Worldshaper-HZBIOX
Overview:
In the past few months, our team has done a variety of
offline and online publicity activities to spread the synthetic biology and
intestinal knowledge to a large-scale, including face-to-face talk at school,
online public engagement activity,
regularly updating our public accounts, making picture books for
kids, public engagement activity in Hangzhou low carbon science
and technology museum, workshop in biology training
camp. Our audience is mainly the general public who do not have a
basic understanding of the gut and other biological lore. So, our team has
spread useful medical knowledge to a wide range of people in an easily
accessible way. We hope that our effort could be beneficial for the majority
of public who is lack of basic knowledge in biology or has some problems with
intestinal track. And some students might be also stimulated interests in
exploring biological field.
Introduction
Colorectal cancer is a kind of common cancer
occurring in the gastrointestinal tract. This year,
our goal is to study how to engineer an arginine-engineered
probiotic for the immunotherapy of
colorectal cancer.
Topic 1: Colorectal
cancer
According to the latest data from the National Cancer Center, in China, 370,400 new colorectal cancer cases and 179,600 deaths were estimated in China in 2014. The age-standardized incidence and mortality rate of colorectal cancer has increased by about 1.9% per year for incidence and about 0.9% per year for mortality rate from 2000 to 2014.( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2414644719301587 )What is more, in America, there will be an estimated 104,610 new cases of colon cancer and 43,340 cases of rectal cancer diagnosed in2020. besides, the mortality rate of colorectal cancer has increased by about 40% from 1995to 2020. ( https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/colorectal-cancer-facts-and-figures/colorectal-cancer-facts-and-figures-2020-2022.pdf )
Thus, it could be seen that nowadays people do not put enough attention to this serious disease. A common cause of colon cancer is that people eat too much fat and not enough fiber. In other words, if people make a conscious effort to maintain a healthy diet, their risk of colon cancer can be greatly reduced. So, our team decided to use picture books, promotional videos, and offline activities to educate the public about the dangers of colon cancer and how to develop a healthy eating habit in an easy-to-understand way. Meanwhile, we also run our team's "self-media" on various domestic and foreign social platforms to update popular science articles and various activities of our team.
Topic 2: Synthetic
biology
The aim of synthetic biology is to create an artificial
biosystem that operates in the way synthetic biologists think. Although
synthetic biology is imperceptibly changing the world, little is known about
this discipline, we still love the feeling of creation. We plan to tell
interesting and vivid stories based on our iGEM topic content. To make our
project reach different groups and individuals in various fields, we decided
to carry out diversified activities.
Topic 3:
Arginine-engineered probiotic
system
We know that arginine can inhibit the growth of cancer
cells. So, our team members come up with the idea that we could increase the
concentration of arginine around a patient's tumor to inhibit the growth of
cancer cells and induce apoptosis. Ultimately it could cure cancer. However,
if we simply inject arginine into patients’ bodies or let patients eat
arginine orally, after going through a series of digestive systems in the
human body, we will not achieve the goal of increasing the concentration of
arginine around the tumor. We decided to use a probiotic, colon bacillus,
which is not harmful to humans, as a raw material to create an engineered
bacterial system that continuously produces arginine around
tumors.
Topic 4:
Immunotherapy
we know that in terms of cancer treatment, traditional
chemotherapy not only costs patients a huge amount of money but also causes
serious damage to other organs in their bodies. Based on this, our team
members choose to use immunotherapy, which has emerged in recent years, to
attempt to study a method for the treatment of colorectal cancer
Immunotherapy is the treatment of disease by artificially
boosting or suppressing an organism's immune system. These years immunotherapy
is one of the most promising cancer treatment methods. It is based on the
body's immune system, and then it will try to stimulate the potential of
humans’ immune system. As a result, immunotherapy can help patients
effectively suppress or even eliminate tumor cells.
In our project, we want to utilize the regulatory effect
of arginine on the tumor microenvironment, affecting the expression of PD-L1
in tumor cells, and ultimately improving the viability of T
cells.
1 Face-to-face talk at school
Due to the similarity in thinking form and communication
mode, teenagers are our first choice for science popularization. To complete
our science popularization plan - sharing colon cancer, immunotherapy,
and synthetic biology, our team members applied to Hangzhou Foreign
Language School for iGEM lectures together with
Worldshaper-HZ. After
being approved, the slides, posters, and official account advertisements were
also implemented quickly.
