Our project aims to use biotechnology bacteria combined with RNAi to control the pest Poplar Leaf Beetle, which affects willow trees. Therefore, we would like to understand the general public's level of knowledge about biopesticides, pesticide residue, and related issues. We also want to conduct a public education campaign on synthetic biology.
To educate the public, we have made the following efforts:
1. Conducted a survey on ecological conservation among individuals aged 16-45.
We conducted a survey among individuals aged 16-45 on ecological conservation. The survey was conducted by inviting people on the street to fill out questionnaires. The results showed that this age group has a good understanding of ecological conservation and the types of pesticides used in agriculture. However, they have limited knowledge about biological pest control. Furthermore, people have concerns about whether biopesticides, such as the combination of biocontrol bacteria and RNAi technology, would lead to pesticide residue similar to chemical pesticides. Therefore, we need to provide public education on biopesticides.
Figure 1: Survey results
2. Operation of social media accounts
Figure 2: Our social media accounts
Young scholars are the backbone of contemporary scientific research. Their dedication and innovation will determine the future direction and progress of scientific research. Young scholars have unique advantages and potential, and they will become the main force of future scientific research. In order to make more young people understand synthetic biology and enter the path of synthetic biology research, we have organized various activities and conducted multidimensional education and promotion targeting different age groups of young scholars.
1. Targeting university students
University students have active innovative thinking and enthusiasm for new knowledge and fields. They are young, energetic, and full of dreams and passion for scientific research. They are willing to face challenges and the unknown, and are brave enough to try new methods and concepts. To increase university students' understanding and interest in synthetic biology, we have established the Hubei University Synthetic Biology Association and organized activities such as synthetic biology popular science conferences. These activities allow university students to learn about cutting-edge content in synthetic biology, appreciate the beauty of synthetic biology, and ignite their enthusiasm for learning about and studying synthetic biology.
1.1 Participation in the establishment of the Hubei University Synthetic Biology Association
The emergence and rapid development of synthetic biology is a logical result of human systematic understanding and profound exploration of life phenomena. It plays an immeasurable role in the development of human society, science, technology, and economy. To promote people's understanding of synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, as well as to provide a platform for communication and display for iGEM teams, we, together with other participating teams from our university, established the Hubei University Synthetic Biology Association based on the School of Life Sciences at Hubei University. The establishment of this association aims to promote Hubei University students' in-depth understanding of synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, and ignite their enthusiasm for learning synthetic biology and participating in iGEM.
On July 5, 2023, the Hubei University Synthetic Biology Association hosted the "First Higher Education Synthetic Biology Open Conference." For this event, we invited iGEM teams from Tsinghua University, Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Shenzhen University, Jiangnan University, China University of Geosciences, and Hubei University, as well as students interested in synthetic biology. We also invited several professors from the School of Life Sciences at Hubei University to provide academic support. During the conference, each participating team showcased their iGEM projects, shared the challenges they encountered during the preparation process and the solutions they found, and exchanged experiences and interesting stories related to their participation in iGEM through Q&A sessions. Through this conference, we not only exchanged information about our respective projects, the current challenges we face, and our interpretation of the competition schedule, but also helped each other, answered questions, and provided clarification. All participating teams gained great insights. They demonstrated a serious and rigorous scientific exploration spirit, thinking and actions of "understanding the world" and "transforming the world," and a strong sense of social responsibility, which ignited the enthusiasm of the participants and other attendees for the iGEM competition.
Figure 3: Hubei Synthetic Biology Open Conference
1.2 Organizing a Synthetic Biology Charity Fair and Carnival
We organized a charity fair and carnival on campus with the aim of raising funds for the Hubei Youth Development Fund, which helps eliminate poverty and supports underprivileged children.Through prior publicity, we attracted the attention of many students. On the day of the carnival, we introduced the IGEM competition to the participants, sharing information about our project, the forefront of synthetic biology, experimental procedures, and key techniques. We also used games and other interactive activities to make abstract knowledge more easily understandable. The participants were enthusiastic and asked us many questions, such as the fundamental differences between biological and chemical methods of pest control, how to deliver dsRNA into target pests, and the process of developing a project from scratch.
During the Synthetic Biology Charity Fair, we designed merchandise inspired by our project and set up stalls on campus, introducing our project, the forefront of synthetic biology, the IGEM competition, and the purpose of the event to passing students.
