Human
Practice
VR & Synbio
Virtual reality (VR) is a cutting-edge visualization technology, an interactive 3-D dynamic vision and behavior simulation system that combines heterogeneous information. It can achieve really impressive effects when serving as a teaching tool, because people tend to accept graphically described things. We want to take the advantage of VR technology to help more people learn about Synthetic Biology in an interesting, easy-to-accept way.
The design of our rewarding mechanism is inspired by the main function of our system: searching. Trying to find useful information in a huge database is like searching for a needle in the ocean, which is arduous. We want to create an enjoyable moment for users when they really catch something.
Laymen like primary school students will be able to learn some basic knowledge on Synthetic Biology, such as the structure of parts, the concept of promoters and terminators, through collecting and assembling BioBricks repetitively.
What’s more, we also integrate the fundamental concept of iGEM with the design game—creating new BioBricks using existing ones. Our game provides a simple and easy way for players who stay far away from Synthetic Biology for fear of its complexity and difficulty. Only with more and more people’s engagement can Synthetic Biology continue to flourish.
As a simulation system, VR is updatable, which means the game can keep up with the times and maintain its freshness in this quickly changing world. We deeply hope VR could play a supporting role in the development of Synthetic Biology, as well as increase the happiness of all iGEM participants.
Question
1. What advantages do you think VR has over general ways of science popularization?
2. How do you think of the design of this game?
3. Have you known how to assemble a gene chain now?
4. What advice can you give to us?