Overview
Globally, around 12% of the arable land available is waterlogged and the frequency of waterlogging is expected to rise in the future. As a team, it was very important to us that we stress the importance of tackling waterlogging and ensuring food security. Whether waterlogging is caused due to climate change or due to bad irrigation practices, it is important to be aware of the problem and attempt to tackle it.
We knew our first step would be interacting with people directly affected by waterlogging and making sure that we understood the problem fully. We travelled to meet farmers from areas stricken by waterlogging and conversed with them to appreciate the severity of the issue. We also had interviews conducted with farmers from Punjab and Haryana, where waterlogging was mostly due to the lack of soil management practices.
From there, we sought to spread this information and used social media to make people aware of it. We had a talk on Waterlogging and Crop Breeding Lines as a Solution; our hope was to go into more detail and communicate with people in a more scientifically sound manner.
Throughout our project cycle, we knew we wanted to have it as human-centric as possible. We wanted to engage with people, get their feedback, and give back to the community. This is why we did our best to interact with different people: from our stakeholders, to fellow iGEM teams, as well as school and college students.
We tried to incorporate fun and engaging activities along with the educational aspect of our interactions: people learn best when they are enjoying themselves! This is why we tailored our activities to the audience and worked at their comfort level to ensure a comfortable environment.
We also made sure to spread awareness about synthetic biology, especially considering that the accessibility to it is not that easy and people aren’t fully aware of what it entails. We engaged with experts from around the world in our International Accessibility to Synthetic Biology Innovations webinar.
To make our project more accessible to people, we put up content on our social media about our project. We made sure to keep the posts visually appealing and eye-catching. We also arranged a talk by Dr. Gladys Alexandre who spoke about Azospirillum brasilense and its adaptations. She is one of the top experts in the field and has even helped us with our project!
Krishi Vigyan Kendra
In order to better reach out to farmers and understand their problems, we travelled to Vangaon and Kosbad, areas in Maharashtra. Apart from farmers in the area, we also spoke to local biofertiliser shops.
We reached out to farmers with the help of Prof. Ashok Bhoir from Krishi Vigyan Kendra - KVKs are agricultural science centres established as innovative institutions for imparting vocational training to practising farmers. We spoke to quite a few farmers from nearby regions and this was invaluably useful to us. We saw their fields, which were waterlogged at that very moment—and this wasn’t even the worst extent it could reach. During the monsoon season, their fields could not even be used. For some of them, the land was waterlogged throughout the year and they couldn’t grow any crop other than rice; in fact, during the monsoon, they couldn’t even grow rice due to how bad the situation was.
It was very difficult for these farmers to manage their fields as tractors were unable to enter their land and bullocks often got trapped in the soil. In their region, the soil was medium black which meant that aeration of the soil was also reduced as the soil becomes compacted due to waterlogging.
They told us that apart from waterlogging, another major issue they faced was salinity and leaching; this was also why they were hesitant to use biofertilisers. They felt that even if they used biofertilisers, it would simply get washed away and wouldn’t be able to provide any benefits.
We spoke to the farmers to also try and understand their fertiliser usage; what type they used, what their choice of fertiliser depended on, and what crops they used these fertilisers on. Most of the farmers used either chemical fertilisers or cowdung as a fertiliser. They weren’t particularly fond of organic fertilisers as they took a long time to work and show results; this made us realise that a product which works fast and efficiently is what farmers needed.
All the farmers expressed their concern about whether it would even be possible for future generations to continue farming in such lands.
With the generous help and support of Dr. Sara Ahmed and Dr. Shiraz Wajih, we were also able to learn from the experience of farmers from Punjab and Haryana who are impacted by waterlogging. Dr. Shiraz and his team (Rishabh Srivastava and Shravasti) conducted interviews with the farmers on our behalf. We have put up the recordings of these interviews on our Human Practices page and have included their translations as well.
Social Media
Learning from people who are directly involved with issues like waterlogging is as important as spreading awareness about these problems. Before we got to that stage however, we had to engage with people in eye-catching ways.
We tried to engage with the entire world through various social networking platforms throughout our iGEM cycle. We attempted to do so in a fun and visually interactive manner. Our primary mode of interaction was Instagram. As most of our followers are of the younger generation, we had certain topics we wanted to cover with our posts. These include differences in accessibility; awareness about science; waterlogging and drought; synthetic biology (a recurring theme throughout our cycle :D); our novel chassis Azospirillum brasilense; and finally, our project as well.
We tried to bridge the gender gap in science as either women didn’t have an opportunity to study science or they weren’t acknowledged enough. On the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we posted about three women scientists—Barbara McClintock, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, and Mary Dell Chilton, to encourage women to pursue science. We reached approximately 864 accounts through each of these posts! This was really important to us as we wanted to show that one should just believe in themselves and go forward with their ambitions. Another aim was to increase people’s empathy towards people in such situations. A lot of followers are most likely from privileged backgrounds and our hope was to make sure people don’t forget about those less fortunate than them. Hopefully, this would have inspired people to help around and make a difference in society.