We were delighted to be able to share our knowledge with the participants. Through these interactions, we not only reviewed and summarized our project but also reflected on and optimized our work. We felt the participants' eagerness to participate in synthetic biology experiments and the IGEM competition, which led us to plan our next step—to organize a science outreach event for students who are eager to participate in IGEM and engage in synthetic biology experiments.
Figure 4: Us with charity fete participants
1.3 Organizing a Synthetic Biology Popular Science and Communication Conference
At the beginning of the new semester, we organized a popular science event on synthetic biology for all faculty and students at Hubei University. Through prior publicity, we attracted the participation of a large number of students at Hubei University.
The Synthetic Biology Popular Science and Communication Conference aimed to enhance students' understanding of synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, deepen their knowledge of related fields in synthetic biology, understand the broad prospects of development in the field of biology, increase interest in biology, actively participate in future iGEM competitions, and engage in the study of synthetic biology!
On the day of the event, Professor Yang Zhifan, the Dean of the College of Life Sciences at Hubei University, delivered the opening speech. The participating teams then shared the cutting-edge knowledge of synthetic biology based on their own projects, and provided an outlook on the future development of synthetic biology. They also explained the competition content and process of iGEM to students interested in iGEM, as well as shared their experiences in participating in the competition.
During the Q&A session at the end of the Synthetic Biology Popular Science and Communication Conference, students asked us many questions, such as "What is the ideal team composition for iGEM and what disciplines should be represented?" and "How do we choose a project for the iGEM competition?" We answered each question one by one. The response from the audience was enthusiastic, and all participants gained something from the event.
Figure 5: Synthetic Biology Science Exchange Conference
2.Educational exchange with Wuhan No. 49 Middle School
During carrying out educational activtities, after careful consideration and brainstorming, we decided to attach educational importance to the introduction of iGEM, the popularization of synthetic biology, and some interesting activities. We selected the students of Wuhan No. 49 Middle School as the audience of our educational activities, and introduced them to the iGEM competition and the influence of the iGEM competition. In addition, the students of this school have no previous experience of participating in iGEM, which makes it an ideal audience for our education. Before our educational exchange, many of these students knows very little about biology, and few students were interested in synthetic biology. Through in-depth communication about biology theme, the field of synthetic biology, the current business trends and career possibilities in this field, we have effectively aroused students' desire for biology and interest in synthetic biology. In addition, we also introduced them to our own competition project, which is the combined attack technique of insect-resistant Pseudomonas and RNAi for protecting the willow.
Figure 6:Introduction experiment
We also explained to some students who are interested in microorganisms how we obtained the single colony of Pseudomonas and how to expand the culture of Pseudomonas. After the face-to-face communication, we also led them to visit the laboratory where we usually work, the ultra-clean workbench, and introduced them to the common equipment of the laboratory, such as centrifuges, electrophoresis instruments and PCR instruments.
Figure 7:Do experiments together
We hope that this activity can make the students appreciate the charm of synthetic biology and learning about iGEM. After the event, we kept in touch with the students to answer the biological experimental knowledge they wanted to know. And the students shared the gains of the activities with other students after returning to school, which made more students interested in synthetic biology, thus achieving our original educational purpose.
3. For primary and middle school students
Primary and middle school students are the main body of adolescents and the future of our country. They are also the hope and reserve force for future scientific research. In order to help them understand the cutting-edge field of synthetic biology, we have developed a popular Monopoly game based on our project content. This game allows students to learn and master knowledge of synthetic biology while having fun. At the same time, we also conducted teaching support activities in Tongshan County, Hubei Province, bringing a unique synthetic biology classroom experience to the children there.
3.1 Synthetic Biology Game - Tree Planting Edition of Monopoly
For primary and middle school students, we considered various options, such as conducting science popularization lectures or inviting students to visit laboratories. However, since primary and middle school students are still in the stage of scientific enlightenment, suddenly introducing them to complex science popularization activities may not achieve the desired effect. So, how can we simplify the profound scientific knowledge for them? To solve this problem, we brainstormed multiple times and finally decided to combine our project content with one of the most popular games among primary and middle school students - Monopoly. We created a version of the game that focuses on tree planting and incorporates knowledge of synthetic biology.
3.2 Volunteer teaching in Tongshan County
Children's education is an extremely critical stage in social development education, and in China's rural areas with dense vegetation, there are many poisonous insects and crop pests that are harmful to children's lives. There are countless examples of children getting sick from bug bites, so teaching children to identify bugs and how to avoid them becomes an important part of our educational activities. At the same time, crop pests and willow pests feed on cash crops, resulting in lower incomes for farmers who make a living from them. According to these conditions, our team designed a popular science and health education classroom for rural children about insects and crop pests.
