Interview
As we move the project forward smoothly, we also placed great emphasis on science popularization and promotion for the population without a biology background. On August 14th, 2022, we conducted an online interview with Mr. Guo Yurong, a natural education instructor at the Northeast Tiger Forest Park in Heilongjiang Province, focusing on the important role of science popularization in the development of science and technology and the problems we encountered in science popularization. As a senior science educator, Mr. Guo answered our questions from different aspects, which benefited us greatly.
Figure 1. Our science popularization instructor Ms.Guo
Cultural integration
We pay attention to the use of traditional Chinese culture to promote the contents and advantages of synthetic biology. We invited Chen Dongyao and Zhang Yifan from the Painting and Calligraphy Association of Northeast Forestry University to ignite the light of synthetic biology with calligraphy.
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Figure 2. The activity of promoting synthetic biology with Calligraphy
Poetry is a popular form of propaganda. Together with SZPT-China and BNUZH-China, we have organized a microbial poetry event to demonstrate the role of microbes in synthetic biology. The activity was held three times, and attended by hundreds of people.
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Figure 3.Ignite the light of synthetic biology with poetry
Popular Science Education
With the development of science and technology, synthetic biology is gradually affecting everyone, and we recognize that it is necessary to educate the undergraduates from non-biology fields about synthetic biology. The aim of the event was to educate people about the concept of synthetic biology and its relevance to their lives, and to make them aware of that synthetic biology is not "a flower on a high mountain", but a highly relevant and practical subject in our life.
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Figure 4. The five universities jointly carry out online science popularization activities for non-biological college students
Children education
Towards the end of the project, we focused more on scientific propagation to children. In order to satisfy the curiosity of children, the NEFU_China team decided to join hands with other teams to create a picture book based on our project of building a DNA assembly platform using the Yeast Fab technology. Our purpose is to cultivate children's interests in scientific investigation, and motivate their enthusiasm and passion to synthetic biology.
A total of seven iGEM teams were involved in drawing the cartoons, and we worked together to complete a full series of cartoon books. The NEFU_China team was responsible for explaining the children the concept of enzymes and their functions and properties. Through the self-narrative of enzymes and the interaction with the main characters, we showed the children the basic properties of enzymes, such as the nature of enzymes as proteins and RNA, and the need for enzymes to work together to catalyze amazing chemical reactions. By setting up enemies and portraying the characteristics of enzymes as weapons to help the characters defeat these enemies, the main functions of enzymes - catalysis - were brought home to the children, allowing them to learn solid knowledge and cultivate their interests.
Comics are one of the most effective ways to bring synthetic biology to the lay people, not only for the reason that the main audience for comics is children, which allows them to learn while being entertained and develop scientific literacy at an early age, but also due to the convenient way to make the complex concepts of synthetic biology accessible and understandable to general audiences.
Online rally participation
China IGEM Online Meetup
In the summer of 2022, our NEFU China team was invited by the IGEM team of Guangxi University to participate in the China IGEM Online Meetup, an online conference where more than 20 IGEM teams participated in the discussion. this was the first time that the NEFU_ China team introduced our project to other IGEM teams and the first time that we presented our project to the public. The team representative, Wenhao Lin, gave a comprehensive introduction of our project from BACKGROUND, DESCRIPTION, HARDWARE, OUTLOOK, etc. Especially for the design part, we used different levels of assembly methods to make a detailed explanation, and answered the questions from other IGEM teams after the presentation. The presentation was followed by questions from other IGEM teams, which was very important for the completion of our project.
Figure 5. China igem online conference manual.
We have gained a lot from this meeting, and through the exchange between teams we can find our own shortcomings and make our NEFU-China better and can be better
INTO CHINA INTO iGEM (ICII)
During the summer of 2022, we participated in ICII (INTO CHINA INTO iGEM),in which we relied on the live-streaming platform to promote and popularize our project to the whole society. During the live-streaming process, many people interested in synthetic biology actively interacted with us and raised some valuable questions, such as: whether the product astaxanthin we prepared to synthesize at the beginning of our experiment was levorotatory or dextrocyclatory, etc., which helped us to remeasure the value of the product. This helped us to re-evaluate the value of the product. After the start of the school year, we filmed and edited a video with the landscape and culture of the school location to be used as a promotional material.
