VR game

We aimed to engage people in our project and incorporate various concepts in synthetic biology in a meaningful way. Key concepts in synthetic biology like the central dogma of molecular biology and cloning are quite complex, and they have been found difficult to communicate effectively with the public¹. This presents a significant barrier in societal discussions about the opportunities synthetic biology provides^2,3. To increase interest and lower these communication barriers, we created a Virtual Reality (VR) game. VR offers possibilities for an enjoyable middle ground between both education and entertainment, with complete immersion in the subject as one of the most distinct advantages of education using VR^4-6. This enables us to make abstract concepts more tangible. Additionally, people all around the world can be targeted as the game is published online. To improve accessibility, the game is playable with both a VR headset and on any desktop or mobile device, removing the necessity to purchase additional costly equipment. We used CoSpaces Edu⁷ as software for making the game, which is a user-friendly online creation tool. We provide a guide on how to create a game using this software on our contribution page.

Within iGEM, VR has been utilized before by ADOPE (TU Delft 2018 team). Their game focuses on recreating a laboratory experience, including skills like pipetting. This is a great way to teach a new generation of scientists the first basics of lab work without actually doing it in real life, which is elaborated further on their wiki⁸. We decided to learn from and build upon their work by expanding the advantages of learning in VR to people outside the scientific community. Hence, we aimed for more of a storytelling experience with stimulating surroundings, accompanied by voice acting. We thought these alterations would improve the connection with a broader public.

The player follows the story of farmer François, confronted by new regulations concerning the fertilizers he uses, as explained in our project description. François hints to the player that he heard something about biodegradable plastic produced by microbes, but as this is not his expertise, he asks the player for help. The player is then transported to the world of cells, where a scientist and his friend Mex, a Methylobacterium extorquens, guide the player through visualizations of the central dogma of molecular biology and cloning. To improve scientific accuracy we included an accurate 3D model of the PhaC enzyme in the game^9-11. Players can walk around the enzyme to see it’s intricacies. To ensure the conveyed message is received, we also incorporated small questionnaires, which, when answered incorrectly, provide more information to the player to complete the questions successfully. Additionally, based on concerns raised by participants of the NGL lecture, which is elaborated on further below on this page, we also incorporated a scene about safety where we touch on the work of our iGEM predecessors, DOPL LOCK (Leiden 2021 team). The game ends when the player has successfully made PHA and is transported back to François’ farm again.

The opening scene underwent drastic changes in the narrative as our project progressed through conversations with stakeholders. At first, we were focussed on plastic pollution in a broader context than microplastics. In this stage we designed our VR game to depict an island setting and show the impacts of ocean plastic on wildlife and the environment. However, our interviews with Thijs Bosker, Rinko de Koeijer and Rob Verhagen gave our project a new inspiration and direction. This led to the resdesigning of the opening scene from a plastic polluted island to a farm. We included the use of controlled release fertilizer and new regulations imposed by the EU.

Plastic polluted island