We use a variety of ways to promote our project and the concept of iGEM to increase public awareness of tooth protection. Most importantly, publicize the enormous impact that synthetic biology has on our lives and communicate with the public.We use a variety of ways to promote our project and the concept of iGEM to increase public awareness of tooth protection. Most importantly, publicize the enormous impact that synthetic biology has on our lives and communicate with the public.
Graph 1. QR code of our WeChat official account
We created a WeChat Official Account for our team to publish some educational articles related to our topic and synthetic biology. In the meantime, we also shared our team’s progress with the public who paid attention to our topic.
Graph 2. An article screenshot of“All About Teeth”
On 7/12, we posted our first educational article about teeth structure to provide the public with a thorough understanding of teeth, laying foundations for future explorations of the problem of dental cavities. Based on this explanation of teeth structure, we provided several reasons for common teeth pain, providing the public with an understanding of teeth problems. This article is the start of our educational series articles.
Graph 3. Article screenshots of “Why Do You Have Dental Caries”
On 7/14, we posted a publication article introducing dental caries which is the core issue our project is addressing. In addition to the last educational article “All About Teeth”, in this article we explained why people have dental caries and what it could result in, besides, we also explained scientific suggestions about teeth protection. In this way, we gave the public a very clear idea of how our project came out with the solution and its significance while providing useful information that can help the public with teeth protection.
Graph 4. Article screenshots of “Kill the Biofilm”
On 7/16, we posted an article introducing biofilm, the greatest concern in caries-curing by medicines. We explained the component of biofilm and the hardship of treating it. By explaining the significance of biofilm, we were able to bring the public more knowledge while indicating the necessity of our project and leading them to look deeper into our project step by step.
Graph 5. Article screenshots of “Our Mouths Are Occupied by Bacteria”
On 7/17, we posted an article introducing the bacteria causing caries, explaining the mechanism of the cause of this disease, providing the public an idea of the impact of S. mutans on teeth, and indicating the reason why our project is targeting S. mutans.
Graph 6. Poster of CariesFlor Introduction
Our first official account article was posted on 7/10 as an introduction to our team and our project. In this article, we introduced our team members from SHSID. We introduced the inspiration of our team name "CariesFlor": our aim to make caries flower, showing caries, not as a terrifying concern but as a challenge that can be overcome. Lastly, we discussed our research project--using E. coli 1917 to express genes DexA70 and ClyR to reach the effect of sterilization and biofilm removal, thus preventing and curing caries.
Graph 7. Summarization of 7/10 Work
On 7/11, we posted an article to summarize our work that day and gave the public a clearer impression of our project and progress. We explained our experimental progress of gene amplification and business plans. Through this article, we wanted to show our determination to the followers that we really wanted to implement our product in the real world.
Graph 8. Summarization of 7/11-7/12 Work
On 7/13, we posted an article introducing our 7/11-7/12 work explaining our progress in the research process and peripheral products’ design. We made progress in competent cells’ preparation and plasmid expression while making our promotion video and educational video. By providing more ideas about our recent progress, we were able to make our project more well-known, publicizing our project.
Graph 9. Summarization of 7/14-7/15 Work
On 7/15, we posted an article introducing our 7/14-7/15works explaining our recent progress in education activities, business plan, and function tests in the laboratory. We shared some pictures including the postcards we wanted to send to the Tibetan kids which could express our care for them. In that way, we hope our followers could feel our project’s purpose not only to draw the solution to cure dental caries but also help kids to live a better life.
Graph 10. Summary of the experts’ interview
On 7/18, we posted an article about the insights we received from the experts we interviewed, including a marketing manager from the toothpaste production company, a biosynthesis researcher, and a clinical dentist. With the help of their professional insights, we were able to optimize or modify our project and move forward with more confidence. We shared these were also meant to encourage more followers and more attention to our topic.
Graph 11. Screenshots of the video “Tell You About the Formation of Tooth Decay in One Minute!”
On 7/17, we posted an educational video introducing the significance and mechanism of caries, providing the public with more knowledge about caries. By using animated visual aids, we were able to make people understand the concept easily, effectively conveying knowledge and bringing attention to our project, especially for those younger kids.
In order to further spread the impact of our project, we decided to further proceed with our educational activities on the Bili Bili platform, which is quite popular in China.
Graph 13. Screenshot of the educational video “Life of A tooth”
On 7/16, we published our first educational video about teeth and dental caries on our Bili Bili channel. This video is mostly informative, detailing the mechanism of dental caries, the importance of dental hygiene, and how to prevent dental caries. This also managed to garner a number of viewers who were interested in our topic and are interested in what we are trying to accomplish.
Graph 14. Screenshot of the educational video “Tell You About the Formation of Tooth Decay in One Minute!”
We uploaded another video on 7/19, with that one being much shorter and more orientated for people who are looking for short yet informative videos.
Graph 15. Logo of Hug Nami organization
We managed to reach out to a campus NGO non-profit organization in Tianjin University, which is called “Hug Nami” and is giving teaching support at a primary school in Sichuan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
Graph 16. Hug Nami staff showed our video to the students
Graph 17. Younger students answered questions about our video
Since the internet connection in the primary school located in that plateau section was not stable, we each recorded about 15 seconds of video introducing ourselves and combined with our educational videos to make a full version along with teaching scripts to send to “Hug Nami” in advance who could share this video with the students and conduct the class teaching on behalf of us. We also sent students there some toothpaste and mouthwash as our gifts which we hope could encourage them to care for their dental health as well.
Graph 18. A postcard with blessings written in Tibetan
Graph 19. Some postcards with cute drawings
After knowing more about this Teaching Support project, we would like to take a further step to build a friendship with these Tibetan kids. So we decided to write some postcards, some of us also learned to write some Tibetan words and sent them out. Postcards carry our blessings and are a symbol of our friendship.
Graph 20. Our three-fold brochures
Graph 21. Design drawing of a single-faced flyer
In order to have face-to-face communication with the public, we decided to print some flyers which we can use to promote our project and share dental health information with the public during fundraising.
We prepared two versions of the flyers. One is the three-fold brochure which includes the introduction of our project on the front page and some scientific knowledge of dental health on the back page. This version is informative we would lead the public to look deeper into our topic. Another version is much simpler with only one page, where we put the slogan “Follow us, care for our teeth” and the QR code of our WeChat Official Account and this is mainly for attracting more followers.