Figure 6. Wenhao Linpublicizes our project on the live broadcast platform
Conference of China iGEMer Community (CCiC)
Our team attended the CCiC conference, the largest conference about iGEM competition in China, during the summer. The conference was held from August 18-28, and due to the epidemic, we took the form of online participation. Although we could not meet each other, we could not hinder the enthusiasm of the young synthetic biology enthusiasts. This conference aims to encourage us to think and explore the role of synthetic biology in different fields of scientific research and industry, so that synthetic biology has the power and also the opportunity to participate in life and change it. Our team prepared carefully and participated in both the project presentation and poster presentation using an all-English presentation format. For our project, the judges suggested: using homologous recombination to solve the problem of gene loss; YeastFab technology can be extended to Yarrowia lipolytica, Y. lipolytica has stronger lipid metabolism, which can provide more acetyl coenzyme A protomers and thus synthesize more abundant terpenoids, such as astaxanthin and ß-carotene. This has been of great help in advancing our subsequent experiments.
Figure 7. Ruilin Zhang degrades the project at the CCIC conference
Interviews and Lectures
Online lectures and discussion with Yunnan Alphy Biotech Co., Ltd.
In order to better demonstrate the characteristics of our NEFU_ China team project, which is the assembly method of YeastFab, we interviewed the top terpene(astaxanthin) synthesis company in China - Yunnan Alphy Biotech Co., Ltd. , and had an online discussion with Mr. Li Linpin, the vice president of the company. Mr. Li gave a detailed introduction of the company and the important role of terpenoids in human production and life. Since the marker used by our team to characterize efficient synthesis methods is the yield of terpenoids, Wenhao Lin, as the representative of NEFU _China, had a discussion with Linpin Li, who is also the vice president of synthetic terpene synthesis. Mr. Lin Wenhao introduced the principle of assembling different layers of YeastFab, the reasons for the high efficiency of synthetic terpenoids and the prospect of using YeastFab in the future to Manager Li, while Vice Manager Li introduced the famous antioxidant, astaxanthin, as an example, its commercial value in China, the process of industrial production, and The production output of synthetic astaxanthin in Alfa today, and finally, taking into account the actual situation and market, gave some industrial and commercial suggestions for our team to use YeastFab to synthesize terpenoids.
For our project, Manager Li proposed: synthesizing terpenoids through yeast suggests considering synthesizing lycopene, which has been achieved in yeast, but also because brewer's yeast is a non-oily fungus with weak fat metabolism, it is difficult to synthesize more complex terpenoids.
This triggered us to think more deeply. With the advice from the professionals, our NEFU_China team had a deeper thought about the actual market value and market utilization of the terpenoid synthesis project using YeastFab, a comprehensive understanding of the terpenoid market, and the transfer of knowledge from the laboratory to the actual production life, as well as a deeper consideration and change of our initial idea of choosing astaxanthin as the product for validation. We also made a deeper consideration and change to our initial idea of choosing astaxanthin as a product for verification.
Figure 8. Online communication with Yunnan AlphyBiotech Co., Ltd
Answer from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Our team encountered problems in the experiment and did not find the cause for a long time, so we asked for help from SZPT-CHINA team on August 9th. They helped us to find two experts, Wenwen Xiao and Shengwei Fu from the Quantitative Center of Synthesis Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and we made improvements according to the analysis results of the experts and finally solved the problem.
| NEFU_China: We have used PCR to evaluate the results for a long time, but found that the results of this proof are unstable. Do you have any good methods to solve it? Wenwen Xiao & Shengwei Fu: It seems better to extract the genome for evaluation. NEFU_China: We lack experience in genome PCR. Is there any experience to learn from? Wenwen Xiao & Shengwei Fu: There are many uncertainties about genome PCR, but there are also some ways to maximize the efficiency of genome PCR, such as controlling the length of PCR fragments at 200 to 2000bp. |
Interview with intellectual property expert Ms. Li Haiying.
In order to realize the promotion of the hardware part of our project, we had the idea of applying for a patent. Based on this idea, we interviewed Ms. Li Haiying, the director of the Intellectual Property Information Service and Research Center of Northeast Forestry University, who gave us detailed answers to our questions about applying for a patent and followed up our project for a long time to provide us with help in intellectual property.
Figure 9. Teacher Li Haiying guides the patent part of our team
