Firstly, we pass on the interesting knowledge of synthetic biology, promote our project to the public and increase the popularity of iGEM by WeChat and bilibili, which attracts thousands of fans.
What's more, we introduce more people to be potential iGEMers. We launched six lectures and four courses of Synthetic Biology in cooperation with other iGEM teams, gave lectures to the students in remote areas.
It's worth noting that We used the combination of online and offline platforms to launched the 9th CCiC, ushering in an unprecedented scale(1500 people). We have successfully built a platform for communication between teams, which has made the cooperation between iGEM teams in China closer.
Last but not least, we organized some publicity activities. Through the Hello iGEM activity, we introduced the connotation and competition cycle of iGEM to new college students. At the enrollment consultation meeting, we exhibited the project exhibition board to explain synthetic biology and iGEM to senior high school students, which aroused their interest. We also invited senior high school students to visit our biological laboratory and talked about the process of scientific research. Through these activities, more high school students pay attention to synthetic biology and iGEM.
In the education module, we will introduce it in four main directions. The first part is online platforms. Through the two mainstream social platforms, we passed on popular science knowledge to the public. At the same time, we communicated with them through the backstage feedback mechanism, and constantly updated our audience and content. The second part is science popularization activities. We have held six lectures, four courses and one volunteer teaching activity to communicate with senior high school students and junior high school students. The third part is the CCiC Conference. We invited professors, industry friends, iGEM officials, and 85 teams to participate in the conference. All of them communicated with each other through the conference to promote the updating and iteration of the project. The last section is publicity activities. We organized a Hello iGEMer lecture to promote at the enrollment consultation meeting, and invited high school students to visit the campus. Communicate with various student groups, arouse their interest in biology, and become a potential iGEMer!
WeChat official account is popular online platform, which is able to send out tweets with words and pictures. We created a team account, ‘Mr SynBio’, to share a popular science tweet every week, including article analysis, proposal sharing, activity preview, etc. As an example, we shared one issue explaining for base editing, which is a base editing technology, and gained 755 readings. By 2022.10.01, 22 original articles had been shared and 2 reprinted, with a total number of 447 users and an average reading volume of about 400.
Through the public account platform, we can not only get some messages on the mobile terminal but also establish a relationship between us and the user community. Through private messages, we can also constantly improve our content to achieve a process of mutual communication. It makes them more universal and gradually attracts more fans.
Bilibili is a social platform famous for animation and short videos on the website. These kinds of media have been popular and attracted young people. Using videos, we will be able to express our ideas vividly. Our creations can make young friends interested in our team and synthetic biology. We may tap their potential to explore synthetic biology and imagine other creative ideas by themselves.
We created a Bilibili account 'Mr_ SynBio'. Since it was established in February, we have released 17 videos, and attracted 180 fans. Through the analysis of scientific research articles, we release popular science videos to the public in a more understandable way. We also released the online lectures taught by team members and some live broadcast contents of the 9th CCiC Conference. We also uploaded a promotion video of the team to introduce our participating projects.
We hope that our online videos can be watched by more people through long-term preparation. Our promotion video reached nearly 1000 broadcasts this year, which makes our efforts meaningful.
Communication with the public makes us realize that the promotion of scientific knowledge should be universal. We focus on the interpretation of scientific problems, not just on telling a fact. The public who watch our official account can get cutting-edge knowledge interpretation through our articles. In the process of sorting out, we can also review these knowledge again, playing a role of consolidation, deepening and updating iteration.
As one of the deliverables of the iGEM competition, the promotional video (ShanghaiTech_China 2022 PV强势来袭！！_哔哩哔哩_bilibili) briefly presents our project to the public. Our goal is to explain the inspiration source of the project, the problems to be solved, and the solutions brought by the symbiotic system. This video was designed by Sun Jiawen (director), Wang Shubai, Shen Yanan (art designers), and the whole team to convey our project to the audience.
We want to express the main content of the project simply as much as possible so that people who watch it can have a profound understanding. In the first half of the video, we used realistic scenes and character animation effects to explain the source of our project inspiration to the audience. Then, we use the combination of experimental operation and microbial animation effects to introduce the various components, functions, and interactions in our symbiotic system. Finally, we use a long animation to show the design concept and prospects. We also introduced team members, instructors, and sponsors at the end to thank them for their guidance and dedication to our project.
To enable more people to understand the video, we prepare subtitles in 2 languages (English, and Chinese) and published them on the website. This video is available on our social account (WeChat official account and bilibili). This video helps the public understand how to use synthetic biology to design microorganisms and complete symbiotic systems based on space exploration. It let us introduce our MBCS project and iGEM competition to the public.
We want to introduce some of the cutting-edge knowledge that we have learned to the student body through careful preparation of the course, so as to broaden their horizons and arouse their interest in biology. To expand our reach, we invite other teams to work with us to produce courses and lectures. At the same time, we also volunteered to do volunteer teaching activities in remote areas, so that students can learn knowledge while showing love.
