Education Outreach
Once the University of Florida iGEM team decided to conduct a project on sepsis, the fast-paced research process began. A list of laboratory materials was made, aims and procedures were written up, past work in our field was researched, and experts were contacted. Our team was excited to approach our research because we knew that we had great potential to positively impact the scientific community. Our research is focused on a disease that negatively affects a substantial amount of people worldwide.
However, as we soon discovered first hand, research is time-consuming. Results are hard to obtain promptly, and not all projects are capable of producing impactful findings. Aspiring to do more for the local community, our team quickly took action. Our Human Practices team decided that educating the public outside of the research realm could make just as big of an impact as any scientific finding or newly developed research method.
Sepsis patients often experience symptoms that can be synonymous with their initially acquired infection. The disease requires immediate medical attention, so it is crucial to know when to seek help. With that in mind, our human practices team converged to brainstorm the most effective way to spread sepsis awareness.
The University of Florida contributes greatly to sepsis research; there is a Sepsis Critical Illness Research Center on our campus that is paving the way for greater understanding of the disease's pathology, epidemiology, and treatment. With this extensive research in the laboratory, our team decided that social media and on-campus flyering could make even more of a critical impact outside the lab.
Many people have heard of sepsis before, but may not fully understand the intricacies of the disease. Our goal in educating the community was to clearly define what sepsis is and how it can be prevented. Because sepsis manifests after an infection, we communicated the importance of personal hygiene as well as encouraging precautionary action upon exposure to others carrying a contagious infection. Limiting the public's vulnerability to infection is the most important preventative measure and factor for preventing sepsis within the community.
Our team also displayed infographics on our social media and distributed printed copies to fellow students on campus. These infographics contained a list of the early-onset signs of sepsis and when to get medical help. Due to the fast-acting nature of sepsis, rapid diagnosis can be critical to some patients. The more people are educated about symptoms, the more likely they are to refer a loved one or friend to a medical professional if, and when, they may observe these signs.
The last point of interest our team took into consideration was to give the opportunity to those in the public who wanted to go above and beyond to learn about and support sepsis awareness. On the back of our handouts and in our social media, we included QR codes that were linked to several sepsis organizations, including Sepsis Alliance and Sepsis Organization, which are nonprofits committed to working towards a world without sepsis. This information included ways to donate to sepsis research, as well as avenues to fundraise and promote advocacy. The QR codes also included further information for those who were interested in discovering more about the pathophysiology behind the disease and its presentation.
We believe that our actions outside of the laboratory are just as important as our actions inside of it. Education in our local community, through the internet and beyond, is a pillar of our efforts. To devote the time and resources to research, we must understand the cause we are fighting for and do our best to prevent sepsis. UFlorida iGEM believes we went above and beyond to promote sepsis education within our community.
Engineering Education
In addition to our engagement in outreach educational endeavors, our team actively pursued initiatives aimed at fostering learning and enhancing the proficiency of our members.
The iGEM UFlorida team is composed of students from a broad array of backgrounds, encompassing underrepresented minorities within the STEM disciplines. For numerous team members, the introduction to cell culture techniques—integral to synthetic biology—can be an anxiety-provoking experience. This anxiety is accentuated in the context of our current project, where the intricacies of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) culture present significant challenges. Specifically, iPSC cultures, given their extended cultivation periods, can be rendered null due to a solitary error, necessitating the re-initiation of a multi-week cultivation process. Moreover, the collaborative nature of our wet lab operations implies that any individual lapse can detrimentally influence the collective efforts of the team. Previous research has underscored that such high-stakes, socially evaluative scenarios can potentiate anxiety and consequently diminish student performance.
In an endeavor to mitigate the impediments synthetic biology may pose to novices in the field, our team collaborated with the UF Department of Engineering Education to conduct a preliminary investigation. This study sought to elucidate the correlation between anxiety and performance, using iPSC culture training as a model task.
Our team participated the study in UF TWISTER lab (Directed by Dr. Villanueva) equipped with the necessary computer testing stations, biosafety cabinets, saliva collection and storage stations, video cameras and wearable physiological monitoring devices. Pre-study questionnaires are used to obtain participant statistics such as research experience and academic backgrounds. Training materials are provided through UF’s Cavnas platform and through in-person training demonstration by a graduate research assistant in our advisor’s lab. Computer-based exams before/after the training, and an in-person assessment of the students’ lab skills are used as the test setting to observe students’ emotional responses. Students’ physiological changes (electrodermal activity (EDA) and Photoplethysmography (PPG)) during the training/test corresponding to emotional experiences are recorded using a wearable monitor. Learning outcomes are evaluated both in a Canvas exam and in-person lab skill assessment. We observed clear inter-individual differences in students’ physiological arousals in response to stress. For example, the EDA and PPG (heart rate) data in Fig 1 shows two students having low (#1) and high (#2) sympathetic nervous system activation at the pre-training exam, while both participants show low, basal level EDA signals in the post-training test. Interestingly, student 1 achieved the highest performance score while student 2 received the lowest score in lab skill assessment. Through this pilot study, we demonstrated we have developed a pipeline that can accurately capture the anxiety emotions of students in a synbio-related skill development setting. Our data shows students with different research backgrounds and experience responds differently to the same training data, and the emotional arounsal during the training and testing can significantly affect the learning outcome. We are continuing to use the findings and the study method to understand how to tailor our training programs for future IGEMers at team UFlorida.