We set three speech goals:
● Share the
possible causes and latest research on colon
cancer
● Share the
disadvantage of traditional therapy methods, such
as chemotherapy, operation, and radiotherapy
● Show the latest
achievements of synthetic biology, for example how to use model
animals like drosophila to establish screening model
● share
the CRISPR Cas 9 technique
After the lecture, we received hundreds of messages from
students, They felt fantastic about GMO and synthetic biology. There are
some feelings and Q&A
F1: In the past, I was misinformed that GMOs
are harmful technology. I have never been
lacked of information about GMOs, being afraid of products with GMOs. However,
from your lecture, I realized that GMOs are just a method to alter the gene,
from which we can take advantage of it. So does synthetic biology! Thus, I
hope that you guys can popularize this kind of method with the
public!
Q1: what is the difference between molecular
biology and synthetic
biology
Q2: as high school students, how can we consider
synthetic biology and how to use it in our reality
Q3: you guys have mentioned a new cancer-treating
method: Immunotherapy, and I have seen this kind of treating cancer method
awarded Nobel, so what is the difference between immunotherapy and traditional
treating-cancer methods, such as chemotherapy?
Q4: Now that immunotherapy has so many advantages, can we
use it independently?
2 Online
public engagement activity
On July 10 we had the online publication event with
Worldshaper-HZ, Worldshaper-Shanghai,
Worldshaper-Nanjing, Worldshaper-NJBIOX, Ivymaker-China and
GYHS. The
seven teams together held a Tencent
meeting which was live broadcasted on Bilibili. This publication event
aimed to let more people know about what the teams are doing.
During the meeting, the seven
teams have
● discussed and
shared how can we apply synthetic biology
● introduced the teams
we’re in
● exchanged our
current progress.
As for our team, first, we
started with the background investigation of our project. In this part,
we concisely explained what’s colon cancer and shared some information
about EcN 1917, and the probiotics we use. Moving to the summary of
experiment purposes, we aim to transform
EcN 1917, which is expected to accumulate in tumor tissues,
utilizing the metabolism of tumor cells to synthesize arginine
constantly to improve the immune response. One more thing
we mentioned in this part is the prospect of probiotics
treatment. We mainly introduced what we can do with intestinal
flora and the existing examples of probiotics
used in clinic tumor prevention.
At the end of our
presentation, we answered some questions from the rest teams. A
student questioned if the engineered probiotics could self-target
the tumor tissue efficiently, we explained that the conclusion
was mentioned in an article from Nature magazine. Another was confused
about the synthetic way of arginine, so we shifted back to the page
of detailed charts and explained again with it. I must say that the event is a
valuable time for us to check our project and make it better.
3 Picture
books for kids
Our team and LZU-CHINA, collaborated with SZ-SHD, planned
to launch a picture book about synthetic biology, mainly for children in the
second to sixth grade of elementary school, who lack education in the biology
field.
On 7th June,
all of our 3 teams had an online meeting with the Lifang Li professor, the
dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Lanzhou University invited by
LZU-China. She helped us refine our storyline and give our many useful
suggestions to make children more accessible.
However, synthetic biology is a vast topic, and considering the comprehension
ability of children, we decided to use cartoons to convey the construction
ideas of each of our teams. In the following few days, each team sorted out
its storyline. The whole picture book is drawn by the artist
Worldshaper-HZBIOX contacted and finished at the end of July.
Besides we printed the picture book and shared to the children
participating in the engagement activity held in Hangzhou Low Carbon Museum.
Meanwhile, LZU-China shared the picture books to the children of Landa
Elementary School, both of which have achieved good publicity. And a
small-scale children’s preview was also conducted to collect the
feedback. For safety reasons, all our underage children’s surveys were
taken in their guardians' presence. (The detailed results of survey please
refer to the pdf attached below.)
Generally speaking, our picture book has basically
achieved the purpose of promoting synthetic biology to younger children, but
some children did not understand it due to too many professional terms and a
slightly obscure plot. We subsequently reduced the number of terms and
simplified the plot, and the final version of the book is shown
below.
4 Self-media regular update
We believe that a sustained online campaign is necessary for getting more people to know about our project. Therefore, we set up accounts on four social platforms, WeChat, Weibo, bilibili, and Instagram.
