“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” ― Ryunosuke Satoro


Introduction


  Our team, which participated in the first IGEM this year, thought that it was not just a competition but an opportunity to share our stories and projects with other teams and positively influence each other. Therefore, we felt that collaboration with other groups is an essential part of iGEM, which would enhance the spirit of the iGEM community. In this collaboration activity, our goals were three.

  1.  Since Sogang_Korea participated for the first time this year, we wanted to ask help from teams that have been participating continuously since the past, or to pursue administrative cooperation in conducting the project by finding a team that participates for the first time with us.
  2.  We wanted to share projects with each other and continue to cooperate in common areas to achieve technological or experimental developments. In other words, we wanted to share knowledge and experience.
  3.  Korean students are not familiar with the field of synthetic biology. Therefore, we wanted to promote 'synthetic biology' to Korean students.

KUAS


  KUAS is a team that has consistently participated in iGEM since 2009 under the name of KU_Seoul and since 2017 under the current name. We were able to find the nearest KUAS while we were looking for a team that could take advice from the administrative side or cooperate consistently. We contacted them first in April 2022 and were able to get basic information about iGEM and advice on how to proceed before planning and proceeding with the project.

  In early August, when each project was in full swing, we had a meeting in which the entire KUAS and Sogang Korea team participated. Through a series of meetings, each team introduced their projects, exchanged feedbacks, and explored ways to strengthen each other's projects. This year, due to differences in the subject or application of the team, we were able to practice and learn presentation skills to help each other understand each other's project and to easily understand the mechanisms and other aspects of the project when introducing the project to an unknown third parties. In particular, Sogang_Korea team lacked a lot of related knowledge because there were virtually no people majoring in life science or biotechnology. The process of understanding the biological mechanisms in their project in collaboration with KUAS was a good place and opportunity for our team.


Fig 1. Results of the Korea Synthetic Biology Debate Competition

  In addition, they were one of the teams we collaborated with in hosting the Korea Synthetic Biology Debate Competition, and in this process, we organized the competition with KUAS in charge of planning the university student division. Above all, since it was a debate competition, it was the most important part to decide the topic of the debate. Before we decided on the topic, we took the time to share the ideas that each person had about synthetic biology, and based on these ideas, we created the right candidates for discussion. We also selected topics that can be conducted in the form of discussions rather than pros and cons because we wanted to hear the true ideas that high school students have about synthetic biology today.


Fig 2. Planning for the Debate Topics of the University Department in the Korea Synthetic Biology Debate Competition


Korean Team Federation


  Despite the global bio boom, the outlook for the bio industry still doesn't look bright for young people in Korea. Also, most people don't know what synthetic biology is. In fact, in Korea, the "Korea Synthetic Biological Development Council" was not launched until the summer of 2022, and only recently has an organization that will play a pivotal role in creating an ecosystem for synthetic biological development. This shows how little synthetic biology is known in Korea. Therefore, we wanted to promote 'synthetic biology' to many students, from high school students to college students in Korea. Even if we don't know the technical content, we first aimed to promote synthetic biology itself.

  However, it was not easy to decide which way to inform synthetic biology. Then, our team received a call from the Seoul_Korea team who wants to promote synthetic biology like us. We gladly accepted the proposal and created a coalition with a total of four teams in Korea, including Seoul_Korea and Sogang_Korea. So our four teams planned the activity with the same goal, and instead of just providing seminars or education to promote synthetic biology, we wanted to communicate science, especially synthetic biology, more closely through a 'debate competition'. In this process, we tried to increase the competition's influence a little more in hosting the competition and make it go smoothly. Seoul_Korea organized the 'Seoul City Youth Non-profit Private Organization', and three university teams, including Sogang_Korea, also organized non-profit private organizations. Also, we worked closely with the 'Korea Synthetic Biology Council'.


Fig 3. Draft poster for the 1st National Synthetic Biology Debate Competition

Fig 4. Final poster for the 1st National Synthetic Biology Debate Competition

  We completed the final promotional poster after several meetings and tried to reach as many students as possible by promoting it through various SNS, communities, and offline.


Fig 5. Attachment of promotional posters

  With the posting of promotional posters, preparations for the debate finals were carried out step by step. We worked out everything necessary to proceed with the competition, including creating a wallpaper for use during zoom competition, selecting a moderator and writing a script, writing a cue sheet, writing a discussion evaluation table, and confirming the details of the discussion. In the process, a lot of feedback and meetings were conducted. After all these preparations, we made up for the shortcomings through two rehearsals for a smoother tournament.


Fig 6. The 1st National Synthetic Biology Debate Competition

  The competition was held on Saturday, September 24, 2022 and was divided into high school and college students categories, and we will describe it focusing on the university student category that we conducted ourself. Discussion competition qualification topics are as follows:

  • Is it essential to introduce synthetic biology to secure corporate competitiveness?

The six teams selected in the preliminary round advanced to the finals in earnest and continued the discussion around the following two topics:


  • Is synthetic biology ethically correct? And in what way should the regulation be made?
  • Can GMO Cosmetics cause problems with Human Skin Health?

  In the preliminary round, a total of four students, including one medical student at Hallym University, two mechanical engineering students at Sogang University, and electronic engineering students at KAIST, were selected, and these students entered the finals and continued the discussion around the above two topics. We selected a controversial topic in synthetic biology so that they could have critical thinking skills to express their opinions appropriately, and ultimately help them achieve a higher-order thinking process.

  Students participated in the discussion more passionately than anyone else, and the results of those two discussions were scored based on the discussion evaluation table below. Individual scores of leadership, cooperation, and contribution were considered along with the pros and cons team evaluation. As judges, the CEO of ENVIEN Biotech and Moon Sung-joon, the director of Ellead Skin & Bio Research Center, worked hard.

Fig 7. the discussion evaluation table

  Based on the objective evaluation, we were able to successfully finish the debate competition by selecting the 1st to 4th place and awarding prize money according to the ranking.


Fig 8. Award Ceremony

  Also, above all, we invited various experts who are conducting research on synthetic biology to give a lecture because the purpose of the competition was to promote synthetic biology. Several people were willing to accept it, and thanks to this, we were able to give lectures on the following topics to the competition participants before the debate began.


  • Prof. Kwan-woo Shin: Department of Chemistry, Sogang University, 'Recent Trends in Synthetic Biology'
  • Prof. Sung-ho Jang: Department of Biotechnology, Incheon University, 'Synthetic Biology: The future of Biotechnology'
  • Manager Sung-joon Moon: Ellead Skin & Bio Research Center, 'Cosmetics and Skin as Synthetic Biological Materials'


  Through these lectures, many students first learned about exactly what synthetic biology is. We hope it was an opportunity for these students to become more interested in synthetic biology beyond biotechnology.

  In addition, we also had time to introduce the participants of the competition to what projects Sogang_Korea, KUAS_Korea, Seoul_Korea, and UIncheon are working on at the 2022 iGEM competition, and ultimately what they are aiming for.



  By planning and conducting this competition, the Sogang_iGEM team was also able to seriously consider the safety of synthetic biology, the prospect of synthetic biology, and the regulation of synthetic biology. As a result, the following positive effects were found through the hosting of this competition.

  • Increased awareness of the synthetic biology in South Korea
  • Strengthening Korean Team's Solidarity

  Finally, we have attached a brief summary of the meetings and progress that we had during the preparation of the Korea Synthetic Biology Debate Competition. The university association, including Sogang_Korea, will continue to maintain the non-profit private organizations it organized this time in more official recognition. With the name of the organization, we will continue our activities to promote synthetic biology to Korean students.