We spread awareness about the achievements of African-American women scientists—Marie Maynard Daly and Jane C Wright on the occasion of Black History Month. This was in accordance with the theme of this year ‘Black Health and Wellness’ that focuses on the importance of acknowledging the legacy of Black healthcare workers, midwives, herbalists, etc. throughout the African Diaspora. We reached about 707 accounts through each of these posts and hope to have paid tribute to these women figures.
We celebrated important dates like National Science Day, Earth Day, World DNA Day, and Microbiome Day by spreading awareness about the importance of such dates. We invited all iGEM Teams to contribute in some way to our environment on the World Environment Day. Teams were very enthusiastic and helped contribute in various ways: some of them conducted beach clean-up drives, some learnt how to plant trees using the hydroponic system, some recycled hundreds of bottles and many cleaned their local environments and planted trees.
On the occasion of World Water Day we conducted a short quiz on our Instagram story and increased public engagement through it.
We also conducted a survey on the occasion of World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (you can read more about how we worked with other teams on our Collaborations page.
We also put out a survey on Food Security and GMOs which garnered nearly 250 responses. From this we learned about people’s thoughts on these areas depending on the age group.
We made a Syn Bio 101 series which was aimed to introduce the basics of synthetic biology to high school students. We talked about the concept of standardisation of parts and went on to talk about quorum sensing. In India, synthetic biology isn’t often talked about and not many people are aware of what exactly it entails. Our hope was to bridge the gap in knowledge and hopefully get more of our youth interested in synthetic biology and its possibilities. We reached approximately 494 accounts through each Syn Bio post and hope to have made an impact!
Checkout our Instagram handle for all the posts.
We spread awareness about the problem that we are tackling—waterlogging. We posted about how big of a problem waterlogging is, the effects of waterlogging, how we are going to solve it and also about our chassis, Azospirillum. The most effective way to reach out to people is to use a mode of communication that they are comfortable with, and with our ever growing tech-savvy youth, Instagram was definitely the way! We reached approximately 548 accounts with our solution and made them aware about the problem of waterlogging.
Checkout our Instagram handle for all the posts.
We also published a Comic Strip that explains our idea. The two main characters, Urvi and Monu, experienced waterlogging in their farm and after discussing it with farmers, they tried to find the cause of the problem. They figured out that the increased amount of ethylene is bringing about the adverse effects in the plants and giving ‘superpowers’ to Azorah through synthetic biology will help them solve the problem. The visual medium of learning is always more engaging and fun and we hope this comic strip helped students understand our project even better.
Synthetic Biology Exhibit
During the month of April, Mimamsa held their Science Fest, an opportunity to present science on a fun and interactive platform to highschoolers and undergraduates. Mimamsa is a national level annual science quiz organised by the students of IISER Pune for students at the undergraduate level.
Mimamsa is arguably one of the toughest science quizzes at the undergraduate level, and tests the concepts in the minds of its participants, rather than simply facts, leading its witnesses to go back to the basics and unravel the ideas behind the science we study.
In collaboration with Mimamsa and the iGEM IISER Pune Team 2, we held our own Synthetic Biology Exhibit in which we had interactive games and interesting presentations. We introduced highschoolers and undergrads to synthetic biology and iGEM. We talked about synthetic biology and its numerous real world applications as well as the work done by previous Indian iGEM Teams.
During this exhibit, we educated the students about synthetic biology, its applications, and a synthetic biology solution to dengue!
We also had foldscopes using which we visualised flower pollen, organisms from pond water and the fixed slides that came along with the kit. It was very interesting for the students to actually view the samples with such a simple setup. We also had paper models of the DNA double helix and the Human Papillomavirus for the students to craft (though our team members enjoyed them immensely as well).
In order to engage with our audience, we had two games planned for them: a BioBrick-based game and a roulette-style flashcard game. Our BioBrick game involved explaining the brilliance of BioBricks to students and having them solve a few riddles to form the gene expression system. We had a plasmid backbone along with different genes and their associated proteins (named after members of our team!) which needed to be placed together. As this game involved the students physically placing ‘parts’ together and making them ‘work’, it was a simple but effective way to educate them. The game showed how parts interact, whether positively or negatively, to give a particular output. We targeted this towards our younger audience who had never been taught regulation of gene systems; they told us that they really enjoyed the game as well as its visuals!
Our flashcard game was targeted towards undergraduates as well as the adventurous highschoolers (or maybe it was the prize candy that had them flocking to us!). These questions were designed in the Mimamsa spirit of being inquisitive and going beyond memories answers. These questions required our audience to think and go beyond their books.