In order to spread synthetic biology to high school students, we carry out a series of joint science popularization and communication activities. Eight universities are included, and we prepare 6 specific topics for the targeted students.
During the summer vacation, members from ShanghaiTech_ China launched a series of joint science popularization and communication activities among colleges. This joint science popularization exchange activity gathered iGEM teams from Shanghai Tech University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Science and Technology of China, Beijing University of Chemical Technology and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. Eight universities and six special topics will take senior high school students to appreciate the unique style of synthetic biology. We communicate with them through the Tencent conference and QQ group for further talk.
l 8/5 Friday 19:00-20:30 About Space
ShanghaiTech University & Shanghai JiaoTong University
As the first course of the series, we shared some interesting facts about Space with Shanghai JiaoTong University. Space is related to our project, so it is meaningful to spread basic knowledge about it to help others understand further research. Liao Yang from our team discussed the question' which planet is a potential home for people?' Then, Jiao Xiang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University shared something related to their project about space, like how to resist space radiation. The complete course was lived and updated on bilibili, hosted by Zhou Yujie.
l 8/6 Saturday 19:00-20:30 About Photogenetics
ShanghaiTech University & Tsinghua University& Beijing Normal University
As the second course of the series, we shared some interesting facts about Photogenetics with Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University. Photogenetics is a new technology that has been widely used and is also a hot topic in synthetic biology. Li Chen Yao from our team introduced the development of photogenetics and an aspect of our design using similar technology. Lin Huan from Beijing Normal University introduced a quorum system and Song Zikuo from Tsinghua University talked about the mechanism of the light-induced signal paths and specific examples. The complete course was lived and updated on bilibili, hosted by Zhou Yujie.
l 8/7 Sunday 19:00-20:30 About Metabolism
ShanghaiTech University & Peking University & Beijing University of Chemical Technology
As the third course of the series, we shared some interesting facts about Metabolism with Peking University and Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Metabolism is closely related to everyone, which affects the daily life. Sun Jiawen from our team introduced some basic mechanisms about metabolism and used a related research in cancer therapy as an example. Wang Yiru from Peking University introduced their project using directed evolution to solve the problem of drug resistance. Zhang Keyue from Beijing University of Chemical Technology talked about their project about cultured meat. The complete course was lived and updated on bilibili, hosted by Zhou Yujie.
l 8/12 Friday 19:00-20:30 About Engineering
ShanghaiTech University & Fudan University
As the fourth course of the series, we shared some interesting facts about Engineering with Fudan University. Ran Hongrui from our team introduced interesting facts about cell-free system and its advantages, with vivid examples. Li Weiyi from Fudan University used a industrial view to talk about synthetic biology and their project. The complete course was lived and updated on bilibili, hosted by Zhou Yujie.
l 8/13 Saturday 19:00-20:30 About Material
ShanghaiTech University & University of Science and Technology of China
As the fifth course of the series, we shared some interesting facts about Material with University of Science and Technology of China. Xue Shangfei from our team introduced the research history and application examples of bioactive materials from the perspective of biological activity. Finally, he discussed about the possible future development of this kind of material. Wang Jin from University of Science and Technology of China talked about their project 'magnetotactic bacteria and endogenous magnetosomes'. The complete course was lived and updated on bilibili, hosted by Sun Jiawen.
l 8/14 Sunday 19:00-20:00 About Agriculture and Forestry
Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
As the last course of the series, students from Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University shared some interesting facts about Agriculture and Forestry. Zhao Qiqi from Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University introduced their project designing a plant cell factory. The complete course was lived and updated on bilibili, hosted by Sun Jiawen.
These courses let senior high school students experience the charm of synthetic biology. The average number of students in each session was about 50, and the maximum number was nearly 100. These courses helped some high school students understand synthetic biology and aroused their interest in biology.
We also worked with iGEM teams from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Southern University of Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing University of Science and Technology, Tongji University, China Pharmaceutical University, Jilin University, and Fujian University of Agriculture and Forestry to develop a series of courses for the public good of synthetic biology. Ten teams cooperate with each other to prepare 4 courses. We promoted the lessons on the Beidou Xueyou platform. Beidou Xueyou is a training platform for China's biological competition, where students who participate in the biology competition and love biology competition gather. Li Chenyao, a classmate of our team, went to teach a lively lecture on Optical Genetics and shared with the students the emergence and development of optical genetics, a technology regulating life activities in organisms through light. Later, Song Zikuo, a classmate of Tsinghua University, explained in more detail the principles and functions of optical genetics, a regulatory system. All the students benefited a lot.
The introduction of public welfare courses about synthetic biology
The commemorative postcard at the end of the series public courses about synthetic biology
We conducted a simple questionnaire survey on the audience, asking them about their interest in biology and their understanding of biology, and made a simple geographical understanding.
