Education

Human Practices Education

Our human practices team proactively engaged with the Lethbridge community, particularly focusing on the youth, to promote understanding and interest in synthetic biology. By attending and hosting various events, we provided hands-on experiences, discussions, and demonstrations that brought synthetic biology concepts to life. These initiatives not only educated the participants but also fostered a stronger connection between our team and the community, emphasizing the relevance and potential of synthetic biology in everyday life.

University of Lethbridge Play Day

University of Lethbridge, February, 2023

In February, we participated in the UofL Play Day. This was a day where families in our community visited the University and were presented with various educational activities. Our team had a table where children were able to spell their names with the letter codes of amino acids. While the children partook in these activities’ discussions about our iGEM team and the significance of biotechnology were had with parents. This was a great opportunity to spread awareness about iGEM and our team, as well as the relevance of our research to the world.

University of Lethbridge Donor Gala

University of Lethbridge, March 2023

In March, our University hosted their annual Donor Gala to showcase our University and all it has to offer, including the ongoing research occurring at the UofL. Our team set up a booth and presented our project to attendees. At our booth, attendees were informed of what iGEM is and of our team here at the UofL. Additionally, tours of our wet lab were given in alignment with the safety regulations of iGEM and our University. The Donor Gala presented our team with a great opportunity to showcase our team and research to our community, as well as create awareness about iGEM and the benefits it has to offer.

High School iGEM Workshops

University of Lethbridge, February 2023

Early in the iGEM season, our team decided that we wanted to spread awareness about iGEM to students at the High School level. Some of our team members had been involved in iGEM while in High School and really appreciated their experience and wanted to share that with others. Our team collaborated with Amino Labs, a local organization that aims to make science and synthetic biology accessible to those of all ages. Amino Labs offered us some of their introductory at-home lab kits to offer students as prizes following our workshops. During each workshop we would deliver a presentation on iGEM and explain what it was to the students. Depending on the grade level of the students we were presenting to, we would run different activities. For younger students, we performed a strawberry DNA extraction experiment, which was well received. While for the older students, we presented on different biochemical separation techniques and then ran a pipetting exercise with them. As there is a High School iGEM team at our University we encouraged the students to apply in the upcoming season, and spoke to them about the benefits of participating in iGEM.

HYRS Presentation

University of Lethbridge, July 2023

Every summer our University offers a few High School students the opportunity to conduct research in a University lab through the Heritage Youth Researcher Program (HYRS). The HYRS coordinator requested that our team deliver a presentation to the students on how to create and present a scientific poster. Our team gave such a presentation and educated the students on iGEM and this year’s project.

PDF Education Magazine

Wet Lab Team Educational Videos

Our wet lab team recognized the importance of passing on practical knowledge to future teams. To ensure that this knowledge was both accessible and easy to understand, we produced a series of educational videos. These videos covered a range of topics, from the basics of using specific lab equipment to more intricate procedures for running various protocols. The goal was to offer a visual, step-by-step guide that would serve as a handy reference for newcomers, reducing the learning curve and promoting safe and effective lab practices.

Western Blot Protocol

This video is an overview of the western blot protocol, a widely used molecular biology technique used to identify specific proteins of interest from protein lysates, purifications, and more.

Staining Polyacrylamide Gels

This short clip is a tutorial on how to stain polyacrylamide gels for protein visualization using Coomassie blue staining.

Preparing a Secondary Culture for Protein Overexpression

A short tutorial on how to prepare a secondary culture for overexpressing recombinant proteins from transformed Escherichia coli cells.

Loading and Running SDS-PAGE

This is an instructional video on how to properly perform sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) for visualizing protein samples.

Preparation of SDS-PAGE Gel Premix

An educational video on the components of SDS-PAGE gels stacking and resolving layers.

Casting SDS-PAGE Gels

An educational video on how to properly cast an SDS-PAGE gel to use for protein electrophoresis.

Preparing Samples for SDS-PAGE

A short instructional video on how to prepare protein samples for SDS-PAGE.

A Step-by-Step Process of How to Purify Proteins

An educational video on how to purify recombinant proteins overexpressed in E. coli cells.

Preparing a Primary Culture for Protein Overexpression

A short tutorial on preparing a primary culture, which is the first step in preparing E. coli for overexpressing recombinant proteins.

Preparing Cell Growth Media

A brief overview of how to prepare LB and YT media for use in bacteria cell culturing.

How to Use a pH Meter

An instructional video on how to properly calibrate and use a pH meter for use in measuring the acidity or alkalinity of solutions.

How to Use a Centrifuge

An instructional video on how to safely use a centrifuge.

The Role of Detergents and Degassing Buffers

An educational video on the role of buffers and why we use detergents in them. Also, a brief explanation of the purpose of degassing buffers.

How to Prepare Antibiotics and IPTG

This short video is an overview of how to prepare antibiotics and Isopropyl ß-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) for use in E. coli growth and protein overexpression.

How to Perform Bacterial Transformation

An educational tutorial on how to perform bacterial transformation using heat shock.

Overview of How to Clone

A brief overview of the cloning workflow, a fundamental molecular biology technique.