Education

Introduction

As the more research and learning we did with respect to our project, we were always surprised about how powerful and useful genetic engineering and synthetic biology will be in all areas of our lives. The world has mainly evolved through mutations and natural selection for millions of years, which intends to shape individuals or species to suit the present environment but is not advantageous enough to urge developments. Synthetic biology promotes a way that develops the world with accuracy to our dream world and with efficiency compared to conventional evolution. It is able to direct the development of the biosphere by a target. we expect and utilize genetic engineering instead of mutation which is much less efficient. With the power of money and other techniques, the spreading of this edited gene and the resulting change that might take thousands of years can be done in a few years.

However, in order to make a change large enough to change the whole biosphere, we need to make small changes, each achieving a specific goal in a huge quantity. For example, we might create a sweet potato that produces high-purity amylopectin, which is only suitable for a few uses in society. However, there might be other editions of sweet potatoes based on our research that suit different needs compared to ours. Other plants such as potatoes, corn, or grains might have a different application and maintain the bio-diversity on earth as well.

Education and publication will allow more people to know what is happening and spread the ideas of each research to promote greater diversity and allow researchers to build on each other’s work to create efficiency and consider more known information relating to their project. Therefore, there will be a greater possibility that the researchers can get an idea of what to do and how to do their exploration. However, a more important aspect of education and publication is that it allows people who are not in this area to learn about our project and support the change that we are going to make. They might support us by investing money to help us really benefit the environment with our plastic, some might join us using their professional knowledge to help us produce biodegradable plastics, and some might just be interested in synthetic biology.

To introduce synthetic biology to society, and also to communicate with other teams to exchange ideas, we have organized activities and tried to spread our words in a couple of ways. Below are our trials and stories through this summer:

1 Science fair “attraction”

On 20th May, we attended a conference with 7 other iGEM teams to introduce our projects and synthetic biology to citizens who are interested in science research topics and their results. This conference includes some top companies and organizations in the province introducing their newest products, as well as some significant research from students in the province. We designed a poster that explains our project to the people at the conference, also preparing some simple experiments and activities that can interest our peers and younger children to want to know more about it.

This activity allows us to introduce our project to a big part of our society who have a role and interest in science and application, which specifically helps us in the following ways:

  1. 1.Attracts visitors and peers to gain an interest in genetic engineering. We have a few models that demonstrate DNA structure and posters introducing our project specifically. DNA has always been a mysterious study to children and attractive to high school students as well. Our introduction about DNA and what we do with it seems interesting to a lot of visitors.
  2. 2.Communicate with other iGEM teams in this activity. It was a great opportunity for us to connect with other teams and exchange ideas of what they are planning to do and what could we do together to gather more resources to create a bigger impact. For example, the online public advertising activity is a continued activity that we have cooperated, which was advertised on more social media accounts to gain more attention.

2 Online public advertisement

We organized an online public outreach event on July 15th to promote and raise awareness about our iGEM project. We were delighted to have the participation of eight teams during this event. The primary objective of the event was to engage with the wider community, educate them about synthetic biology, and showcase the innovative projects being developed by each team.

To ensure a successful event, we utilized WeChat platforms to reach a larger audience. As a result, 1863 visitors watched our presentation and the whole activity lasted for more than two hours. We conducted live presentations where each team had the opportunity to share their research goals, methodologies, and potential applications of their projects. These presentations were followed by interactive Q&A sessions, allowing participants to gain a deeper understanding of the teams' work.

The online public outreach event for our iGEM project was a resounding success, with the participation of eight enthusiastic teams. Through effective project promotion and science education initiatives, we were able to raise awareness about our iGEM projects and synthetic biology. The interactive nature of the event provided ample opportunities for engagement, collaboration, and learning. We are confident that this event has contributed significantly to the popularization of synthetic biology and inspired future innovations and collaborations within the iGEM community.

3 The search for plastics in life

When our experiments in the lab were in progress, one of our teammates questioned whether bioplastics would really make an important change to the world. Obviously, even though we are told that petroleum and other chemically synthesized plastics have a negative significant effect on the world, we don’t realize it happening, and we don’t pay attention to this danger that is so close to us.

To get a clearer idea for ourselves, as well as help others understand our project better, we went to a small attraction near our lab, Sheshan Hill. When we were climbing the hill, we saw some discarded plastic products carelessly thrown away in corners of roadsides. We collected all the plastic waste that we could fou nd and threw them into trash cans as we went. The frequent appearance of these plastic waste reminds us that plastics can be much closer and more dangerous to us than we thought. After this activity, we spread this experience to friends and our community, proving our project's significance and encouraging more people to support us.

As a group, we have a better idea of what problem we are going to face and the huge size of it. We are also aware that we are only a small part of the community trying to solve this problem. Therefore, we were encouraged to connect with more groups that are researching different specific areas that could contribute to this problem, and reorganize a more complete plan for this industry. Based on our project, we constructed a simple overview of our business plan concluding the areas that we have connected and suggesting a possibility for starch-based biodegradable plastic to be a solution to the plastic problem.

During the other activities that we organized, we also tried to spread this experience to the community to raise awareness of this problem. We would not notice this normally, but when we observe the environment around us carefully, disposed plastic is everywhere. No matter how they will contribute to this, their help is needed for the world to get rid of this situation.

4 Presentation at the Mars Laboratory

We conducted a promotional event for our iGEM project at the Mars Laboratory, where we provided a brief introduction to the staff members and carried out some engaging experiments related to our project. One such experiment involved creating a non-Newtonian fluid using starch.