In July 2023, we went to Shimen Village, Tongshan County, Xianning City, Hubei Province, a remote mountain village surrounded by mountains, and sent local primary school students a summer course with the theme of "Broaden their horizons and love science". Based on the rich biological resources in the area, the team members designed a series of educational courses, divided into three parts, to gradually lead the children to gradually learn about insects and crop pests.
First of all, we introduced the basic characteristics of insects to the children, and led the students to recognize "butterflies and bees are insects, and scorpions and spiders are not insects" by designing the method of mantra, and led the students to know the common crop pests. In the second part, we introduced more common poisonous insects in the countryside, such as crypto insects and hornets, and deepened the children's memory of poisonous insects through the interactive game of "You bet and I guess". The children enjoyed playing with the volunteer teachers. Finally, in the health education class, we talked to the children about how to avoid being bitten by the poison bug and what to do after the bite. In the final demonstration, all the children together with the teacher correctly said the emergency method.Through this volunteer teaching activity, we not only taught the students to identify insects, poisons and pests, but also ignited the students' enthusiasm for biological knowledge learning and the spirit of exploration.
Figure 8:Photo with left-behind children
4. Target younger age groups
Early science education is also necessary for younger age groups. We have designed a picture book so that younger people can learn about our project and synthetic biology through a warm picture story. And we recorded an audio version based on the story content of the picture book, which can be used as a bedtime story for younger people.
Figure 9:Picture book story content
5. For a special class of students -- students from poor areas
We noticed that there are still some poor children in remote areas around the world, due to the lack of education funds and resources, these children are difficult to understand the latest and most cutting-edge scientific knowledge, so we jointly with other IGEM teams, relying on the Synthetic Biology Association of Hubei University, The above "Synthetic Biology Charity Garden Party" and "Synthetic biology Charity Sale" were held. Through these two activities, we will raise money and donate it to the Hubei Youth Development Fund to help these special students.Through the "Synthetic Biology Charity Fair" and "Synthetic Biology Charity Sale", we raised $676.53 and donated $930 worth of DIY keyrings. We hope this will improve the learning life of children in poor areas.
Figure 10:our Donation certificate
1. Communicate with BNUZH-CHINA
In the stage of topic selection improvement, we carried out exchanges and discussions with BNUZH-CHINA, and conducted in-depth exchanges on the efficiency of RNAi and the release efficiency of engineered bacteria after entering the host. The exchange allowed members of both teams to deepen their understanding of RNAi and other technologies. After the discussion, we learned a lot and started brainstorming in the team to make the topic more clear. After that, we had many exchanges with BNUZH-CHINA, and the BNUZH-CHINA team gave us a lot of help in terms of experimental ideas, and we are very grateful to them. In the process of communication, BNUZH-CHINA encountered some problems in the selection of targets and the construction of dsRNA expression vector, and discussed with us in this aspect. We have some experience in this aspect, and gave BNUZH-CHINA some suggestions, which we are very honored to be adopted by BNUZH-CHINA. In the follow-up communication, we discussed the process of dsRNA processing and function after entering the target cells, and the relevant experimental design. Since this is our first time to participate in the competition and we have no experience in the final project presentation, we asked BNUZH-CHINA how to present the project, reply and other questions, BNUZH-CHINA gave us some tips, thanks to the help of our friends.
Thank you BNUZH-CHINA for your full communication with us. We and our friends help each other in the communication process and constantly improve ourselves, which makes us feel the meaning of communication and cooperation once again, "while affecting the world, the world will also affect you".
Figure 11: we are communicating with BNUZH-CHINA online
2. Talk to other teams
We had full communication with Wuhan Hubei-China, HUBU-HUBEI- China, HUBU-SKY-China and HUBU-China teams. In the process of communication, we started from our own projects, launched a fierce discussion, found many common problems, and finally had an in-depth discussion on the design and Wiki construction of hp in the later stage. HUBU-HUBEI-CHINA has given us important help in the construction of the Wiki, and we have discussed many issues of the wiki, helping each other and drawing on each other's strengths. hp of HUBU-SKY-China had a clear idea, proposed many creative activities, and jointly held the synthetic biology charity garden fair and synthetic biology charity sale with us, and finally achieved very pleasing results. We were lucky to meet many like-minded teams, we helped each other and learned from each other, which made us understand that when a group of like-minded people work together, the power of this group is unlimited.
Figure 12: we are communicating