OVERVIEW
“Science communication is the practice of educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments”.
ACHIEVING THE GOALS
- Various activities involving children from SOS children village Tirupati to explain the basic concepts of biology and had further sessions to discuss synthetic biology.
- Interacted with young minds in and around Tirupati and developing an informative poster aided in easy understanding while discussing.
- Motivated the students to develop solutions for real-life problems using synthetic biology.
- Discussed the ethical aspects that need to be considered while developing the project.
- Podcast series on “Ethics in Synthetic biology“ along with VIT Vellore.
- The team directed a music parody along with IISER Thiruvananthapuram and released it on youtube.
- Collaborative videos about iGEM and synthetic biology.
- "A day in the lab” video to support the African students as a collaboration with iGEM community
VISITING SOS CHILDREN'S VILLAGE
SOS children's school is a non-profit organization that shelters children without parental care from various backgrounds and creates a vibrant environment for young minds.
The team organised a 6-day science orientation workshop with kids from the village and conducted various experiments and science discussions. To ensure maximum participation, the experiments and activities were made in a way that they are fun-filled and upskill them with cool science stuff beyond textbooks.
The 5-day summer workshop witnessed various experiments, including seed germination, flower dissection, DNA extraction, central dogma, basics of synthetic biology and an introductory session on acids and bases.
Every interaction with the kids made the bond all the stronger, encouraging a healthy discussion while teaching them new concepts
Kindly have a look at the document for the various science experiments
SYN-LEARN
It is one of the premier institutes in Tirupati. The school marks a departure from traditional K-12 schooling, with its practice of modern pedagogy reinforced with the reliance on technology for methodical enhancement of learning outcomes. A discussion on synthetic biology sparked conservation on various topics like DNA, central dogma, synthetic biology and its applications.
The discussion was initiated on synthetic biology. We discussed various concepts related to DNA, life's central dogma, etc.
To make the interactions fun-filled and engaging, the students were introduced to the field of syn-bio with the help of their favourite characters from the Marvel series. The discussions were headed to a complete talk over the existing problems that could be helped to solve real-life problems using synthetic biology as a significant tool. The students came up with various issues such as climate crisis and physiological diseases. The discussion further progressed to developing innovative solutions to these issues.
Various career opportunities in STEM were also discussed with the students and motivated them to be a part of STEM.
"A DAY IN THE LAB"
Synthetic biology is a field that requires intensive laboratory experimentations to test the systems proposed.
The team directed a short video explaining the basic lab safety guidelines and protocols and even recorded some experiments.
Our motive with these protocols and videos was to eliminate the barriers to the accessibility of science to the general public.
In addition, our team also recorded “ A Day in the Lab “, a 10 minute video to help African students experience the laboratory experience virtually.
These multiple videos were taken and released on various web pages to make it easier for people to access the same and develop knowledge on how synthetic biology could be used to resolve the current issues.
The team also made a “One Minute Lab Tour” collaborative video series with IISER Thiruvananthapuram.
APTALITION
The team organised a global mini-symposium, “APTALITION”, intending to bring aspiring young minds and various iGEM teams from all around the globe to get more insights into the blooming field of aptamers and to also know about the advancements taking place in this field. These two day-events involved various plenary talks followed by a panel discussion. We feel privileged to have Dr Sarah Shigdar, associate professor at Deakin University and Dr BananI Chakroborty, assistant professor at IISc Bangalore. For the panel discussion we had with us, Dr Tarun Kumar Sharma, Associate Professor of Medical Biotechnology at Gujarat BiotechnologyUniversity (GBU), Dr Simon Chi-Chin Shiu, post-doctoral fellow at the School of Biomedical Sciences LKS faculty of medicine, The University of Hong Kong and Dr Ashwani Sharma, Assistant professor in the department of Biology and Chemistry at IISER Tirupati.
The recorded sessions were released on Youtube to increase outreach and accessibility and are attached below.
Video 1
Video 2
SYN-VIBE
"Music can change the world" said the famous musician Beethoven.
Team IISER Tirupati in collaboration with IISER Thiruvananthapuram made a rhapsody to depict the life of an iGEMer from brainstorming to finding solutions to the various problems that exist glocally.
The video is released on Youtube and Instagram to reach the maximum audience.
ETHICS IN SYN-BIO
Understanding ethics is crucial in conducting responsible research and contributing an ethically acceptable solution. But what needs to be kept in mind while designing your experiments so that ethical principles are followed at all times?
The IISER Tirupati and VIT Vellore teams conducted a podcast on "Ethics in synthetic biology", where both the teams got a chance to interact with experts from various fields of synthetic biology and were also interested in working on the ethical aspect of the same.
New researchers and students from various backgrounds can access the podcast and benefit from the same by understanding the importance of incorporating ethical aspects while developing any project or model. The podcast also provides a platform to discuss how ethical laws can be framed uniformly with other countries so that the development of science benefits everyone. It also talks about the need to integrate ethics into the academic curriculum.
The discussions were recorded with the speakers' consent.
The recordings are released as a podcast series on Spotify, Youtube and iGEM video universe.
Click here to listen to the podcasts
COME WORK WITH US!
Presented by IISER TVM, iGEM Patras, Tec CEM, ABOA Finland and IISER Mohali
Laboratory is one of the places where the solutions to real-life problems are brought into reality. The teams together collaborated to make a virtual tour of their labs and compiled it, and shared the same on various platforms to increase its reach to a wider audience. Designed to inspire the young minds and society about the laboratory and how it functions. This video was to motivate people to be a part of the STEM and participate in iGEM in the future.
The ACCESSIBILITY COLLAB
iGEM IISER TVM, iGEM Heidelberg, iGEM IISER Mohali, iGEM TecCEM, ASU iGEM and HKUST iGEM came together to speak about iGEM and how the various parts of an iGEM team work towards solving a real life problem. The teams spoke about their motivation to be a part of this community and how it helped us too. The wholesome video was shared on social media platforms to increase its outreach. The teams aimed to motivate the people to be a part of STEM and help them tackle the real world problems.
SYN-BIO IN DIAGNOSTICS
Collaboration with iGEM Patras Medicine and others.
The team collaborated with other iGEM teams to spread knowledge on varied applications of synthetic biology, and the team had made a united video on how the team applied synthetic biology to develop a diagnostic kit. This video was made to motivate the young researchers to work upon using synthetic biology to build solutions for the existing problems and make a better tomorrow.’
This video was shared on various social media platforms and made accessible to a larger audience.
