Science communication is a foundational part of scientific research. It is central to improving diversity and inclusion problems that are associated with science by making science understandable and less intimidating. Communication and education is particuarly important in synthetic biology, where misinformation about working with genetically modified organisms can impede progress yet at the same time adequete care needs to be taken to inform people about the real risks and ethical challenges associated with the field. Synthetic biology has the power to make real-world changes; the research being conducted in laboratories by scientists has the potential to be used by industry leaders, governments and the general public to bring about positive change; for this to be the case, this research needs to be properly communicated!
This is why communication and education has been a key focus of our iGEM project. Our efforts were varied and extensive; we utilised a variety of different platforms and addressed a range of different audiences. Furthermore, at each stage we strived to ensure our communication and education efforts were two-way, meaning that we were listening and learning from our audience too. We took the time to ask what people wanted to know, based on the gaps in their knowledge, and to tailor what we taught accordingly. We encouraged questions and audience interaction, and allowed for feedback to be given where possible so that we could make improvements.
Below we have documented these communication and education endevours; our SynbioSummaries series, our international coding workshops, our synthetic biology book, our public outreach, our school visits, our undergraduate outreach and our prospective student outreach.
To increase public engagement in synthetic biology and the implications of the Cambridge iGEM 2022 project, we created a survey on synthetic biology terms and control theory terms to get an idea of which terms people do not know. 67 responses were submitted and from this we could target the areas of synthetic biology and control theory that were the most unknown; in this, we learnt from our audience in order to ensure the educational content we were producing was optimally targeted.
25% of respondents were iGEM members and approximately 50% of respondents were students. Of the students who answered the survey, 29 different subjects of study were reported. Therefore, the survey successfully targeted a wide range of people with different educational backgrounds. We wanted to assess which synthetic biology terms the general public, iGEM members and the wider student population know.
After considering the response from our surveys, we created a video series called “SynBio Summaries” where the Cambridge iGEM Team talks about these important concepts in synthetic biology.
These videos were in the format of short videos that are easy to watch and engage with either on Youtube or on our instagram. In order to reach a wider audience and make the videos accessible, we added subtitles to the videos - both English and Chinese (Traditional).
Furthermore, to ensure the educational content of our videos is accessible, we provided transcripts of the videos.
The videos are also summarised as posters in pdf format that is freely available to download from our Google Drive.
Using our “SynBio Summaries” platform, we released a mini series of videos focused on raising awareness on increasing diversity within synthetic biology. This included videos highlighting the work of scientists that are considered to have been overlooked in history (such as Fanny Hesse with her suggestion of using agar), celebrating the success of female biotechnology CEOs and videos emphasising the importance of equality and diversity in leadership roles.
Visit our YouTube channel here: Cambridge iGEM 2022 YouTube to watch our videos and learn more!
Below we have included a gallery of the social media slides created for their respective videos:
Click on the links below to download our easy-to-digest video summaries- they make great educational posters or handy reminders about the content of our videos!
Engineering principles are important in synthetic biology. However, often undergraduates doing biological sciences have little knowledge in programming, as shown in the sign up form of the computational workshop. Therefore, we decided to conduct a series of computational workshops, in collaboration with iGEM UCL and iGEM Vienna, to help biologists understand the role of programming in biology. The Cambridge 2022 iGEM Team conducted the first workshop (Introduction to Programming with Python in Biology) on 21st August 11am BST. We had close to 50 sign ups and about 30 participants attended our workshop.
As many people signing up to the workshop had little or no experience in programming, we decided to teach the participants how to program from scratch, introducing them to the functionality of Python and the reasons why programming in biology is important. The workshop ends with simulating simple ordinary differential equations using Python. After the workshop, the notebook was published onto our Google Drive to allow people who are interested in learning programming but unable to attend the workshop to read. The Google Collaboratory Notebook can be found here: Coding Workshop Collaboratory Notebook
At the end of the workshop, a feedback form was provided with 2 goals, to know how to improve on the structure and timing of the workshop and to know what topics participants think it will be useful to cover in subsequent workshops. Based on the feedback received, the Cambridge iGEM Team, together with iGEM Vienna and iGEM UCL draft the content of the subsequent workshops.