We were able to reach out to various schools and colleges through this event, and were able to connect and engage with them. A lot of the attendees told us that synthetic biology was either something they had never heard of, or they hadn’t known what it was capable of prior to the exhibit.
Accessibility Webinar
Though we always had a vague idea in mind that people were not fully aware of what synthetic biology entailed, it never struck us that this was due to the lack of accessibility to synthetic biology; we had assumed it was only due to misinformation about what synthetic biology was.
Early on in our iGEM cycle, we had the pleasure of conversing with the UBC iGEM team. When both teams first met, we realised that being from different countries, our experience with synthetic biology and our accessibility to resources and such, were vastly different. We had casually discussed our experiences, which is when the idea of having a discussion with experts around this topic would be beneficial—not only for iGEM teams but for the general public. This is why, in partnership with UBC iGEM, we held a webinar on International Accessibility to Synthetic Biology Innovations.
Synthetic biology should be accessible to everyone across the world, and the issues involved with this need to be tackled; in order for that to happen, it needs to be clarified what kinds of issues are faced.
We decided to have a discussion panel with four experts: Prof. Pawan Dhar (India), Alex Kyaborongo (Uganda),Scott Pownall (Canada), and Dr. Luis De Stefano-Beltrán (Peru). They were all at different stages of their synthetic biology career and from different regions of the world; this really enriched the experience and gave an overall view of synthetic biology in the world.
During this discussion panel, we discussed topics such as barriers in developing countries with respect to access to biotechnology innovations; the panellists gave their experience in difference on network and support environment in their regions; they explored the difference in monetary support that they faced and how this impacted, and will impact, synthetic biology; how public perception ties in deeply into the acceptance of synthetic biology and policies framed around this field of research.
We promoted our webinar via email and social media as a result of which we had participants from all around the world! They were enthusiastic about engaging with the panellists and asked engaging questions such as: is the biggest barrier to developing synbio in your country funding, resources (DNA/sequencing/equipment) or policy? Or do all of these circle back to funding? The panellists enjoyed speaking with the audience as well and both teams learnt along with the audience.
Loyola School
After we conducted the webinar for the general public, we decided that we also needed to educate younger kids so that this cycle of lack of information doesn’t continue.
Middle School is the building stage of our life where students are always eager to learn and look out for things that are fascinating to them. One of the most common professions that middle school students think of becoming is an astronomer. We worked with the Astronomy Club of our Institute—Aakashganga—to hold a session for students of grade 4th to 6th from a private school named Loyola. We wanted to take this opportunity to introduce these students and make them aware about how cool it is to become a synthetic biologist.
At their young age, it would have been difficult for them to easily comprehend synthetic biology, which is why we wanted to conduct a hands-on-activity to make the session even more engaging and fun for them. We demonstrated how to extract DNA from bananas in a home setup using ingredients like detergent. Through this we introduced them to the basic concepts of DNA, plasmids, ‘good and bad’ bacteria and how synthetic biology enables us to engineer modified organisms and give them ‘superpowers’. They got excited to know about such possibilities and hopefully we kept them wondering more about such possibilities in their curious minds!
Sant Tukaram School
Many of the students in India do not get access to proper education and resources. Hence we wanted to take this opportunity to go to a government school named Sant Tukaram where kids come mainly for the midday meal that is provided to them as an incentive to attend classes. We held a session for around 80 students of grade 3rd, 4th and 5th and went through our activity book with them.
Creative activities and visual representations are a great way of teaching kids. Our activity book is made in such a way that it tells the story of the problem of waterlogging through multiple short activities. The activity book starts off with the introduction of the main character—Urvi—who is a small kid similar to the age of these school kids. We explained how plants take up water from different sources, nutrients from the soil, and use up energy from the sun for its growth. We had different activities within the book which showed them the importance of water but also how excess water can be harmful. We gave the example of how the water requirements of an elephant, human beings and an earthworm would be very different. We talked about useful insects like that of an earthworm that helps in agriculture. We also made them aware of different diseases that can spread from waterlogged fields and went on to talk about the actual problem of waterlogging that we are trying to solve.
The activities kept them engaged throughout and the practical examples helped them relate and understand the concepts much better. Along with the activity book we gave them crayons, pens, pencils and chocolates which brought a huge smile on their faces. Doing the activities with them was a lot of fun (for us as well!) and we hope that the day was as memorable for them as it was for us!
We also have a PDF version of the activity book attached here, available in English, Kannada and Malayalam. We hope that more children can benefit and learn from it!
The Bishop’s Co-Ed School
Money is not the only limiting factor that deprives students from knowledge. In India, even well off highschool students don’t know about synthetic biology and its potential to solve existing problems. In addition to that, there are no highschool iGEM teams in India and part of the reason is that highschool students don’t know about iGEM at all. Hence we invited students of standard 11th and 12th from a private school named The Bishop’s Co-Ed School.
