Eugene the Mascot
To make our educational content more digestible and easier to understand for younger audiences, our team introduced a mascot, Eugene! While Eugene isn’t a specific species, he is a prokaryote, the main type of organism QGEM has worked with (including this year). Eugene is still intricate in design, but the simplicity is what makes prokaryotes so favourable to work with - because Eugene can become whomever we need from year to year.
With Eugene’s help, we were able to simplify some of the complex concepts that we were teaching to younger audiences. Eugene was featured in the various workshops we ran, as well as within our Instagram posts. Eugene was also featured INSA ENS Lyan 1’s Mascot Collab, alongside other iGEM groups such as, Nantes, uniLausanne, ABOA, and Dusseldorf!
Next Steps/Future Improvements
Advertise Eugene more!
Use Eugene more in summer workshops to help explain concepts and help make the workshops more interactive.
Summer 2023 Workshops
One of the main goals of the outreach team this year was to provide consistent and quality educational opportunities for younger students in the Kingston community. We did this, through presenting various workshops and activities throughout the summer, partnering with Connections Engineering through the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, and Science Quest through the Engineering Society of Queen's University.
These workshops allowed our team to share our mission, project, and resources to young students, to immerse themselves into the field at a younger age. It was our hope to inspire these students to pursue careers in the synthetic biology field, as well as apply theoretical knowledge we shared to hands on activities for them to work on. And Lastly, these workshops followed a common theme of plastic reduction and various methods that aligned with the progress of the team's project, simplifying them to help with their understanding.
Throughout the summer, we presented 9 unique workshops for age groups ranging between kindergarten to grade 12. Based on previous QGEM teams from the past, this was our fifth year working with Science Quest and our second year working with Connections Engineering.
Connections Engineering
Connections Engineering was a summer camp that immersed high school students in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) outside of their school. This camp provided the students with experiential learning opportunities through various activities and collaborations with external groups, such as QGEM. We were fortunate to be able to present to two separate groups of students in the Engineering Body and Beyond Program with our Gel Electrophoresis Workshop. On July 13th, 2023 and August 3rd, 2023. This activity taught the students about the properties of DNA and how similar applications to this technique is used in this field. This workshop allowed students to work together in groups and challenged them to think critically like “engineers”, about how the components worked together to produce the results of the activity. You can find workshop material below along with a video of how the activity is set up.
Workshop Material
Science Quest
The Outreach team presented 8 individual workshops over the course of five weeks between July and August of 2023. Science Quest is a non-profit service operated by the Engineering Society of Queen's University. Their educational programming is directed to many age groups and designated camps to engage and empower youth between kindergarten to grade 9. Our team lead workshops with the Junior Camp, Science and Engineering Camp, and the Girl's Technology and Robotics Camp. The Junior camp consisted of campers going into grades 2-6. We presented three workshops to this group. The age group for the campers of the Science and Engineering Camp ranged between grades 4-8. As these students were older than the junior campers, the team felt that the workshops could be more theoretical based.
Junior Camp
The Junior camp consisted of campers going into grades 2-6. We presented three workshops to this group.
The first workshop we presented was an activity an activity that answered the question Is Pure Water was Colourless? This workshop provided a gateway for the campers to ask questions and theorize outside of basic understandings. This workshop was a simple, yet effective activity that was hands on for the campers to apply their hypotheses into practice. The workshop material can be found below.
Workshop Material
Our Second Junior Camp Workshop was showing how Soap Films Can Behave like Membranes. This workshop shared some information about the makeup of a cell and how we could recreate simple features of the cell membrane, using accessible household products. This interactive workshop taught the campers about permeable and semipermeable membranes by performing various tasks with the “bubble membranes”. The workshop material can be found below.
Workshop Material
The last Junior Camp workshop we presented was called S.O.S. (Save Our Seas), an activity inspired by our project which deals with reducing the waste production found within bodies of water on our earth. Where this activity informed the campers about oil spills and how they needed to use problem solving skills to uncover different methods and techniques to clean their own mini oil spills. The workshop material can be found below.
Workshop Material
Science and Engineering
The second group that the Outreach Team presented workshops to was the Science and Engineering camp. The age group for these campers ranged between grades 4-8. As these students were older than the junior campers, the team felt that the workshops could be more theoretical based. The following four workshops were presented throughout July and August.
The first workshop that was presented to this group was an activity that was both interactive and visually exciting. Our Watch Water Boil at Room Temperature workshop gave the campers the opportunity to change parameters of the experiment to notice different outcomes of how the water would boil based on the pressure applied from the plastic syringes. The activity was quick to set up and only required three materials being: plastic syringes, distilled water, and carbonated water. The material from this workshop can be found below.
