Communication

There exists a critical responsibility to communicate science and the process of discovery to the government, the media, and the general public. Education and communication of scientific principles are crucial in order to gain public support for investment in research activities. However, for projects such as ours, with implications that directly affect the human body and the treatment of disease in the general population, dialogue between both parties is especially critical. It is important that both scientists and patients understand that they are partners in discovery.

According to a study done by MIT Technology Review, over 70% of Americans are scientifically illiterate. This is a significant problem. Scientific ignorance can impede funding efforts, lead to the political polarization of science, and cause fear and mistrust of the scientific community (Duncan 2020).

Ultimately, regardless of how well-planned, jaw-dropping, or revolutionary a project is, it has no value if people do not trust it. Through our interactions with local communities, we found that very few people had any knowledge or familiarity with synthetic biology, and were hesitant to embrace our project until they had learned more about it. We also learned that there was a distinct lack of awareness of protein S deficiency and other related disorders, which was leading to a lack of proper diagnosis.

Ultimately, scientists are the ones with the responsibility of educating the general public about their work. Therefore, it was also our responsibility to educate our own communities. After coming to this understanding, we sought to raise awareness of protein S deficiency, our project, and synthetic biology as a whole. We also aimed to increase science education and communication in a way that was easily accessible and understandable.

We had three guiding principles:

We strongly believe that scientific progress will be diminished if we do not establish and achieve a more informed dialogue with society. As researchers, we owe our patients nothing less.

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Scientific Journal

One of our largest educational initiatives was the creation of a scientific journal designed for the use and consumption of the general public. Through this journal we sought to investigate social and health disparities, and address the societal implications of synthetic biology. In order to do this, we worked with iGEM teams from around the world, who each contributed an article about their project and its social relevance. You can read more about our collaborations on our collaborations page. These articles were written using language that is easily understandable by the general populace, and were heavily edited and fact-checked by our team. The iGEM teams who contributed to our journal are listed below with the titles of their articles:

Each article specifically addresses how synthetic biology can help solve issues such as lack of access to proper healthcare, social determinants of health, access to freshwater, cancer diagnosis, etc.

There were also articles written by various members of our own team which aimed to define synthetic biology, what it entails, and its relevance in the global community. Many articles also discussed the goals of the PROS project, and how we aim to benefit our local communities.

Overall, this journal was designed to inform the general public about iGEM, synthetic biology, and the amazing societal implications of our projects, and the field more generally.

Accessibility and Distribution

In addition to using non-technical and easily understandable diction, in order to make this journal accessible, various articles were translated into a total of 6 different languages which included:

This was done in order to increase the audience for our writing, and communicate the importance of iGEM and synthetic biology to a larger global community. We wanted to make sure that as many people as possible would be able to read and understand our journal.

The journal is freely available online, and was distributed on a variety of platforms. Each team who participated also helped distribute the journal around the world.

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Relationship with Media

According to Dennis Ausiello, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, many “physician-scientists have grown up thinking it was self-promoting and unseemly to talk to the press about scientific discovery” (Ausiello 2007). This is a significant issue, because the communication of science both to and through the media is critical for public understanding of research endeavors. After discussing with various student journalists at Stony Brook University, we learned that there is a significant disconnect between the media and researchers. Many journalists can be “put off,” as Ausiello writes, by scientists.

This is problematic not only because it impedes proper science communication, but also because it can lead to the political polarization of scientific concepts. Cristine Russell, the President of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, explains how journalists often approach science and research stories the same way they do other basic news stories. “They present two sides to every argument,” Russel writes, “giving the impression that there is a balanced debate about science, when, in fact, equal time, space, or credibility is given to a minority point of view” (Russell 2006).

In truth, science writing requires more scientific understanding and context than a typical news story. According to the National Association of Science Writers Field Guide “Balance in science writing requires authorial guidance; it requires context, and knowing when certain points of view simply need to be ignored” (Blum et al. 2006). Ultimately, it is a scientist’s job and responsibility to create an informed dialogue with the press and media outlets in order to properly communicate their work.

