To promote synthetic biology in Korea, we organized a collaboration with teams Seoul_Korea, Sogang_Korea, and UIncheon. The Korea Synthetic Biology Debate Contest was held and received high school, university students applicants. The discussion was conducted with the topic of social and ethical perspective: “Is the introduction of synthetic biology really ethically right, and how should it be regulated?”
Prior to the discussion, additional events were planned to promote synthetic biology widely in Korea. Professor Shin Kwan-woo of Sogang University was invited to hear about recent trends in synthetic biology. In addition, we invited researcher Seong-Jun Moon, who is a cosmetic researcher, to give a lecture on cosmetics using synthetic biological materials.
After the speakers' lectures, the Korean teams KUAS_Korea, Seoul_Korea, Sogang_Korea, and UIncheon each shared their topics and had a Q&A session to promote iGEM in Korea more widely. This was a great opportunity for each team to share commonalities on each other's topics, to provide feedback on their shortcomings, and to fill in the gaps.
After that, four participants had a discussion on the topic “Is it ethical to introduce synthetic biology and how should it be regulated?”. Various pros and cons came and went, and it was a good opportunity to reconsider the perception of synthetic biology and think about the need for regulation. The Korea iGEM Team Alliance does not end this as a one-time competition, but rather holds it continuously to introduce synthetic biology to Korea.