Our educational program includes two parts: team education and publication education (Figure 1). Team members are educated through training in synthetic biology, safety, norms and ethics, as well as learning from experts, brainstorming meeting and literatures. Public education includes online lectures, online WeChat account, lectures in city communities and rural counties, and scientific lab show in the university. Our educational programs are aimed to raise public awareness and provide the public with related fundamental knowledges and resources.
Figure 1. The scheme of educational program
Dr. Lin Zhang is the chief medical doctor in Tongji hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology located in Wuhan, China. She gave an online lecture in the Tencent Meeting on Feb. 15, 2022. In Dr. Zhang’s lecture, we have learned about current diagnostic techniques, medication and prognosis of breast cancer and other breast conditions. The story that people have battled with breast cancer has inspired us to explore further in this field. We had interactive discussion from the basic biology of the disease, to ongoing medical innovation, to risk factors and prevention, and survivorship.
Professor Bifeng Yuan is the vice dean of school of public health of Wuhan University, China. He gave online lectures in the Tencent Meeting on Aug. 29, 2022 and another one early in 2021. Professor Yuan focuses on the analysis of the roles of epigenetic modifications, metabolomics, and nucleic acid damage and repair in cancer progression. His research provides us another direction to look into the occurrence of breast cancer. In contrast to genetics, epigenetics refers to the study of mechanisms that alter gene expression without altering the primary DNA sequence. It has been found that various epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation, histone modification, miRNA expression, and higher order chromatin structure affect gene expression. In fact, the progression of breast cancer involves complex and multi-step process that incorporates an accumulation of not only genetic but also epigenetic alterations. External and internal cellular microenvironmental factors influence the occurrence of these alterations that may drives tumorigenesis
Three online zoom meetings have been scheduled with Dr. Brian S DeDecker of the team CU-Boulder of University of Colorado at Boulder in USA. We had interactive discussions about the adaptative evolution of the metabolic network of E. coli in lactate, golden gate gene cloning, RNA preparation from mice and co-culture of human cancer cells with bacteria.
Large scale metabolomic and proteomic data are collected in this project. We met with Dr. Ye Yuan through online Tencent Meeting who is a distinguished professor in college of artificial intelligence and automation of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. We are very interested in the technique that he and co-workers have developed for the support of decision making and logistical planning in healthcare systems (Nat. Mach. Intell.2020, 2, 283–288).
In the process of the establishment of a portable device, we met with Mr. Guanghua He who is a senior technician in electronics of the college of computer science and technology of Guangxi University, China. He helps us with the detection of ultrasounds.
We need a near infrared pulsed lased for the establishment of the photoacoustic device. We asked help from Dr. Jun Zhou who is an assistant professor in the college of mechanistic engineering of Guangxi University, China. We used the laser in his lab for proof-of-principle demonstration.
Our team members are majored in life science and technology, electric engineering, mechanistic engineering, computer science and technology, animal science and technology, economics, journalism and communications of with different education background. On December, 2021, April 23, 2022, and September, 2022, training lectures on synthetic biology, safety, norms and ethics were provided to team member (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Training of synthetic biology, safety, norms and ethics
Team members report their literature studies and experimental progresses almost every week. They discuss any problems met in the project and work together to solve the problem. Literature studies help team members understand the frontiers in synthetic biology, the underlying mechanisms of breast cancer and advanced strategies for treatment. In total, we have had 14 brainstorm meetings and 41 presentations have been given so far (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Brainstorming team meetings
On important holidays including “3.8 Women’s Day” and “Mother’s Day”, we gave public health lectures that provide people with fundamental knowledges of breast cancer. We are aimed to raise public awareness for early detection and prevention. Three and two online lectures in Tencent Meeting were online open to the public on “3.8 Women’s Day” and “Mother’s Day”, respectively (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Online public educational lectures
In August and September of 2022, team members have given public educational lectures in city communities or rural counties located in 6 provinces or regions of China, including Guangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Anhui, Henan and Sichuan. The lectures focus on fundamental knowledges of breast cancer, early symptoms, prevention and personalized medicine (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Public educational lectures in city communities and rural counties
In September of 2022, team members provided two health educational lectures to the freshmen majored in life science and technology. These lectures cover the fundamental biology and the landscape of emerging immune therapy of breast cancer. After the lectures, team members took them to have a tour of the scientific lab. We hope that our activities can inspire the new students in the university (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Public health education and scientific lab show to freshmen
In order to provide social services for people who need to know fundamental knowledges, emerging advanced therapies, diagnostic techniques and management of breast cancer, we established a public health WeChat account named as The Lanterns (兰子菽) in Mar. 3, 2022 so that the Guangxi-U-China team can be readily available to the public. It is fully designed and operated by the Guangxi-U-China team. So far, 18 articles that were written by the team members are posted on the public health account (Figure 7).
Figure 7. The Lanterns public health WeChat account and posted articles.
The activities of our educational program continuously enhance our project. We have obtained lots of help from peoples in multiple disciplines. In the processes, we learn new knowledges from experts that broaden our visions and inspire us to explore further. In the meantime, we provide educational programs and social services that may be helpful for a better life and better world.