Workshop Material
The second workshop we presented was an Enzyme Hydrolysis activity. This activity taught the campers about how enzymes are catalysts that activate chemical reactions quicker. This workshop was simple, but yet effective in provided the campers with experience in working with materials to produce reactions that they can observe themselves. The material for this workshop can be found below.
Workshop Material
Our next workshop was a fun activity that recreated an experiment to mimic Ocean Acidification. In this experiment, our Outreach Team provided the campers with dry ice to visualize how the increase of carbon dioxide affects our ocean’s acidity level. This activity allowed campers to use pH papers to test the results themselves. The workshop material can be found below.
Workshop Material
The last workshop that was presented to the Science and Engineering Camp was our activity on The Impact of Plastic. This workshop was very important to our team as it really emphasized the impact of plastic on our environment, directly relating to why we choose our project this year for QGEM. This workshop focused on reflecting on the camper’s daily actions that affect the environment through their use of plastic, whether positive or negative. The workshop ended with an activity that promoted the reuse of materials to build a fun project of making boats out of recycled items, instead of out of plastic products. The workshop material can be found below.
Girl’s Technology and Robotics Camp
The outreach team presented one workshop to this Science Quest Camp group, being our Corn Plastic Workshop. This workshop brings together alternatives that can be used for products such as plastic, something that is used heavily in society, but has a vast impact to the environment. One learning outcome of this activity is that like plastic, different ratios of additives can impact the outcome of the material, as well as the length of biodegradation of the product. The material for the workshop, as well as a tutorial video of the activity can be found below.
Workshop Material
Additional Workshop Material
The following two workshops were developed but did not get utilized during the partnership with the summer STEM camps. These workshops may be further developed by a future QGEM team in the future.
The first of the two workshops was a Bio-Prospecting for Bioplastics workshop, which was meant to deliver content that identifies how microorganisms can help produce similar alternatives to common materials such as plastic. This material would have been presented to a high school audience as the theory and content was created for an older audience. The Workshop description and presentation can be found below.
Workshop Material
The second workshop that was not presented was an extension to the Enzyme Hydrolysis activity. This Catalase Enzyme Activity would have introduced additional parameters to the previously presented workshop, allowing for more visual experiments for the campers to get involved with. This workshop description can be found below.
Workshop Material
Next Steps/Future Improvements
The outreach team felt that we were able to successfully meet our educational workshop goals for the summer, and we hope that this inspires the future QGEM teams to continue this trend in providing outlets for young students to be immersed in the field of synthetic biology early. The following advice can be useful for a future QGEM or iGEM team looking to develop workshops for students.
Establish external connections and partnerships with schools outside of Kingston. Some of the material created can be presented virtually which can benefit classrooms in elementary schools slowing down in June.
Ensure the educational content that is created is accessible and can accommodate various audiences besides the target demographic.
Aim to make the workshops interactive and visually engaging as this is necessary for attracting the attention of the students.
QBiT x QGEM Conference Collab: Exploring the Intersection of Biology, Engineering, and Sustainability
Another goal educational goal of the Outreach Team was to promote innovation in synthetic biology to University students in Queen’s University outside of our iGEM team. In this initiative, we collaborated with the Queen’s Biomedical Design Team (QBiT), another design team lead by undergraduate engineering students. QBiT explores practical applications of biomedical engineering and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of medicine through the development of new projects each year. Therefore, our two teams planned a one-day in person conference with the theme of Exploring the Intersection of Biology, Engineering, and Sustainability, open to all Queen’s University students, regardless of their program.
In our conference we had four professors as Keynote speakers all related with research in biology, and engineering, as well as three panelists ranging from an undergraduate student to recent graduates working in the biomedical industry. The outreach team felt that this conference would be a great opportunity for many students to see different career paths that can be followed. Furthermore, this conference would allow both design teams to present their current work and increase engagement in the team and for new members. Finally, the conference provided a perfect opportunity for first years to get a sense of the fields early in the school year!
Furthermore, the conference also promoted a new student chapter that was created recently, being the Biomedical Engineering Student Chapter of Queen’s University.
The conference ran on September 23rd from 10 am to 2 pm. We had almost 100 students register for the conference, from a variety of programs and year of study. The itinerary for the conference can be found here on the conference’s website:
Keynote Speaker Session
To begin the conference, our 4 keynote speakers each presented a 15 minute presentation and had a 5 minute Q & A session afterwards.
Speakers
Dr. Roshni Rainbow – Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Dr. Roshni Rainbow – Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Materials Engineering“Hi! My name is Roshni Rainbow and I am an assistant professor in Mechanical and Materials Engineering. In addition to teaching in the department, I am a biomedical researcher and study musculoskeletal tissue regeneration. My research focuses on how native tissues develop during early life and how we can apply what we have learned from development towards new paradigms for tissue engineering. I am excited to be apart of the upcoming iGEM/QBIT conference! “
Dr. Xian Wang – Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Materials Engineering
“Prof. Xian Wang is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen’s University. His research interests focus on developing small-scale medical robotics. During his Ph.D. study at University of Toronto, he has developed micro/nano robotic platform technologies to study the mechanical properties of the cell and tissue. As a research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children from 2022 to 2023, he has explored using external-controlled microrobots to cause mechanical ablation of brain tumors.”
