Team:REC-CHENNAI/HP/Silver
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
As our project primarily involves the use of anti-microbial peptides, we designed and directed our human practices towards creating awareness about this niche topic apart from synthetic biology and genetic engineering. Talking about synthetic biology and AMPs to over 500 people during the Biofair and over 300 members from the scientific community from across the country during a national conference helped us accomplish a part of what we had wished to do. In addition to this, we conducted a hands-on workshop for school students from our city and it was well received as well; the students thoroughly enjoyed it. To know more about each of these, read below.
The first step in any rDNA technology experiment is DNA extraction. To demonstrate the importance of this step, we extracted DNA from fruits such as strawberries and papaya using shampoo.
AGE is an important step in cloning experiments where DNA fragments are separated based on size after restriction. Students were given training in pipette handling and also the hands on experience of loading the sample into wells.
The aim of conducting this experiment was to demonstrate the agglutination reaction that takes place (principle behind blood typing )through Ag-Ab interaction (Haemolysis). Native Latarcin possesses haemolytic activity. Our peptide of interest, a mutant of this native form has very low haemolytic activity.
As the track we've chosen is 'Food', we saw it fitting to conduct simple experiments in the field. In this activity, students were taught techniques by which different adulterants in food can be identified.
Thus, the day ended on a high note with the students leaving with a fresh perspective on Synthetic biology and Science as a whole.
This year, our college hosted a National conference on 'Food and Entrepreneurship' the 15th and 16th of September We saw this as an excellent window to interact with some of the greatest scientific minds from across the country. To make the best use of this opportunity we decided to put up a stall at the entrance.
We presented our project and its applications to the different students and research scholars from various backgrounds of science that were present at this conference. In addition, we handed out survey forms before and after our presentation to record their feedback and suggestions.
Our team decided that in addition to academicians, we also wanted the opinion of the general public, considering that they would be the population we'd finally impact. In collaboration with team SVCE CHENNAI, we conducted 'Biofair', an initiative to spread awareness about Synthetic Biology and our respective projects. It was held at the Tower Park, Chennai, India. We set up stalls and taught the general public what synthetic biology is and how it makes a difference in our lives, apart from explaining our current iGEM projects. We also carried out simple but fun science experiments to engage the kids in the park. We spoke about the need for our project, and its application in real life. In order to impart more clarity on the subject, we explained some similar previous year projects.
A majority of our audience associated GMOs with wild mutations and a Frankenstein-like end product. After a deeper explanation into the workings of synthetic biology, we were able to change their mindset towards the subject. More queries about the feasibility of our project were addressed and explained.
We at REC – CHENNAI wanted to make sure that synthetic biology and our project reached the masses. So we set on a journey collecting opinions after opinions right from 16 year olds to 60 year olds. This survey was a result of this journey and we have come to understand that the public is more educated about synthetic biology than we expected.
We gave out survey forms before and after explaining our project, and everything we know about synthetic biology. We also did a comparative study between the two and we believe that we have made a change in the minds of people who doubted the potential of synthetic biology.
A little over 250 participants took up the survey and the results were quite interesting. Here are some highlights
After a brief explanation about synthetic biology and Latarcoli, this was the response to the same question.
The rise was significant and a lot more people were informed about synthetic biology.We shot another question before the interaction.
Well, after our interaction there was a significant decrease in the amount of people who voted ‘no’.
We asked a range of questions concerning Latarcoli and its relevance to the society, of which a few are mentioned below. The results gave us so much more confidence about Latarcoli.
This took us by quite a surprise, since we were not expecting the majority of the respondents to know about antibiotic resistance.
We still feel a little proud to have increased awareness, with this result.
We interacted with the 9.4% respondents who thought it was unsafe and found out that they were predominantly worried about human safety and ethical issues. We addressed this, citing laws and regulations governing GMOs. We also explained to them how Latarcin is safe enough for its application in food.
Through this survey, we think we have achieved at least a little part of our objective of creating awareness about synthetic biology.
