Team:UAlberta/HP/Silver
Protein Interactions
Protein-protein interactions are found everywhere in biological systems. From forming structural components, immune signaling pathways, to regulating gene expression, protein-protein interactions allow life, as we know it, to exist and thrive. This ubiquity enables proteins to be used as handles in manipulating biological systems. Our discussions with researchers interested in this topic revealed great insights into the promise of exploiting protein-protein interactions in applications ranging from therapeutics to imaging. Their input became a founding motivation for several of our team’s efforts. Read more about how our interviews with these experts contributed to our project here.
Sciencific Literacy
Another issue that arose when we explored various ways in communicating the technical aspects of our project was that of scientific literacy. Discussions with various communication experts uncovered the fact that the main audience for our efforts are those whom are already interested, and somewhat knowledgeable, in synthetic biology and its related disciplines. Compounded with the barriers in conveying science due to the nature of media, and the overwhelming amount of content available on the internet, it is hard to find accurate, yet accessible, sources for science topics. So, to help address this larger problem, we have approached some of our initiatives with a specific goal in mind: to highlight the role of science in society, and the importance of critically analyzing the various sources which society receives its information. Read more about our science literacy ventures here.
Engagement Through Art
As a team competing in the Foundational Advance Track, we were challenged by problem of engaging our audience despite the seeming disconnection of our project from everyday life. However, the insights that we gained from our initial outreach ventures, as well as the work of the 2016 Imperial College London iGEM Team on visualization as an engagement tool, directed us to approach explaining technical aspects of our project through interactive creativity. Read more about how we used art to get our message about our project to general audiences here.