It is not a right to be able to talk to the press, but an important responsibility, and one that must not be overlooked. Therefore, we aimed to create a productive and informative dialogue with local media outlets, in order to properly communicate our work, and promote discussion and awareness about our project and synthetic biology.

The Stony Brook Statesman

We worked very closely with our campus newspaper to help educate students and the general public more widely about synthetic biology and research. The Statesman. is the longest-running campus newspaper at Stony Brook University, and was founded in 1957. The newspaper has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Newsday, and the Society for News Design, and has an audience that extends far beyond our campus population. Our partnership with them was critical, as they helped us produce educational materials. In particular, they helped us record and edit our podcasts. We distributed our podcasts (read more below) through their online platform, allowing us to reach a much wider audience.

We also decided to write an article for our campus newspaper about iGEM, and about our project more specifically. This article was published on July 29, and was shared on various platforms by both The Statesman, and by our team. These platforms included Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The article garnered over 1,000 views. You can read it at the link below:

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Podcast Initiative

We created two podcasts, one of which was designed to make science research more understandable and accessible by the general public. This included interviewing post-doctoral researchers, experts in the field, graduate students, and undergraduate students about their research experiences and career goals and have them talk about their STEM work in easily understandable and digestible language. The other podcast aimed to increase inclusivity in STEM fields by highlighting the experiences of minority researchers and students. These podcasts were heavily edited by Francesca Mevs, the podcast editor for the Stony Brook Statesman, and the podcast will soon be distributed through the newspaper.

PODCAST: All Things STEM at Stony Brook

PODCAST: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM

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Children’s Workbook with URochester

We collaborated closely with the University of Rochester 2022 iGEM team to create and distribute a children’s workbook about synthetic biology. You can read more about the collaboration on our collaborations page.

We decided to create this workbook in order to help effectively communicate synthetic biology for children and young people. As public awareness about synthetic biology, and biological concepts in general, is increasing, the field of synthetic biology is becoming more and more accessible, particularly for high school students. Typically, the first contact with basic synthetic biology techniques occurs only during high school, and sometimes not until college. However, research shows that the basic concepts of engineering, biology, and synthetic biology can be understood and effectively introduced in children who are 5-7 years of age (Bers 2018).

Furthermore, although there is more science teaching being done in elementary schools, many teachers lack the materials and knowledge necessary about how to effectively communicate science to young children. Especially in low-income school districts, children are typically not exposed to scientific principles (Strawhacker et al. 2018, Greenfield 2015). We sought to bridge this educational gap, and create a workbook that can be used by teachers in order to effectively communicate scientific and synthetic biology principles in elementary schools. We made this workbook freely available online, so that students of all socioeconomic backgrounds can benefit equally.

This workbook was then distributed in schools, summer camps, and children’s programs across New York State in order to reach as many children, educators, and parents as possible. You can see the workbook here.

YouTube Channel with EmpireGene

We were involved in a collaboration with iGEM EmpireGene, and helped translate some of the videos on their educational YouTube channel into Chinese, increasing how accessible and understandable their videos are to a larger portion of people around the world. These videos aimed to communicate the basics of synthetic biology to a larger audience. Their YouTube channel can be found at the link below, and the documents with our translations, which we provided them, can also be found below.

Infographics and Flyers

We created and distributed various infographics and flyers about protein S deficiency, disparities in the diagnosis and treatments of the disorder, and the important role that protein S plays in COVID-19. We distributed these infographics through government agencies, on our campus, at outreach events, and in our local communities. These infographics and flyers can be seen below.

We also developed a guide specifically for future iGEM teams to help them with basic mathematical modeling. Our team in particular struggled, at first, with this aspect of the project, and sought to make it more accessible and understandable for future teams. We created and shared this guide with multiple teams including iGEM Ashesi Ghana, iGEM UCSC, and iGEM UNAM-Bilkent. You can read more about these interactions on our Partnerships page. You can view our guide to mathematical modeling below.

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References

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