Overview

One of the most essential aspects in spreading awareness about COPD was education. We held both children's and community workshops, posted online Molecular Biology lessons on the Bilibili account, and encouraged an online IGEM information-sharing gathering. During the summer, a lab tour was also organized to introduce more people to IGEM. We also created educational game cards.

Children's Workshop

During the summer, we first held a workshop for children from five to ten. We employed the animated stickers we designed to stimulate children's curiosity, thus enhancing their understanding of COPD from childhood.


Community Workshop

On August 28 2023, we held an educational session for the local community of Silver Bridge Garden in Shanghai. Shirley Wu educated the residents about COPD, preparing well to encourage interactive discussions.


The journey's outcome made it truly significant. Members of the community learned a lot about the prevalence rate, treatments, and causes of COPD. We were also impressed by how several of them expressed a wish to learn more about prevention, particularly those who had firsthand experience with COPD symptoms. Furthermore, our presentation highlighted that some medical jargon related to COPD may be difficult for the general population to understand, which will be noted throughout future information sharing and serve as a good example to the other IGEM teams.

Overall, our efforts not only increased public awareness of COPD, but also highlighted how well the community understood this critical health problem. We must continue to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and the general people in order to promote a healthy society.

Molecular Biology online classes-Bilibili account (Mutter study camp)

one of our team members, Bella, created a short presentation about synthetic biology applications and our iGEM project. In cooperation with the iGEM team H14Z-AP, they uploaded a video presentation onto the Chinese website Bilibili. Their free-education/communication platform for girls in STEM has over 1400 followers. Bella also wrote a short passage giving a brief overview on COPD and our project. She published on the website of a student NGO that she takes part in. Her work can be found here!

Covered-live promotion

To share more information with other teams, we conducted a Tencent Meeting with HS-Shanghai， Squirrel-CHN-Il， Squirrel-Guangzhou， and Squirrel-Shanghai. Bella used vivid language and specific examples to introduce our project while also promoting IGEM.



Lab Tour

In August, a group of children and their parents visited our HuiSheng Lab, where our teammates, our PI Jeremy, and lab instructor Snowy taught them how to use experimental equipment and crucial lab safety information. A brief overview of IGEM and our project is also offered, emphasizing the children's motivation. We believe it is critical to teach children fundamental biology and lab skills, since this will greatly increase their interest in biology and lab-related fields.


Card Game

Have you heard of the game"The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow"? "The Assassin's Creed---COPD" is something similar. We created this game to bring knowledge to a wider audience. Emma created delicate and tarot-card-style signs for us. To view the multilingual version of the game's rules.

Popularization

Overview

We tried our best to popularize our project. We set up Official Accounts, sent fliers, and designed popular merchandise. Click for more information.

Official Accounts

Target Group: Students and Adults

General Purpose: Let more people know about us and our progress, while using easy language to help people of all ages to understand COPD symptoms

We learned from impromptu street interviews that relatively few individuals are aware of COPD, which is concerning. We created a WeChat official account with Cynthia serving as the primary editor and Dr. Dong serving as the manager in order to have a bigger impact on society. The majority of the articles we've written on COPD have focused on information and scientific developments. We've also written about some fascinating human project activities, such as poster distribution, and PV shooting. We have more than 100 followers as of right now, from all age groups, more than 500 views, and several quotings. To increase awareness of HS-China, we chose to move our popular scientific articles to Ins or Facebook.




Group Work

Target Group: Mainly smokers but also some random pedestrians

General Purpose: Off-line research about COPD influence among all people and attract more people to follow us

Advertisements throughout Shanghai City, Changshou Road, and Korean Street are also part of our ground effort. Throughout the summer, we created posters and quizzes and distributed them to random passers-by on the streets. Lucy Xu, Evangeline He, and Cynthia Jia created a team and began searching for prospective COPD targets with the help of our PI Jeremy and adviser Snowy. Whether they are employees, guards, or walkers; whether they are Chinese or Korean, we have done our best to distribute flyers and provide a quick introduction to COPD and our WeChat Official Account: HS_2023. Our efforts mostly paid off, as many others were interested in our story and began to learn about the dangers of COPD.





Merchandise

Target Group: Students and children who are mostly attracted by cute merch

General Purpose: To attract people's interest in COPD

We made an animated character for our lungs online to emphasize how delicate and sensitive our lungs are.

We designed a series of memes to encourage people to avoid smoking, air pollution, potentially dangerous chemicals, and a poor diet, all of which are potential causes of COPD.


Not only did we use these memes online, but we also made them into keychains. We believe that by using these cultural and creative items, people will be reminded of the significance of maintaining our lungs, such as participating in more sports to increase cardio-pulmonary function and minimize any injury from bad habits, that may develop into COPD.


Regarding the postcard, because we are not expert artists, we decided to employ AI to achieve our aim. There are three images. They are all characters in the hues red, black, and blue. They are a personification of COPD in fashionable cyberpunk styles, and we picked these hues to create a sense of urgency and danger. One has a machine-like mask, while the other has bleeding and severely damaged lungs, indicating the probable effect of COPD on our bodies: blocking our breathing and damaging our lungs.





With so many various types of COPD merchandise available, we have an excellent opportunity to spread our message to others. Cynthia, a YKPao student, began spreading the importance of COPD at her school and around her as soon as she received the final lovely apparel. Key chains with animated lungs, postcards with humanized COPD, badges and stickers... She distributed them as free presents to individuals in her school and neighborhood, piqued people's interest in COPD. What an effective method of promoting! People enjoy the adorable souvenirs and follow the public account for further information, try to know more about how COPD develops and how to prevent its deterioration.

References