Our project involves making an antithetic integral controller which has huge implications in foundational advancements. However, as our project is mainly based around control theory, it is difficult for the general public to understand how this synthetic biology tool can be applied in daily life situations. In light of this, we have decided to collaborate with Shym_BIL_NIS Team, a high school team in Kazakhstan, to write a synthetic biology book. The contents of our book not only includes basics of synthetic biology, making synthetic biology simple to the general public, it also includes a basic explanation of our project. Through collaboration with the Shym_BIL_NIS Team, the book will also be translated into the native language in Kazakhstan (Kazakh and Russian) to reach a broader audience.
Below is the English version of the final book
There is also the Kazakh version and the Russian version below, kindly translated by the Shym_BIL_NIS Team!
On 28/08/22, team members Joni and Shau’ri represented the Cambridge iGEM Team in collaboration with CHaOS at the “Our Place in Space” event in Cambridge. This involved demonstrating the “Cuddly Microbes” experiment to members of the public and teaching children in an interactive way about different types of cells.
Joni and Shau’ri explained to curious kids about how bacteria can be “good” (the bacteria that are found in probiotics and yogurt) and “bad” (with examples such as salmonella). They explained the importance of good hygiene and also the importance of what bacteria can do for us in the context of all the amazing things we use bacteria for in synthetic biology.
Joni and Shau’ri talked to kids, and their parents, about some of the myths about genetically modified organisms and how genetically modified crops can reduce the need for pesticides, fertilisers and improve the nutritional quality of food.
This event was incredibly rewarding and Joni and Shau’ri left feeling like they had helped to inspire kids to think about that variety of life that we cannot see with the naked eye and hopefully encouraged these kids to think about learning more about microbiology in the future.
Furthermore, both Joni and Shau’ri were amazed at how thoughtful and bright many of the kids that attended were. Not only did our team members teach these budding young scientists about bacteria and viruses, but these kids certainly gave our team members lots to think about with their questions and general excitement about science!
Thank you to CHaOS for inviting us along to the event- it was a privilege to incorporate our perspectives on synthetic biology whilst demonstrating their microbiology experiments to the general public and to use this platform to educate the scientists of tomorrow about synthetic biology!
On the 29th of September the Cambridge iGEM team were lucky enough to be invited to the Perse School; a local upper school in Cambridge. We were invited to deliver a talk about synthetic biology, iGEM and our project and to host a Q and A session with students.
The talk attracted over 40 pupils and was, based on the quality of the questions and engagement with the students, hugely successful.
We covered the following topics (and more):
After designing and printing our informative poster, for two days our team took to University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering to talk to prospective students about the opportunities that the University of Cambridge offer in regard to participating in iGEM. We introduced the iGEM competition to the students and explained what we were spending our summer working on. We were met with an influx of enthusiastic and curious students; most of whom had not heard of synthetic biology. Most sixth forms and colleges do not offer the opportunity to study bioengineering which made it even more exciting to explain what this field of study entails and why we, as the Cambridge iGEM team, are so passionate about it. We engaged with these students well, explaining the goals of synthetic biology and iGEM. These two days were highly rewarding and it was great to see so many students taking a genuine interest in what we had to say; we pointed these students in the direction of further information and encouraged them to look out for opportunities to explore synthetic biology whether that will be in Cambridge, another university or elsewhere!
Perhaps we even spoke to a future Cambridge iGEM team member!
In early October, the team used the platform of the University of Cambridge Fresher's Fair to talk to undergraduate students about our project and about the iGEM competition.
We hope that through introducing freshers to the opportunity of iGEM and how interdiscplinary and exciting synthetic biology is, we will be able to inspire a new generation of synthetic biologists!