We briefly discussed synthetic biology through some cool iGEM projects from previous years in order to motivate them into the field of synthetic biology. We talked about the iGEM competition and encouraged them to participate in the highschool competition. We introduced them to the various applications of synthetic biology and explained how interdisciplinary this field can get. We also made them aware of the problem we are tackling through our project and how we have built it from scratch. This gave them a sense of how research works in real life. They seemed fascinated to know that we are doing actual research being just 3-4years older than them. This hyped them up and made them even more motivated.
Modern College for Science, Arts, and Commerce
In India, we currently have only 15 collegiate level teams participating in the iGEM competition. This is at odds with the number of collegiate level students we have and is mostly due to their lack of knowledge of iGEM and synthetic biology.
Even with science colleges, not all of them give students the opportunity to start working in well-equipped labs, quite often students learn about science in a more theory-oriented fashion. Their practical exposure to laboratories and the application of the science they learn can be limited. This is why we wanted to speak to college students about our project, iGEM, and how even at this stage—where we ourselves are learning about science—we can take up this ambitious project and try to develop it as best as we can.
We presented our project to roughly a hundred students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. We hope they learned as much from us as we did from them. The interactions we had with them were deeply satisfying, with many of them expressing their interest in our project as well as their fascination with it. They were keen to know more about our project including how we planned to take it forward and every single aspect of our project.
We discussed our wet lab and dry lab with them as well as the entrepreneurial aspect of our project. We even had a delightful conversation with one of the students who was from a farming background. He told us about his idea for developing waterlogging resistance by cross-breeding crops. He had very interesting stories about his farm and their experience with waterlogging. Given his interest in the idea, we hope we inspired him to go forward with his idea and develop it further!
Synbio for Agriculture
To round out our science communication, we took part in a six team agriculture-based collaboration, which we were really grateful for.
The Synbio for Agriculture iGEM 2022 Team Meetup, hosted by team Thailand_RIS was an event where iGEM 2022 teams tackling problems related to agriculture can come together to make connections, present, and discuss their projects, as well as ask for suggestions and help on project related aspects. Teams had 25 minutes to present their projects, ask for suggestions, and answer questions. Six teams took part: Thailand_RIS, IISER Pune, Patras, UBC, Imperial College London, and Lyon_1.
It was a very engaging and insightful experience: we learnt different ways of explaining and presenting scientific ideas from our peers. We also hope that they learned something from us, whether it be about our project or a way of explaining an idea.
Waterlogging and Crop Breeding Lines
For people to tackle a problem, they need to know of its existence in the first place. Most people hear the word ‘waterlogging’ and immediately think of flooded fields. While this is definitely a big problem, the state of waterlogging where the soil is saturated with water is what also poses a great threat.
This is why we invited S M Nuruzzuman Manik to speak about waterlogging and how he has been working on developing waterlogging-tolerant barley crop lines. In his informative talk, he went into detail about what actually constitutes waterlogging as well as the causes of waterlogging which include incorrect irrigation practices.
Manik is from the University of Tasmania, a region which experiences large amounts of rainfall and waterlogging. Prior to his work in Tasmania, he worked in China and tried to develop waterlogging-resistant barley crops via synthetic biology. He found out that the barley lines were not that stable in terms of maintaining their newly obtained resistance. This is why he switched over to cross-breeding lines of barley crops.
Azospirillum and its Niche Adaptations
As a final wrap to our engagement and communication with the public, we had a talk by Dr. Gladys Alexandre who was kind enough to help us with our project as well as help us with our outreach initiatives.
Dr. Gladys is from the University of Tennesse and is one of the leading experts who has worked extensively on A. brasilense. She spoke about the usefulness of A. brasilense for agriculture and how its association with the rhizosphere is extremely beneficial for plants. She discussed in detail the mechanisms by which this bacteria promotes plant growth as well as its effects on crops. She further went to talk about the niche adaptations of this organism such as chemotaxis and aerotaxis, which is what she currently works on. These are what aid Azospirillum in being advantageous for plants by keeping it in close proximity with the rhizosphere.
She also discussed using Azospirillum as a chassis organism considering how beneficial it is for plants. Gladys also spoke about something we as a team had been facing: the difficulties in using A. brasilense as a chassis organism. This is why we also made an Azospirillum handbook to help guide people on how to handle this amazing organism! You can find out more about it on our Contributions page.
Closing the Loop
Through this nine month journey, we were really appreciative of the people we managed to connect with. We learnt how to plan our educational lessons, scientific talks, and interactive activities with people. This was with the help of our wonderful volunteers who worked alongside us to bring these activities and sessions to life. We felt that we learnt so much from everyone and this is something we’ll keep in mind with the next phase of our project: bringing Hydrazome to life!