Homepages of self-media
accounts
4.1 Education Live Video
The main purpose of shooting this video is to publicize
the project our team has done. Since this video was shot before, we went to
the lab and just started part of the team task of our project, we still shot
the video in a relatively simple and understandable way. Finally, it will be
published on our team's "self-media" to publicize colon cancer, a disease
related to our project.
feedback
The video shooting process did not go smoothly this time. We also
changed the script several times during the shooting, but it did not greatly
affect our final shooting results. In the shooting process, we had the biggest
personnel shortage. In some scenes, there were no actors to play. Finally, our
photography teacher replaced us and helped us complete the whole shooting!
However, the publicity of self-media in the later period was very smooth. We
published our publicity videos on Instagram, Weibo, WeChat official account,
Bilibili, and other web media at the same time, and then edited out the
tidbits and released them.
figure: The roles acted in the video
4.2 Co-launched some pup-science articles on the
self-media
with our partners
To raise citizens’ awareness about synthetic
biology, Worldshaper-HZBIOX, LZU-CHINA, and SZ-SHD set up a synthetic biology
column on the WeChat Official Account, posting articles and videos on it
weekly. Generally, we reached a brilliant promotional effect. Thousands of
people had read our pop-science articles. And also, we received some messages
from readers which indicated that the interests in our popular science
articles, and we have also achieved the goal of publicity and popular science,
such as some questions related to the prices and side-effect of
immunotherapy.
5 Public
engagement activity in Hangzhou low carbon
science and technology
museum
The event featured DNA models made from toothpicks and
candy, E. coli balloons made from plasmid fragments, drawing with pipette
guns, and a joint drawing exhibition. In this official announcement we used
synthetic biology as the basis, focusing on genetically engineered bacteria
such as colon cancer and E. coli. Synthetic biology is an emerging
cutting-edge biotech in recent years, simply put, it is a way to transform DNA
by cutting, replacing and adding gene fragments, just like Lego, each Lego
component is like a gene fragment, building Lego is a kind of creation, so
synthetic biology is also a kind of creation, so when we design the game, we
also run through the concept of creation. Really let the children love to
create.
During the activity, the team members actively showed the
visitors and participated in the activity with them, and used candy and other
environmentally friendly materials to simulate the model of DNA structure, so
that the younger children also deeply appreciate the importance of
environmental protection and a lot of biological knowledge. The Su High School
team used a pipette gun to glue on paint and draw a picture, just as science
and art are one; Lanzhou University's activity was to put plasmids made of
paper into transparent balloons and then embellish the balloons. The scene was
once lively, just from the Hangzhou activity area, our raw materials candy
replenished twice, our team members looked at the little potty making a more
than a fine model, a more than a more brilliant smile, our team members are
also full of achievement; SZ-SHD team pipette
gun painting everyone is more competitive, did not expect the original basic
instruments in the laboratory, through this official activity into the
millions of homes The plasmid fragment used by Lanzhou University was very
close to synthetic biology, and the youngsters gathered around the lady in
charge of the Lanzhou University area and scrambled to be the first, which was
a very active scene.
The activity lasted for
three and a half hours, from which each participant gained a lot of knowledge
and valuable experience, and also made each participant appreciate the
importance of environmental protection and the mystery of synthetic biology,
which provided valuable reference for our next offline activities and project
planning in the future.
6 Workshop in
biology training camp
In the morning of July
21st, we explained our project to the
students in the biological camp in the conference room. From our background
investigation, experimental prospect, experimental process to the practical
significance of the experimental results. Students from the Biological Camp
also had a preliminary understanding of our project, and also realized the
high incidence of intestinal cancer and the inadequacy of current treatment
effect. I believe they also feel the significance and importance of this
project.
7 Gut alliance: online lecture
On August 14, six teams of the Intestinal Alliance held
an online lecture together. At this event, we
invited three experts as guest lecturers: Lan Canhui from the Warm Heart
Institute of Biotechnology, Wei Daixu from the Department of Life Sciences and
Medicine of Northwestern University, and Dong Xiaojuan from the Fifth People's
Hospital of Shaanxi Province.
All teams aimed to focus on public gut health from the
perspective of university and high school students and to make people more
familiar with the gut by popularizing various topics related to gut microbes.
For example, members of our team introduced the association between sugar
substitutes and gut microbiota, gave a detailed and professional introduction
to sugar substitutes and their disadvantages, and warned people about the
significance of drinking less low-sugar drinks containing
aspartame.
As a co-organizer of the event, a representative from our
team gave a presentation on the relationship between sugar substitutes and gut
microbiota. In addition, we were responsible for organizing the presentation
topics for each team and creating brochures after the keynote
presentations.