Dr. Graeme Howe – Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry
“Graeme received his Hon. B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto. After graduation, Graeme remained in Toronto and carried out his doctoral studies with Prof. Ronald Kluger, studying the mechanisms of decarboxylation of vitamin B1-derived intermediates and aromatic acids. After receiving his doctorate in 2016, Graeme traveled south of the border to study enzyme mechanisms under the supervision of Prof. Wilfred van der Donk at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow. Graeme began his independent career in the Department of Chemistry at Queen’s University in July of 2019. His research program is focused on understanding how enzymes evolve and the engineering of enzymes into new and improved biocatalysts.”
Dr. Kevin Deluzio – Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Queen’s University
“Dr. Deluzio began his academic career at Dalhousie University in 1999 as one of the first faculty members of the new School of Biomedical Engineering, with a cross-appointment in the Dept. of Surgery. He established the Dynamics of Human Motion Laboratory where his research focussed on the investigation of the biomechanical factors of knee osteoarthritis and its treatment. He is currently the Dean of Engineering and Applied Science at Queen’s University, a Professor in the Dept. of Mechanical and Materials engineering and the Laboratory Head of the Human Mobility Research Laboratory. Dr. Deluzio has served on the executive of both the Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society and the Canadian Society for Biomechanics. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the immediate Past-Chair of Engineering Deans Canada.
Dr. Deluzio's research involves the study of human locomotion to investigate the biomechanical factors of musculskeletal diseases such as knee osteoarthritis. He is interested in the design and evaluation of non-invasive therapies as well as surgical treatments such as total knee replacement. Dr. Deluzio’s work in quantitative human motion analysis combined with pattern recognition techniques provides the means for objective and sensitive measurement of joint function.”
Panel Session
Our three panelists were from a variety of backgrounds, bringing a diverse perspective to the panel sessions. The panel session was an hour long, first giving an opportunity for the panelists to introduce themselves with a set of slides, and then giving an opportunity for students to ask questions.
Panelists
Victor Di Donato – QGEM 2022 Director
“Hi my name is Victor, I am in my final year of Chemical Engineering at Queens and I was the director of the 2022-2023 QGEM team. We created a water pathogen detection and filtration device and presented at the Grand Jamboree in Paris France, earning a gold medal!”
Quinn Yetman – PhD Candidate in the Skeletal Observation Laboratory
“My name is Quinn Yetman and I’m going into my 3rd year of PhD studies in Mechanical Engineering at Queen’s University in the Skeletal Observation Lab supervised by Dr. Michael Rainbow.
My research uses biplanar videoradiography and computational modeling to study the coordination of the foot and ankle during movement. My goal is to enhance running performance, design better footwear, and lower musculoskeletal injury rates.”
Danika Wotten – Project Engineer at Starfish Medical
“Hi, my name is Danika Wotten, I currently work as a Project Engineer at StarFish Medical, Canada's largest medical device design, development, and contract manufacturing company. I graduated from Mechanical engineering at Queen’s University in 2021. I am interested in the development of medical devices that improve health and save lives.”
Next Steps/Future Improvements
Promote the conference to younger audiences for students in grade 11 or 12 to help with career or education opportunities.
Invite other schools to the conference to attend virtually or in-person.
Get the conference ratified by the engineering society and grow the conference to be more than a one day conference, introducing a case study, banquet, career fair, etc.
Tea Room Week
As a part of our educational outreach initiatives on Queen’s campus, we collaborated with a local café, The Tea Room, from September 25th-29th, 2023.
The Tea Room is an environmentally conscious and socially conscious café located on Queen’s University, completely run by students. All their products are environmentally responsible, and the café runs in accordance with the following three pillars: Environmental Responsibility, Community Education, and Fiscal Sustainability.
Since 2011, the Tea Room has been a zero-consumer waste café. Since 2016, all products and packaging has been 100% compostable. The Tea Room is carbon neutral, with all carbon dioxide emissions associated with the café’s operation off-set by planting trees through the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.
The Tea Room’s values directly align with the values and goals of our 2023 project, Recircuit, making the collab a natural choice.
The main aspect of the collaboration was the outreach and advertising for our project, Recircuit. For the entire week, the café was decorated with our posters that educated students on what QGEM is, as well as the iGEM organization, what our project, Recircuit, is about, and advertising for the positions we were currently hiring for at the time.
We had free stickers for students to take, of both our mascot, Eugene, and the logo of our project, Recircuit. There were also business cards that students could take with contact information of our team in case they had further questions about QGEM or Recircuit.