During the event, we set up a demonstration area where we explained the concept of non-Newtonian fluids and their relevance to our iGEM project. We showcased how simple ingredients like starch and water could be combined to create a substance with unique properties. By adjusting the ratio of ingredients, we demonstrated how the mixture transformed from a liquid to a solid-like consistency when force was applied. The staff members had the opportunity to actively participate in the experiment by mixing the starch and water themselves. This hands-on experience enhanced their understanding of the scientific principles behind the formation of non-Newtonian fluids and allowed them to witness the intriguing behavior firsthand. In addition to the starch experiment, we showcased other experiments that highlighted the innovative aspects of our iGEM project. For instance, we demonstrated how genetic engineering techniques could modify bacteria for environmental remediation. This demonstration not only fascinated the audience but also exemplified the real-world applications of synthetic biology.

Throughout the event, the staff members actively participated in discussions and asked insightful questions about our iGEM project. These interactions allowed us to engage in meaningful conversations, exchange ideas, and address any concerns or misconceptions they might have had. By providing a platform for open dialogue, we fostered a sense of collaboration and knowledge sharing, further promoting the importance of our project.

Through these engaging demonstrations, we successfully promoted our iGEM project within the Mars Laboratory community. The interactive nature of the experiments not only increased awareness but also kindled curiosity among the staff members. We hope that this event inspired them to explore the exciting possibilities of synthetic biology and consider its potential applications in their respective fields

5 Social media

WeChat articles

We have published articles about our project on WeChat, which is the most popular social media in China. This means that many people can see our articles, creating a bigger possibility for people interested in this area to see our work. On this platform, we talked about the crisis we are facing, the method that we proposed, and the progress we are making to achieve our goal, some with more details than others. Since this is a serious platform for news and information to be learned, our articles talk about scientific theories and market analysis.

By spreading our ideas here, we attracted staff who are in the market department in real companies to connect us. This proves that our work can be seen and considered in society, which is one of the main goals of us publishing these articles on this big platform. We are able to bring more opportunities for the large community to learn about our project and the goal we aim for. There are also people who are interested in communicating with us, which is one of the connections that we are looking to build.

TikTok

This is another huge platform in China, but compared to WeChat, it is a place for entertainment and people share their lives. We have recorded some amazing memories during our experiments as well as other pieces of our life during the research. Vlogs are created using these pieces to present our lives as scholars and our works to help more people learn about how exploring synthetic biology will look like if they want to do something similar. This also helps to further advertise ourselves for future plans of business and communication opportunities.

Bilibili

This is the biggest platform for longer videos in China, similar to YouTube. We also did some advertisements on this platform for more people to recognize us. With more people learning our process and work, people who are interested will be inspired and attend activities similar to this, maybe joining an iGEM team next year.

6 In school

Wyoming Seminary

Our team member Yicheng lectured on the project we worked on in the science assembly at his high school. Gene editing technology such as CRISPR-cas9, synthetic biology, polymer chemistry, and other parts involved in our project has been introduced to a wide community interested in scientific research and inspired peers to learn about the application of biology. The whole idea and procedure that our project builds on can connect many of the areas of study the peers and teachers are into.

Some teachers are interested in this opportunity of getting to work with genes and want to get an opportunity to send students who are interested in iGEM. Furthermore, the biology teacher was considering introducing CRISPR-cas to the school by organizing an activity using kits bought online. Many peers who attended this assembly were also interested in the gene editing process which is far from our studies and their projects. Through this introductory lecture, many people including both teachers and students from the school community were inspired and attracted.

HongWen

Shanghai—BioX team members in HongWen High School decided to collaborate with an intramural student club, which is called MSPS-HW(HongWen Medical Science Popularization Society). After planning with the president, a publicity campaign was carried out on the afternoon of September 27. About 30 students attended the activity, and many of them expressed interest in our project after our introduction. We explained the starch that our project tends to explore and exhibited some experiments on non-Newtonian fluids to further address the starch that we are focusing on.

7 Game design

To achieve the goal of attracting more people to learn about synthetic biology and to provide a place for scholars to communicate, we decided to design a game as a platform to perform all of our vision. Four panels are designed in total and each of them will perform their own purpose.

The introduction page is at the first, welcoming everyone to participate in this meaningful game and supporting applied science. When you click on the first button, you can enter the fundamental part of our game, the simplified simulation of synthetic biology based on our project.

On this page, we have a sweet potato model that shows what this specific one looks like, and there is some data informing us of the specific properties. Below is the simulated DNA code in charge of the different properties of the sweet potato, including shapes, colors, percentage of starch, etc. On the side, we have choices of different DNA code pieces that represent different meanings for a property. For example, in the color category, we have choices of purple, orange, yellow, white, and other ones. When we drag the pieces that satisfy our needs onto the whole simulated DNA code, the model above and the data will change accordingly. The abundant choices will allow players to have an opportunity to express their creativity and produce something different from others. This step refers to the essential idea of synthetic biology that we modify organisms based on a specific target. We chose sweet potatoes as the sample to relate to our project, and players can create sweet potatoes based on their creativity. Therefore, the sweet potatoes are modified based on the players’ will, instead of natural selection or anything that naturally occurs.

After the players have decided which gene pieces to put together, they can name this combination and store it in their own warehouse. All of the combinations can be stored in their own private place, and there’s always a place for the creator to write a short description of their creation.

The last page is another significant part of our game, which is to build connections between different people from different but similar professions. This page is an Internet-based platform where everyone can post their own creation on the platform for all others to view. However, the importance of this design is that everyone uploading their creation has to provide a plan of what their sweet potatoes can contribute to the world and what is the business plan to achieve a greater scale. For example, a high percentage of starch can be used to produce biodegradable plastic and a suitable business plan is very useful. A colorful sweet potato can be used as a decoration and a business plan might discuss how to sell and manufacture them. People from all science fields are welcome to connect sweet potatoes to their profession, which allows more ideas to get exchanged and inspire each other.