Team:UChile Biotec/Public engagement
Public Engagement
Expanding the frontiers of knowledge and synthetic biology
Meet the SynBio
A project that we are developing is the creation of a synthetic biology workshop for young people aged 15 and over who we call "Meet the SynBio". This consists of the creation of adaptive learning stations to take them to the classrooms of different schools in Santiago. Our workshop consists of three stations, explained below:
Introduction: Basic principles: (so that in the other stations they are ready to understand the concepts), gene, biological parts, microorganism models and genetic circuit. Related material is available (samples of fluorescent bacteria, list of experiments, etc.)
Principles of synthetic biology: We will talk about the fundamental concepts that we believe should be present in a synthetic biology course: standardization, abstraction, and modularity. The ideas behind each concept will be exemplified with everyday elements. It will also be exemplified by examples of Synthetic Biology. Particular emphasis on modularity: Capacity that has a system to be studied, seen or understood as the union of several interacting parts that work in solidarity to achieve a common goal: We have developed this concept with the use of pieces of uniform wood that they represent sections of DNA, RNA, and balls that represent proteins. The plan is for young people to be able to visually and interactively understand how processes such as regulation, metabolic pathways, obtaining proteins of interest, etc. work.
Advances in synthetic biology: It will show the great benefits of working with synthetic biology: medicine, environment, materials, etc. For this, it will be exemplified using the modules described above and emulating the solution proposed in the different investigations.
Behold, this document contains all of the description, material, and photos of our workshop.
Synthetic biology to the street
Along the year, we were introducing Synthetic Biology to people, specifically to students of schools. We were teaching people about what is Synthetic Biology and why it is so useful.
We participated in science fairs with a stand where we explained our work and explaining Synthetic Biology to the public. Taking advantage of the circumstances, we have also tested our workshop with different audiences, in such a way that we can define in the best way who our possible students will be.
We were in Plaza de la Constitución, place behind of Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago; in Plaza de Ñuñoa in front of Town Hall of Ñuñoa, and in a park on Renca. Also, during our stay in the zone of Puerto Montt, we went to school Liceo de Hombres Manuel Montt and introduced SynBio and the phenomenon of red tide to the students. This work was replicated in the different Labor Unions of the zone, were also, we talked about red tide in the zone and his biological causes.
SynBio Course
When we organized to participate in iGEM, we realized that our faculty did not teach a course about SynBio, fact that we consider incredible, so last year we organized the first course about Synthetic Biology in our faculty. We had the support of distinguished masters of the respective areas of SynBio. The course was a total success, expectation were immense, so, this year, we realized again the course. The 2nd course about SynBio in our faculty
Gallery
The following gallery contains photos of our team in different schools and scientific fairs, transmitting the knowledge of synthetic biology and testing our workshop. Please, click on the arrow to activate the gallery!
The Press
Our project didn't go unnoticed by the press, we got mentioned a lot in various national media. Our team was interviewed by the Radio of the University of Chile and placed as a note on the website of our university. Soon the information began to spread and different newspapers and national and international websites put Bimatox as a Chilean youth innovation with reasons to solve serious problems such as the red tide: El Mercurio, Aqua (national aquaculture magazine) and Bio Bio Chile (national radio station) are some examples. If you want to see it, please click here! (Because we live in Chile, all the news are in Spanish).