Fundraising was another aspect of our collaboration with the Tea Room. For the week, we had a QGEM special drink, named the “Matcha Membrane”, a Brown Sugar Iced Oat Milk Matcha Latte. For every Matcha Membrane sold, QGEM received a portion of the profit, in order to help fund the team’s trip to the Grand Jamboree. To advertise the collaboration and the QGEM special drink, we posted on both the QGEM Instagram, as well as the Tea Room Instagram.
Next Steps/Future Improvements
Further advertising of the event to increase engagement.
Introduce a variety of advertising methods to promote the event, Instagram reels, interactive events within the café, etc.
Queen’s Campus Outreach: EngDay, Tricolour Open House, Design Team Showcase, Design Team Open House
In September, QGEM participated in numerous outreach events to teach Queen’s University students about QGEM as a team, our project Recircuit, and about involvement opportunities to get involved with QGEM in the future.
Tricolour Open House
Our first campus outreach event was the “Tricolour Open House”, a club fair for all official Queen’s University clubs, hosted in one of the main gymnasiums on campus. QGEM had a booth at the fair, with our banner, a slideshow running on an a tablet, and our merch on display, which any student is able to purchase.
Eng Day
QGEM was a part of “EngDay”, an event that is a part of the orientation week for incoming students in the faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. EngDay is a club fair that displays clubs/design teams ratified by the Engineering Society of Queen’s University. QGEM had a booth at the fair, similar to the “Tricolour Open House”.
Design Team Showcase
The “Design Team Showcase” was an event run by the Queen’s University Engineering Society Director of Design, featuring all the Engineering Society ratified design teams. The event was presentation style, where each team was able to present a 5-minute presentation about their design team, any projects they were currently working on, and how to get further involved. QGEM took part in the event, presenting and answering any questions that students had.
Design Team Open Houes
Similar to the “Tricolour Open House” and “EngDay”, the “Design Team Open House” was a club fair style event. The fair was available for the Engineering Society’s ratified design teams, and was targeted towards recruitment of all years of engineering students.
Next Steps/Future Improvements
Further advertisement about the booths that we have set up.
More resources for interested students (ex. Virtual brochure/pamphlet through a QR Code).
Give out stickers at the booth or other pieces of small merch at the booth so that students are reminded of QGEM after leaving the event .
Social Media Initiatives
Pride Month Compaign
During the month of June, QGEM utilized both our Instagram and our LinkedIn accounts to inform and educate our followers about various LGBTQ+ trailblazers in the field of and related to synthetic biology. We made informational posts for Ben Barres, Isabel Asnarez, and Paul Hastings, as seen below.
World Ocean Day
World Ocean Day is June 8th. So much of the world’s plastic waste ends up in the ocean, and it is important to protect and value the oceans around the world! Our team made and posted a variety of facts about the oceans and the negative impact that plastic waste has on the aquatic environment.
International Women in Engineering Day
The International Women in Engineering Day is June 23rd. To celebrate the day, we created an informational post, as well as an Instagram story highlighting some of the women in engineering on our team.
Next Steps/Future Improvements
Create and post more educational posts directly related to concepts used in our project.
- Implement a variety of ways to present educational content to accommodate for different learning styles (ex. videos, podcasts).
QGEM Quizzes
To spread awareness about our Tea Room takeover week, as well to increase awareness about Project Recircuit, the outreach team introduced “QGEM Quizzes”. QGEM Quizzes was a trivia social media campaign that took place on the Instagram story every Wednesday. The account that got the most amount of trivia questions correct won a $25 Tea Room giftcard that could be used during the Tea Room Takeover week! The trivia questions ranged from questions about plastic impacts on the environment, facts about plastic recycling, and basic questions about Project Recircuit. The initiative got a lot of attention, with an average of 40-50 students trying to guess the correct answer
Educational Collaborations
In order to extend our educational reach to a wider audience, we collaborated with iGEM clubs from across the world via social media.
McMaster iGEM (mGEM)
Over the summer, our team participated in McMaster iGEM’s blog initiative. Their team asked us a variety of questions, from “If each sub-team was an ingredient, what kind of dish could you make?”, to “How has your team balanced the short-term nature of iGEM cycles with real-world impact when conceptualizing your project?”. It was great getting in contact with mGEM and learning more about their project! The blog can be found here.
iGEM KCIS Xiugang
Over zoom, our teams met to discuss and learn more about each other’s iGEM projects. It was wonderful to hear more about their project, Scoby, a bacterial leather!
We also participated in their SDG Instagram post collaboration, where KCIS posted an informational post on their Instagram about the SDG goals related to our project, Recircuit. The post focused on SDGs 11, 12, and 14, and how our project directly relates to those goals. With this collaboration, a wider audience was able to learn about our project and how it is contributing to a better future and society!
