Figure 1. Result analysis of the question 6 and 7 in the questionnaire
Based on the data we collected, we conclude that increasing the education to the public is the most overriding thing we need to do, we also could find out that the understanding of the aspect of synthetic biology is confined to young people. Elder people tend to be relatively unconfident with the product that our project will ultimately produce. Although the knowledge of synthetic biology is not very significant for elder people, we still hope they can have some understanding of it no matter what level they know. For example, for the young people, we will not only hope they can learn from our popularization science articles and videos but also hope they act like media to disperse our project and knowledge. For the elder people, allowing them to know some information about this aspect provides a platform for them to maintain their health condition. Thus, we include a lot of information that will be easy for them to understand.
Figure 2. The three-fold brochures we used to introduce our topics to the public
In order to further expand the influence of the project and let more people know about MCFAs and our philosophy of health and environmental protection, Plan β has produced a series of promotional materials, including brochures and posters, which introduce the Plan β team and the basic information of the project, what MCFAs are, what‘s the applications of MCFAs, what’s synthetic MCFAs’s advantages over traditional extraction methods, products related to Plan β fundraising, and the environmental protection and health philosophy of Plan β and iGEM.
Figure 3. posters we carried to conduct the outside educational fundraising campaign
In this way, we can popularize our research to the public and help them understand synthetic MCFAs in advance, so as to pave the way for the mass production and popularization of this technology in the future. In order to make it easier for the public to trust us, we consulted experts, including industry experts and stakeholders of the technology. Almost all of the professionals recognized our research and efforts and were very optimistic about the future of the project and its applications. Based on this fully preparation, our roadshow did achieve the desired result.
Figure 4. We communicated with the public regarding our project and our goal
Our Plan β team held two charity bazaars on August 5th and August 8th, respectively. In the hot summer, our team members carried out activities around People's Park and Jinke Road subway station. At the event, we divided the members of the Plan β team into different groups and acted separately.
At the same time as the charity sale, we also carried out direct communication with the public and explained synthetic biology and fatty acids to people of all ages with the help of our beautiful three-fold brochures and posters. We introduced in detail to them what is medium chain fatty acids, what kind of role medium chain fatty acids play in edible oil, what kind of methods our project applies to produce medium chain fatty acids, and the relevant content of the iGEM competition.
Figure 5. We communicated with the public regarding our project goal and listened to their feedback
Children, the elderly, and young people alike were interested in our project and willing to stop by for two or three minutes and listen to us. This kind of communication not only promotes the core of the health and environmental protection of our project but also allows more people to understand the concept advocated by the iGEM competition.
Figure 6. Photo of all participants in the night run even
On the evening of August 11th, our Plan β team held a night running event of "Take off the fat and protect the earth". The distance of this night running activity is 3 kilometers. For every 500 meters run by the participants, our team will donate ￥2 more to the Municipal Charity Federation. In the whole charity night run event, we not only did charity work but also explained synthetic biology and fatty acids to people of all ages before we invited them to participate in the night run event.
During our conversation with the participants, we also popularized to them what medium-chain fatty acids are, what role medium-chain fatty acids play in edible oil, what method our project uses to produce medium-chain fatty acids, and the relevant content of the iGEM competition. In this night run, our Plan β team ran through the core of our project which is health, environmental protection, and the concept advocated by the iGEM competition, so that people not only exercised their bodies but also learned a little about synthetic biology and fatty acids.
According to our survey, 72% of people prefer to acquire knowledge online. Therefore, during the training period, our Plan β team not only carried out the science videos on the video software but also posted some popular science articles on the WeChat Official Account. Every once in a while our squad will push a popular science article about synthetic biology to the public. Statistically, we have pushed a total of five popular science articles. In these five articles, we have both popular science articles and academic articles. In each popular science article writing, our Plan β team runs through the core of our project health and environmental protection and the concept advocated by the iGEM competition, so that more people can understand medium-chain fatty acids and synthetic biology.
According to the questionnaire result per previous analysis, the public does not know much about synthetic biology, cell factories and medium-chain fatty acids. So our team roughly designed an article push from macro to micro, from popular science to academic to introduce our project and synthetic biology to people.
Figure 7. Article: “Are Fatty Acids Equal to Fat? Tell You About the Past and Present of Fatty Acids”
First of all, in the first article, we explained the difference between fat and fatty acids and the past and present of fatty acid to the public. Fatty acid refers to the smallest unit molecule of oil, which is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. In addition to providing energy for the body, it is also an important component of cell membranes. At the same time, in the article, we also introduced the medium-chain fatty acids that are closely related to our project. Generally speaking, medium-chain fatty acids refer to fatty acids with 6-12 carbon atoms in the carbon chain. At present, there are some findings that the use of medium-chain fatty acid oils can reduce blood lipids, lower cholesterol, and reduce body fat. Through the popularization of this article, we let more people understand the substance of fatty acids.
Figure 8. Article: “Playing God? The introduction to Synthetic Biology”
In the second article, we explain the concept of synthetic biology, which is at the heart of the iGEM competition. The purpose of synthetic biology is to create living organisms with specific functions according to human will. In synthetic biology, there are three core words, part, device, and system, and three core concepts are standardization, decoupling, and simplification. We also differentiated synthetic biology and gene editing from genetic engineering to the general public. In this academic article, we introduce the concept of synthetic biology and the techniques used in synthetic biology from the perspective of scientific rationality.
