Figure 1: YouTube Video
NCHU
NCHU approached us to collaborate on their Youtube channel in order to increase the public awareness of iGEM and Synthetic Biology through introducing the project concepts for 30 seconds in a Youtube channel. We presented the video in cartoon form in order to attract audiences. Furthermore, to attract and fit local audience, the video is presented in Chinese.
Figure 2: IG Comic
iGEM Tec Chihuahua
iGEM Tec Chihuahua 2022 is a team from Mexico. In July, they reached out to us interested in working in the human practices and education areas as they want to create a short comic book that would be distributed to elementary and middle school students. Immediately, we started brainstorming and drew a comic on how obesity could be solved by exercising and drinking green tea. The iGEM Tec Chihuahua then translated the comic into Spanish so that their local children would be able to understand.
Figure 3: Discussing our project with
other teams
Taiwan SynBio Alliance Meetup
In August, we attended the Taiwan iGEM Synthetic Biology Alliance Conference to present our project and exchange ideas with other teams. In the process, we received feedback from various teams asking about our experimental design on the surviving plate assay, and we also explored more ideas of integrating more engineering elements to our final product in the process of idea exchanging. We also learned about other teams’ projects, which expanded our understanding on the potential and application of synthetic biology. Apart from wet lab design discussion, there were also discussions on possible collaborations on generalizing synthetic biology knowledge to the public like discussions on the detail of BioArt Workshop.
Figure 4: Presenting our project and
getting questions from the judging panel
Figure 5: BioArt Exhibition Online Sharing with the Kang Chiao Synthetic Biology Class 2023, KCL and NYCU_Formosa on September 28th
NYCU_Formosa
We approached NYCU_Formosa with the idea of hosting an educational workshop at our campus. After discussing potential plans for proposals, we arrived at the idea of combining the educational materials we had created with the BioArt materials NYCU_Formosa had to create an introductory lecture and hands-on-experiment. GEMS_Taiwan was also included to introduce their iGEM proposal and provide learners with a basic understanding of how an iGEM project would look. With the hope of bringing their interests in synthetic biology, we demonstrated how to carry our electrophoresis and allowed all participants to load the dye into the gel. NYCU_Formosa prepared worksheets for students to draw and brainstorm their ideas. Then, we passed out toothpicks and cotton swabs for them to gently draw on the agar gel. Finally, we ended the workshop with a Kahoot to see if the students remember what they learned in the workshop and feedback form to help us improve our next workshop.
The following week, we hosted another BioArt workshop with NYCU_Formosa for our junior iGEM team. In the second workshop, instead of electrophoresis, we lead the junior team to do plasmid transformation since they have basic information in the lab. After the plasmid transformation, our junior team split up into two teams to come up with an art piece. While one team pieced together a charcuterie food platter the other a world map. The BioArt collaboration ended with an online sharing we our junior team shared the idea behind their art piece.
Figure 6: Bioart collaboration team picture
GEMS_Taiwan
Our first encounter with GEMS_Taiwan was during the SynBio Alliance Meetup in August. Then, NYCU_Formosa brought us together again for a BioArt workshop. In the BioArt workshop, GEMS presented their project to our school in order to raise awareness of fusarium. Then, GEMS invited us to put together an infographic on our project so that they could distribute it to their community, spreading awareness on current issues. Lastly, GEMS sent us their team and project introduction to put in our newspaper.
Empire_Gene
Empire_Gene reached out to us at the beginning of September for a collaboration meeting. This year, their project is about combating stroke.
In our meeting, both of us shared our project with each other. Then, Empire_Gene asked us to help them draw a simple coloring page for children and to translate their survey into Mandrin and distribute it to people in our community, so it would have a broader reach. In addition, they also helped contribute to our newspaper where they answered questions related to their project as well as their motivation in iGEM.
Empire Gene coloring page
Figure 7: Online meet with ASIJ_Tokyo August 9th
ASIJ_Tokyo
We reached out to ASIJ_Tokyo and arranged a meet to discuss our project ideas and potential collaborations, that may occur in the future for online educational webinars.
Figure 8: Project Sharing hosted by the human practice group of Korea_HS and our team on September 4th
Korea_HS
We reached out to Korea_HS with an interest in working with them. We had our first meeting in September where we shared project progress with each other. Then they invited us to join their International HS Network hosted by Korea_HS and ASIJ_Tokyo. In this collaboration network, we shared our project with many other teams from around the world and gave each other feedback as well as questions on how our project could be improved on.
Figure 9: iGEM News Heading
iGEM News
To strengthen the iGEM community and inform more people about synthetic biology, we collaborated with multiple teams nationally and internationally.We gave them interview questions, such as their motivation to participate in iGEM and details as to why their research is beneficial and important. Then we present the information in news article form on Instagram, as we believe social media is the best medum to share information with other high school students.
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Participated Teams
- GEMS_Taiwan
- Empire_Gene
- NYCU_Formosa
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Questions reported on:
- Team name
- Research topic + intro.
- Motivation to participate in iGEM
- Why is your research beneficial and important
Other meetings held to share project ideas and potential collaborations:
Figure 10: Wego August 21st