacteriotherapy system), Lead it go (a genetically engineered bacteria that combats heavy metal pollution problems), and ENERGEM (Cornell iGEM’s current project to produce 7-methylxanthine and paraxanthine). Essentially, the user learns about the process of synthetically engineering bacteria, what components to include and think of when generating a new product. By making this game a website online, we are allowing individuals from different backgrounds and demographics to have access. People of any age can easily utilize the app to learn about the synthetic biology process as well as potential projects or applications that their projects could have on the environment. Given video games popularity, this is a great way to reach a larger audience and introduce them to the potential of synthetic biology.
Play BioBuilder >Infographics
Social Media
Another way we aimed to reach a broader audience was through the use of social media, mainly Instagram. We thought that this would target age groups such as our peers in college as well as high school students and possibly those younger. On our Instagram, we posted informational infographics about our project as well as synthetic biology in general. We also included some fun content, such as TikToks made by our Wet Lab subteam which we thought would capture the attention of viewers and show how synthetic biology can be fun too. At some of our events such as the Sciencenter, we did a series of Instagram stories to show what was going on as we hoped to give an inside look at some of the events we do. Overall, we thought that Instagram and social media in general would be a way to involve a broader audience in an easy way, that being right from their phones.
Conclusion
This year, Cornell iGEM focused on engaging members of different generations in the community on general synthetic biology, methodologies in synthetic biology, and information regarding this year’s project ENERGEM. General synthetic biology information as well as basic foundation in science was taught in educational events including the Sciencenter, Beverly J. Martin Elementary School, Kendal at Ithaca, the Ithaca Farmers Market, and the Science Experiment Video Series. These introduced individuals of different ages both in our local community and beyond to synthetic biology concepts, peaked adolescents’ curiosity in science, encouraged high schoolers to pursue a career in biological engineering, and challenged adults’ thoughts about synthetic biology.
These events sparked conversation in controversial topics and allowed us to determine how receptive the community would be to our product. Bioethics debates with local nursing homes gave us the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion about recent research and gain new perspectives from different groups of people. The video game worked on teaching users of all ages about synthetic biology techniques and procedures. Its entertaining factor helps to make difficult concepts more digestible, thereby reducing the amount of people who find it overwhelming, and encouraging engagement.
Finally, project specific educational events were incorporated into each program as a way of receiving community input about the project. By educating the community, raising awareness about synthetic biology and its potential benefits and concerns, we stimulate discussion about what needs to be done to make the community more comfortable with these novel approaches. It is ultimately the community’s perception of synthetic biology along with scientific evidence that decides if this new technology is utilized by the government, the community, and stakeholders. Therefore, educating the community is key in improving their receptiveness, scientist’s production methods, and bridging the gap between production and application. In other words, without community engagement and feedback, our innovative solutions serve no purpose.