Team:UChile Biotec/Public engagement

Public Engagement

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 scientific 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, durning 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.

Gallery

The Press

Our project didn't go unnoticed by the press, we got mentioned a lot in various national media. If you want to see it, please click here! (because of we live in Chile, all the news are in spanish).