Figure 9. Article: “Zeng Anping - Freedom and Dream”
Next, in the third article, we introduced the story of synthetic biologist, and returnee professor, Mr. Zeng Anping. Mr. Zeng Anping is an academician of the German Academy of Engineering. Before China, he was a lifelong professor at the Hamburg University of Technology, the director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Biosystems Engineering, and the head of biochemical engineering. The main research directions of the team of Academician Zeng Anping are industrial bioengineering technology, animal cell culture technology, protein engineering and synthetic biology. Through this article, the story of Mr. Zeng Anping's pursuit of freedom and dreams not only deeply moved us and the public but also allowed more people to understand synthetic biology from the perspective of humanities and social sciences.
Figure 10. Article: “What Is the Cell Factory Indeed?”
In the fourth article, we introduced the concept of cell factories and the characteristics of cell factories to the general public. A cell factory is actually a factory that uses a single cell or a simple cell factory to produce a single cell or a simple multicellular organism as the basic unit. Most of their products are proteins or metabolites. Cell factories have the advantages of high production efficiency and a small footprint. Technological progress has enabled cell factories to do more and more work. It has been widely used in food production, vaccine development, agricultural pest control and other fields, and has made great contributions to solving several major challenges facing today's society.
Figure 11. Article: “Exclusive Secret: What Are Medium Chain Fatty Acids?”
Finally, in the fifth article, we revealed to you medium-chain fatty acids, as well as the characteristics and applications of medium-chain fatty acids. The molecular structure of medium-chain fatty acids is very small. This allows it to bypass a series of complex metabolic processes after entering the body, directly enter the liver for metabolism, quickly generate energy, and will not be converted into fat storage. At the same time, it has the health benefits of maintaining a healthy weight, lowering triglycerides, and increasing metabolism, which makes them useful as important food ingredients. Medium-chain fatty acid triglycerides are widely used in medicine, nutrition, food, cosmetics and other fields, and have broad market prospects.
Through the push of five popular science articles, we let more people understand synthetic biology and medium-chain fatty acids from macro to micro. In the popular science articles, we combine theoretical knowledge with humanities and social sciences, not only to publicize our own projects but also to publicize the core concepts of iGEM. By the way, we posted not only these 5 educational articles but also other articles, including introductions of our team, our goal, and our daily, et al.
Figure 12. Video posts on WeChat (left)and Bili Bili (right)
According to the survey, we realized that some people prefer to watch videos for obtaining information. Thus, in order to broaden our impact for educational purposes, our Plan β team posted two popular science videos of synthetic biology on our Bili Bili and WeChat channel on August 1st, August 8th, and August 9th, respectively. Based on the data on August 25th, each video on these two platforms has been viewed 30-70 times, respectively.
In these two videos, we were talking about what synthetic biology is, the difference between synthetic biology and traditional biology, the application of synthetic biology, what is genetic engineering, and the relationship between genetic engineering and synthetic biology. Through these, we can popularize the knowledge of synthetic biology and genetic engineering to the general public. And in the videos through the use of easy-to-understand language and interesting cartoon images, people of all ages, whether elderly or young, can easily understand what we are saying.
Figure 13. Poster (left) and the screenshots (right) of the online lecture when we were presenting
The Fudan Rester team and our team held an online lecture together with 100 audiences of different ages on August 10th. We introduced synthetic biology from the origin, the development process to the latest papers and prospects. To make the lecture more engaging, our team prepared animated videos for everyone to understand synthetic biology vividly. Then we cited a few that introduced genetic engineering-related knowledge and made connections and comparisons with synthetic biology. Next, we shared the characteristics of synthetic biology, including advantages and disadvantages and applications based on this. We linked it to our topic to further highlight the economics and innovation of synthetic biology.
Figure 14. Screenshot of the online lecture when Fudan was presenting
The Fudan team introduced synthetic biology from the eyes of college students, they took a historical perspective. And list subjects related to synthetic biology. They shared the theoretical background and biological technique and they also connected with their own project - converting carotene into vitamin A. They also took artificial synthetic starch as an example during the presentation.
Together, we answered questions from people from different regions and different occupations in the last Q&A section, actively discussed synthetic biology-related knowledge, and popularized it to the audience. The Fudan team also shared their experience in college. Both teams were very glad that we can contribute a little bit of our own power to biology so that people who are not majoring in biology can still learn about the present and future of synthetic biology.
Figure 15. Our high school
For further educational publicity of both iGEM’s vision and Plan β’s educational goal, we decided to make good use of our advantage as all of us are from Pinghe Bilingual School. Not long after the idea popped up, we set up a new club called Pinghe iGEMer to reach our goal. We organize club activities at least once a week, gathering students in Pinghe who support iGEM’s vision and are willing to do the same amazing thing in the future by attending the competition.
During the activities, we talked about the main idea of attending iGEM, how it may going to make a big difference in our life; listed out all the tasks that need to be done for being greater in the competition, and passed our experimental experiences to all members in our club; more importantly, we had explained our project design in detail and spread our message of the second choice for a better healthy life. Besides teaching theoretical knowledge inside classrooms by using PPT and blackboard, we also organized outdoor activities by collaborating with the Phorward club to host the night run event, spreading our idea to more students in Pinghe, for every 500 meters per person attended we would donate ￥2 to health care charity. Meanwhile, we are also planning to collaborate with the animal rescue club in our school - Wiggles as well to show our care of all creatures on earth in the near future.
Figure 16. We presented to the students in the primary school
In September, our team visited Jinxiu Primary School in Shanghai and made a seminar about fatty acids as well as basic synthetic biology, respectively. We introduced it by stating that obesity, which is an abnormal fat accumulation that poses a health concern. We played the education video for students and asked about their opinion toward fat and fatty acids. Meanwhile, we also publicized the negative influence of obesity, including coronary artery disease, a few types of cancer, and sleep-breathing issues. We introduced the ways to prevent, such as doing sports, eating less high-calorie food and relying on new technologies.