Zhou Yujie, one of the education leaders of our team, went to Quankou Village, Yanduhe Town, Badong County, Enshi, Hubei to support educational activities. She carefully prepared the courseware to think about problems from the children's perspective. After learning that there is no biology class for local children, she decided to bring an interesting DNA science course to the children as a biology major. The lecture hall was full of people that day. More than 40 local children, more than 30 villagers, and some students from ShanghaiTech, Zhou Yujie gave a lively lecture on "The Magic DNA" through two questions about fertilization and genetic mechanism: "How were you born?" and "Why do you look like your parents?". She used A4 paper to fold 15 DNA paper models to encourage students to think and solve problems. She said: "Seeing everyone looking at me with concentration, a sense of mission of teachers to preach, teach and solve doubts came into being. The children's eager eyes, positive hands, and the joy of correctly answering and getting prizes made me feel the joy of learning and the power of knowledge."
The knowledge of these popular science activities is very cutting-edge. There are many students attending each class, and we also answer their questions in the group chat. We successfully attracted a number of students to enroll in the biology major, and also passed on more interesting knowledge to everyone. Students attending our lectures and courses can obtain cutting-edge knowledge interpretation, understand different aspects of synthetic biology through different topics, and have a perceptual understanding of it. In the course of teaching, we can also review this knowledge again, which serves as a consolidation, deepening and updating iteration.
Despite the current epidemic, our team is still actively applying for CCiC. Due to the epidemic, this CCiC Conference could not allow teams to come to the University for face-to-face communication. However, the combination of online and offline makes participation way more flexible.
The scale of the conference was unprecedented, with 1224 participants, including 85 teams and 45 individuals, covering high school students and undergraduates. In the five-day meeting, everyone took turns to show and exchange views, which played the main role in promoting the improvement and promotion of the project.
The conference also received recognition and support from iGEM headquarters. Three iGEM guests from different departments hosted and participated in three lecture activities. Among them, the Dual-use Research Workshop at the conference was held for the first time in China, leading the trend.
At the same time, we invited five key professors to give lectures and friends from the industry to provide roadshows, from which the participants gain a lot. Of course, we also design interesting knowledge contests, biological' You draw I guess', and creative card punching activities to add a pleasant atmosphere to the conference!
Through this conference, students exchange experiences with each other. At the same time, we built a platform to allow teams to communicate with each other and directly find other team leaders to cooperate. The corporation among iGEM teams in China becomes more tightly. The conference is welcomed.
In order to get more people to know about the iGEM competition and become potential Igemers, we organized a series of promotional activities. We hope that through our introduction, more people can have an in-depth understanding of this competition, so that high school students can have a more oriented preparation in the future.
After the new semester started, we attracted nearly 100 students interested in iGEM by analyzing science problems and established a QQ group to answer questions. On the evening of September 9, 2022.09, we held a Hello iGEMer activity that lasted for an hour and a half. Sun Jiawen systematically explained to the new students the significance of the iGEM competition, the division of labor, and the approximate annual time flow. Then, the team leader Xin Qi explained the team's competition project this year, the Mini Bioproduction Circle System (MBCS based on the ternary microbial symbiosis designed in the Martian scene. In the QA link, more than a dozen students raised some questions about the competition, the project itself, and how to prepare students who want to join the team. Through this activity, we explored several potential iGEMers, which played a good role in promoting iGEM competitions.
On the afternoon of September 22, 2022, students from Shanghai Experimental School came to visit ShanghaiTech University. Sun Jiawen and Wan Xiaoyu led the high school students to visit the molecular cell platform, the omics analysis platform, the research group laboratory, and the teaching laboratory. The students observed all kinds of experimental instruments and also saw the daily experiment of college students. Sun Jiawen introduced iGEM and this year's team project to high school students and answered many questions about how to carry out scientific research projects. Through offline contact, senior high school students have a more intuitive sense of scientific research.
On July 25th and 26th, Xue Shangfei, Sun Jiawen, Zhou Yujie, and Li Chenyao from our team went to the Shanghai Enrollment Consultation to publicize our iGEM team. We introduced our project and the joint science popularization activities of the eight universities to students. We succeeded in finding out many interested students. We made an exhibition board for the project and explained the content to each student. For students who do not know iGEM, we talked about the overview of the competition, and let more people understand what iGEM is doing. At the same time, we publicized the science popularization and communication activities to have more students participating. We aimed at arousing their interest for synthetic biology through our prepared content.
In order to expand the influence of our project, we designed a series of peripheral products to attract public interest.
First of all, we designed a set of souvenirs for the 9th CCiC Conference. There were canvas bags, pendants, postcards and badges.
Secondly, in order to promote our project, we have also made surrounding clothing, project bookmarks, etc., which are presented to people who pay attention to us as peripheral gifts.
Through this series of activities, we have really discovered a group of potential talents. They are very interested in our competition and our project, and they hope to participate in the competition next year through their own efforts. Rather than objective information on the Internet, the true feelings of the students will give other people a clearer understanding of iGEM, which is more attractive.
