Introduction
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Engagement with the general public and education about synthetic biology has been a core aspect of our project. We believe it to be very important, for the future acceptance and safe use of genetically engineered machines. To achieve the use of not only our product, but also other iGEM products, some understanding from the public about the large possibilities of synthetic biology is essential. Therefore, we invested in attending public events at an early stage to start the dialogue. This was very nice, because we were able to use new ideas from people outside of the scientific world and implement it in our project. For education we collaborated with multiple organizations, such as Science Linx, RIVM and Scholierenacademie. As we wanted to gain more insight into education we had conversations with multiple educational experts and used their knowledge to make our efforts better.
Public Engagement
NBC - 16 May
On Tuesday the 16th of May 2017 the 17th edition of the Netherlands Biotechnology Conference (NBC-17) was organized by the Dutch Biotechnology Association (NBV). During this day, 135 professionals and students working in the biotechnology work field were connected to each other and informed during several interactive sessions and keynotes about the latest developments in their work field. Here, we gave a pitch about this years’ Groningen iGEM project and were allowed to present our poster together with other Dutch iGEM teams!
Maak Festival - 20 May
This years’
Maakfestival was held at the Groninger Forum and provided Dutch manufactures – in the broadest sense – who are living in the north of the Netherlands with the opportunity to excite teens about diverse technical projects. We had our own iGEM booth with various attributes from the laboratory, such as (properly sealed) Escherichia coli bacteria with Green Fluorescent Protein and talked about synthetic bacteria to interested people from every age group. Participants were invited to write their own opinion on bacteria, ranging from ‘cute’ to ‘useful’. Besides that Joana gave a short talk about iGEM and synthetic biology in one of the ‘maker talks’. Sometimes, we were even surprised what some children already knew about bacteria. We were really stoked to introduce the fascinating world of synthetic biology.
Artist in residence - 31 July - 4 August
In collaboration with KLAS (Knowledge Link through Arts and Science) and the University of Groningen we introduced Agnes Meyer - Brandis into our lab and the world of synthetic biology between July 31 and August 4. According to KLAS synthetic biology seems the perfect framework for artists to get inspired. Agnes wanted to gain insight in how synthetic biology could help trees walk to escape climate change. During the time she joined us we talked about the possibilities of synthetic biology, what DNA and proteins are and also about our project. We hope her week here has gained her new inspiration, and that we have been able to contribute to her
exposition.
Noorderzon, Performing Arts Festival - 17 - 27 August
EVOLVE was set-up on the Noorderzon Performing Arts festival in collaboration with Science Linx, GELIFES (Groningse Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences) and the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB). Here, it was demonstrated with various experiments and expositions how evolution works (more or less). An Evolution café was set up where people could meet each other while engaging the interesting topic of evolution. We participated on two days to talk about our project and synthetic biology.
LAB Egmond aan Zee - 28 August
We attended the
12th LAB Symposium in Egmond aan Zee on the 28th of August. This is a yearly scientific conference about Lactic Acid Bacteria. Thanks to the organizing committee we were able to attend the symposium for one day with three people of our team. This was a really interesting experience. It gave us the opportunity to present our poster during the poster sessions and to talk to researchers who are specialized in working with CRISPR-Cas, bacteriophages and
Lactococcus lactis. We talked with Douwe van Sinderen, an expert in bacteriophage research ofthe University College Cork, and Sylvain Moineau, one of the key scientists in the discovery of CRISPR.
GBB Symposium - August 29
The Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB) is the center for biomolecular sciences at the University of Groningen. We were invited to present our project and display our poster for subsequent discussion sessions. This enabled us to outline our project idea to local scientists as well as receive questions that stakeholders could also possibly ask us.
RIVM Kennisparade - 7 October
After our collaboration, we were invited by the RIVM to join their event
RIVM Kennisparade together with all other Dutch iGEM teams. Approximately 1500 visitors were present this day. We were part of the biotechnology section where we represented biotechnology in the future. We were excited that so many people were interested in our project and wanted to know what it was about. We had some great discussions with visitors about synthetic biology and the ethical aspects of it. Surprisingly, we got only positive reactions about our product design, even if it would be used in a factory!
Education
Ferdinand Van Der Graaf - 30 August
We met with
Ferdinand van der Graaf to discuss the game we are designing concerning synthetic biology safety. He works as a researcher at the UMCG hospital, as well as a teacher at a local highschool. In his teachings he uses a lot of educational games, and had previously designed a game to teach about natural selection. We talked about how to implement game elements in a balanced way while not sacrificing too much of learning elements. Furthermore, he recommended to stick to tried and true game elements that work, something we found to be true too.
KIVI Lecture - 15 September
On the 15th of September we provided a lecture for
KIVI, which is the Dutch Royal Institute of Engineers. Around fifteen people attended the lecture, they all have different backgrounds: students, researchers and employees in the pharmaceutical industry. Something they had in common, they were all interested in our project.
The lecture was given by Felix. He prepared a presentation, where he explained all the steps of our project, but also general aspects of the iGEM competition. After the lecture we had a discussion where everyone viewed there ideas on topics important to our project. For example, what changes would you make to our product design, would it be a problem for you if companies use our product on the factory floor, would you still buy the end product and so on. After all of the talking we went to the lab, where Matthijs gave them a nice tour. He showed all of our lab equipment and told something about the different techniques we use in the lab.
De Jonge Onderzoekers
De Jonge Onderzoekers (The Young Researchers) aims to excite young kids, ranging from 8 to 18 years old, in the fields of science and technology. To this end, they organize various courses including the course Nature and Science. We contacted Richel Bilderbeek to give us some tips about preparing lessons for children from 10 to 12 years old. He is highly experienced in educating 7 till 18 year-olds. On the 22nd of September, two members of our team visited one of the extremely popular Friday evening course of Nature and Science, led by Richel in Groningen, to witness first-hand how to attract children’s interests when talking about biology or science in general. Afterwards, we talked with Richel and he provided us with many tips which were in the end extremely helpful when we conducted our own practices for primary school children. You can find more information about our own course below.
Scholierenacademie
Science Linx
Science Linx offers high school students in the Netherlands the possibility to engage with the Science and Engineering faculty of the University of Groningen. They organize and support various activities with the aim to excite kids about the beta-sciences. Science Linx has already been a Groningen iGEM sponsor for many years. In turn, we aid them with various project including helping high school students with their Profiel Werkstuk (Profile Assignment in English). We welcomed a total of
