International microorganism day 2022

On 17th September microorganism day was celebrated in the museum of natural history in Brussels with all kinds of workshops for children and explanatory posters. A few members of our iGEM team helped with a workshop where they could draw with bacteria on agar plates or compare the amount of bacteria on their hands before and after using alcohol gel. The drawings and fingerprints were incubated and the results sent to all the e-mail addresses of the participants. Another workshop was about microorganisms in food and how for example kombucha is made. They could taste the kombucha after the explanation and even take the mushroom home to try to make it themselves. Our poster about our project was also displayed for people passing by. Next to this, we helped develop a hide and seek game in the museum by taking pictures of microorganism cardboard cut-outs through the whole venue. This way children can navigate through the museum. We are sure this event boosted the interests of kids in science as they participated on their own initiative when visiting the museum.

iGEM KU Leuven x Stop Darmkanker vzw

At this moment, colorectal cancer is one of the top 3 most common cancers in Belgium but only 20% is inheritable so screening is very important and can be the solution to track down early-stage polyps. The action group Stop Colon Cancer (Stop Darmkanker ) was created in February 2010 on the initiative of Luc Colemont , gastroenterologist, and three young students. Together, they decided to take action against colon cancer. They explained how they work and their vision during a keynote of Luc himself. “Sharing knowledge saves lives” is the leitmotif of this action group which became a non-profit organization in 2012. In accordance with their leitmotif, we decided to organise 'Leuven X Stop Darmkanker', an event designed for locals, mainly 50+ and families, where people could spend a pleasant Sunday afternoon coming into contact with science while raising money for the organization. For this reason, we organized four different workshops in collaboration with iGEM VUB who presented one of them. We asked for 3 euros per workshop per person for the charity. Specifically, the four workshop were:

• Unconscious Biases: the prejudices people have in the science world and how you can become aware of it.
• What is a biosensor: unmissable in the world of today and still not well known for the main public, this is the ideal moment to come to discover!
• Children workshop making slime and lava lamps (to learn about density and how glue works)
• Bio-Brussels project: explanation of their project on 100% biological water softener.

The aim of these workshop was to share science with people that normally don’t have many occasions to participate in related events. The iGEM VUB team also attended our workshop on biosensors and had a chat with us while enjoying some cake for free for their effort. To make everything welcoming, a jazz band from the LUCA University came to play and create a very cosy atmosphere for people while enjoying drinks like beer, soft drinks, or coffee or a variety of handmade cakes and desserts prepared by our team. The idea was to give all the money we collected to the non-profit company Stop Darmkanker to help them with their initiative. A video of what Stop Darmkanker does was displayed at the entrance so people understood what the fundraise was for.

Communication

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