For our partnerships this year, we were able to work with iGEM TU Braunschweig, an iGEM team from a University in Germany. Their project that surrounds esophageal cancer, had significant overlap with ours, so we decided to launch a campaign using Instagram that allows teams worldwide with cancer-related projects to raise awareness for their cancers on this account.

For this campaign, we created a collaborative Instagram account called @igem_spreads_awareness_ which will act as a platform for other teams to further spread awareness on their cancer. While teams had the freedom to choose how to create these posts, we suggested that they share basic information regarding their cancer, along with statistics and detection methods. TU Braunschweig was the first team to create an Instagram post, which acted as an exemplar to all of the iGEM teams to look at. In their post, they wrote about the 2 subcategories of esophageal cancer (ESCC and EAC) and its prevalence in different communities.

Our first collaborative Instagram post shared valuable information concerning breast cancer and its affected demographics. In succession, we expanded upon the causes, common symptoms, and available testing methods for breast cancer in the second and third posts. Types of testing methods mentioned included self-examination, ultrasound, MRI scanning, diagnostic mammograms, and biopsies. Finally, we concluded the posts with a “takeaways” post, a summary of the most valuable information we wanted to emphasize from the first three posts. We chose to post this post last to ensure that this will be the post that will come up on our followers main feed.


Once we were able to complete our first initial post and successfully posted them on our collaborative instagram account, we began to reach out to other iGEM with cancer related projects to encourage them to take part in this project. In the end, we were able to have 5 different teams -iGEM CUK-Hong Kong, KU Leuven, Barcelona, Thessaloniki, Wagenigen- join us on our instagram page.


Our first team outside of iGEM ASIJ and iGEM TU Braunschweig was iGEM team CUHK - Hong Kong - SBS, who posted about hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for ninety percent of liver cancers. They shared general information about hepatocellular carcinoma, its incidence, and its causes worldwide. In addition, they shared the risk factors, symptoms, and prevention methods. They also shared the importance of early diagnosis.


Our next collaborative post was with iGEM KU Leuven, a team in Belgium, whose project revolved around colorectal cancer. Through this instagram post, they were able to share that the prevalence of colorectal cancer in women is higher than men (1 in 23 and 1 in 25 respectively) and that it was the second leading cause of cancerous deaths, therefore must be taken extremely seriously. In their initial post they also address the lack of screen testing the majority of the population go through, causing many to only notice the cancer till the later stages.


Our next collaborative post was by iGEM U Barcelona, a team whose project focused on Burkitt lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system that affects the immune system. They primarily focused on the specific location in which Burkitt Lymphoma affects (the cells in charge of antibody production). In the following posts, iGEM UBarcelona explained the process of CAR-T therapy and what happens when the actual fluids for the treatment enter the body and how it affects its cells.


In the following collaborative post which was created by iGEM Thessaloniki, we were able to share more information regarding brain cancer. In their first post, they primarily focused on the prevalence of this cancer in the 30-40 age group, and that the risk factors are unknown till this day. In the following post, they were able to further elaborate on what the cancer looks like as well as providing information on what to expect during an evaluation.


iGEM Wageningen also sought to share information on colorectal cancer through their post “6 ways to reduce your risk of colorectal cancer.” They included general cancer information, conveying how prevalent and preventive colorectal cancer is. They summarized the six ways through vivid colors and kid-friendly diagrams to catch people’s attention. iGEM Wageningen also gave insight into how colorectal cancer is diagnosed, labeling the standard diagnosis process, so it is easy to follow. In their last post, they stressed the poor results of current detection methods, thereby emphasizing the need for a new and revised detection method.

To learn more about each respective team’s instagram post, please go to @igem_spreads_awareness. In terms of this instagram account's logistics, by Oct. 13th, we were able to share 21 posts!

Each team in the partnership extensively benefited from the large magnitude of informational exchange; each team was able to take away valuable information regarding various cancer types such as colorectal cancer, brain cancer, and colorectal cancer among others. Each team was able to present their information creatively, and doing so provided teams leeway to provide their own interpretations of their own team’s work, in addition to the work of other teams. Due to the international and borderless nature of social media, each team was not only able to spread awareness about their disease of focus, but also gather advice on how to improve upon their delivery and communication of information.

An example of a mutually beneficial exchange of ideas between teams included sharing the major factors that contributed to a higher predisposition to specific types of cancer: examples included demographics, geographic locations, diet, and more. Through garnering new perspectives and ideas through the dissipation of ideas, teams could reflect upon their cancer of interest's origins—whether hereditary or enviornmental—thus allowing teams to better understand their cancer of focus.

Well crafted instagram posts also allowed us to expand our reach to the global audience and form new networks.Through the instagram account, we establish a network of teams specifically targeting cancer, forming a strong cooperative bond on an international scale: a network that could benefit teams beyond the 2022 iGEM season. On an individual note, both iGEM TU Braunschweig and our team gained different insights into the specifics of each cancer, and utilized the overarching theme found in all of the projects to further connect with the teams involved in the instagram project. All teams in the partnership benefitted from the large exchange of valuable information and takeaways in aspects listed above. With the digital age, there are clearly no borders—and we leveraged our opportunities to step out of our region to better educate the global community and create bonds between teams that will last for the years to come.