Teaching the young

To reach even the youngest and awaken their interests and enthusiasm for science, we went to the local high school “Gymnasium Corvinianum” in Northeim and had the chance to take over two lessons of their science class. We presented our project, showed and explained equipment of our lab and taught the children about microorganisms and synthetic biology. The most memorable for them was probably when they independently extracted the DNA of a strawberry and were able to see the code of life with their own eyes. For many of them it was also their first time that they saw grown bacteria and fungal colonies on an agar plate. We received very positive resonance and had the impression that we contributed to their enthusiasm for science. We showed them that science could be fun and diverse even if at a young age at school it often seems boring.

Communicating academia with the public

The Long Night of Science (in german: Nacht des Wissens) is an event in which more than 400 institutions and departments of the University of Göttingen open their doors to the public for one day until late at night and present their research. This includes guided tours but also many hands-on activities. We had the great opportunity to be there with our project and present our research to a wide audience. From elementary school students to chemistry professors to retirees, they all visited our booth and we had great conversations and showed small experiments. We clearly explained what GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are and dispelled prejudices and fears. During the long night of science, we inspired the youngsters, seniors and even our fellow students how important synthetic biology is and what an important part it is nowadays. We even got new input and interesting ideas for the further journey of our project.

Exchange between students

We were part of the StuFo 2022, where we could present our research next to other student and university projects. We had the chance to illuminate a topic such as the CO2 emissions from many perspectives as students came from numerous branches like sociology, economy or natural sciences. We received much input for our project as we have never experienced it before because so many different students from unrelated fields were coming together. We joined many talks, discussions and poster sessions and got the opportunity to introduce how synthetic biology can contribute reducing the consequences which come along with the climate change. As the majority of the audience was not familiar with molecular methods and synthetic biology, we familiarized them with the methods we are using in the lab. The people were very impressed and did not expect that synthetic biology has such a broad field of applications. We were very honored to present our project and could raise awareness and consciousness of the potential of synthetic biology.

Speaking to the world

We also used the media to communicate our project to a broad audience. In different interviews by newspapers (Göttinger Tageblatt, Uni Zeitung) or even the radio (FFN and NDR), and different blog posts (Biospectrum, Eurofins), we talked about our project, the importance of the reduction of the greenhouse gas emission and the political necessity to act now. We were additionally running an instagram channel in which we showed our daily life as young scientists. These all were nice examples of how science communication can be integrated in everyone's daily life by reading the newspaper or just listening to the radio. The links of interviews or blog posts which are still available can be found here:

• Press announcement from University of Goettingen
• Article in local paper "Goettinger Tageblatt"
• Online-article for Eurofins