Team:Warwick/Engagement
Education & Public Engagement
Warwick iGEM have secured a number of events in the UK as part of their Public Engagement program, and have collaborated with several organizations in a bid to help students and members of the public learn more about synthetic biology. This year, the team reached further afield by creating accessible and educational YouTube videos which have been watched around the world.
We firmly believe in raising both general awareness and understanding on the potential benefits associated with Synthetic Biology to as wide an audience as possible. However, we don’t claim that genetic engineering is without risks, and so we were keen to encourage attendees of our sessions to ask questions and debate the ethical questions which Synthetic Biology presents.
27th July 2017
International Biology Olympiad
This year, the University of Warwick hosted the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in partnership with the Royal Society of Biology. Approximately 260 students from over 60 countries came to compete at the world’s largest biology competition. The IBO is a unique opportunity for gifted young Biologists to display their talents and to help them on their way to a career in biological research. Over the course of the week, there were two full days of exams for participants, alongside excursions and activities for both participants and accompanying adults. Besides the competition itself, the IBO also provides an opportunity for collaborations between students, researchers and academic institutions from all over the world.
We had the opportunity to exhibit at the IBO’s “Cultural Night”, where students were able to talk with our iGEM team, and discuss any queries that they had. Many hadn’t heard of iGEM before, and so we gave a talk on what the competition is about and how they can get involved in the future. In addition to this, we spoke to the students one-on-one about our project, including the applications and biology behind it. It was pleasant to see young biologists grasp quite difficult biological concepts. On top of this we also organized a game of ‘Biology Taboo’ as a fun way to introduce attendees to some of the ethical issues that can arise within the field of synthetic biology. The students made some interesting and thought-provoking points, and considered both the risks and benefits of this relatively new technology. Our homemade agar-plate biscuits were quite popular too, despite the fact they initially received some highly suspicious looks!
4th September 2017
Public Talk: An Introduction to Synthetic Biology
As a team, we were conscious that we didn’t want to focus all of our public engagement activities on the younger generation alone. Understandably, when members of the public hear short, sensationalist media stories regarding genetic engineering, they can feel overwhelmed by the science and streams of technical jargon. This lack of understanding can in turn make them fearful of the technology.
Elsa and Amy spent the day in Leamington Spa, conducting surveys and trying to find out more about some of the public opinions surrounding genetic engineering. The results can be seen on our Human Practices page.
Participants of the survey were also invited to attend a public talk on synthetic biology and its applications; from GMO crops to lab-grown skin. We ensured that the lecture didn’t contain lots of technical terminology, and there were plenty of opportunities for audience members to ask any questions that they had. Before the lecture, approximately 62.5% of those surveyed stated that they were worried by media stories and the concept of synthetic biology. We asked the same question afterwards, and this figure fell to just 28%. This highlights the fact that a lot of the resistance surrounding genetic engineering is due to a lack of understanding and public perception, which cannot be underestimated.
Without a transparent and well-informed dialogue between the public and the scientific community, we risk damaging the public support upon which scientific enterprise is built. For this reason, it is imperative that ongoing research is conducted in a socially and ethically responsible manner.
18th September 2017
Café Scientifique
Cafe Scientifique is a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come and explore the latest ideas in science and technology. Meetings take place in cafes, bars, restaurants and even theatres, but always outside a traditional academic context. Attendees may not necessarily have a strong understanding of scientific principles, and so the it is up to the presenters to make their talk as accessible as possible. The sessions foster an informal atmosphere where all participants feel encouraged to participate.
Our Cafe Scientifique evening took place in Leamington Spa, and began with us asking the audience members to complete a short survey in an attempt to understand the current levels of knowledge about the field of synthetic biology, along with personal opinions. We gave an overview of current applications of SynBio, from food and nutrition to energy production, but mainly focused upon tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
As we were addressing members of the public with limited science, specifically biology, knowledge, we decided to approach the evening in the same way a teacher might. Upon consulting the literature pertaining to good teaching practices, it was decided that our evening would follow Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. In this, the various stages of learning, from basic knowledge all the way through to implementation and practice, are ranked in order of which should be covered first. Whilst we had initially planned to grab our audience’s attention by launching into interesting examples of synthetic biology, Bloom’s Taxonomy informed us that we were better starting with the basics. We therefore began our presentation with a quick run though of the vocabulary as well as the basic steps in protein production. We followed this with slides explaining; PCR, restriction digest and ligation, in simplified terms such as ‘copy’, ‘cut’ and ‘paste’. To ensure that we didn’t lose any of our audience, we took regular breaks for questions and to refresh some of the terms used.
After the talk, we encouraged attendees to engage in an open debate on the ethics surrounding synthetic biology; they also considered how the technology can be made useful for both science and society. The discussion was pretty lively at times, especially when the issue of religion in science was brought up, which was very thought-provoking.
28th September – 1st October 2017
New Scientist Live
Show of the year 2016, New Scientist Live is the world’s most exciting festival of ideas and takes place at ExCeL London. Rooted in the biggest, best and most provocative science, New Scientist Live touches on all areas of human life. This year the show included 5 zones covering Humans, Engineering, Technology, Earth and Cosmos. Winner of the Exhibition News Awards Best Consumer Show, this year’s event brought in over 30,000 people across the four-day event. New Scientist Live is an event like no other, attracting highly engaged, intellectually curious visitors with a passion for how science and technology is shaping society and how we view the world around us.
The Warwick School of Life Science exhibited on all four days, and by the end we were inspired and exhausted in equal measure! We talked visitors through the principles of iGEM and how our research has been going over the summer, but we also were also kept busy collecting surveys on public opinions surrounding synthetic biology. We had already collected data from members of the general public on the streets of Leamington Spa, but it was important for us to see how their opinions compared to those who either come from a scientific background, or have a keen interest in the field, as would be expected from those visiting New Scientist Live.
There was a marked difference in the opinions of the two groups; those with a keen interest in science reacted far more positively to the idea of synthetic biology than the members of the public who stopped on the street. Our survey results and comprehensive analysis can be found on our Human Practices page.
"A marvelous forum to engage with scientists, technologists and the public on matters concerning ethics, faith and science."
Suzanne Wilson-Higgins, Lion Hudson/FaraDay Institute
"We had a fantastic time. Lots of fun, open interactive exhibits. Lots to learn and a little something for everyone."
Aaron Burnell
"Fantastic show - engaging and informative speakers and plenty of interesting exhibits."
Maggie Berney
10th October 2017
Public Science Evening: What the Cell?!
This event was organized as part of the Royal Society of Biology’s “Biology Week”. Now in its sixth year, Biology Week sees events take place all over the world that celebrate biology, get more people involved and aware of biological advances, and encourages as many people as possible to embrace their enthusiasm for the subject.
We spoke to some of the 120 visitors about iGEM and our project for 2017. Attendees ranged from primary school children and those preparing for their A-levels right through to retirees. In addition to this, the team organized tours of the Warwick School of Life Science laboratories. WISB (Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology) is one of only six synthetic biology center’s in the UK, and so it was a great opportunity for us to explain some of our specialist equipment. The A-level students who came on the tours were surprised to see how multidisciplinary the field is; especially the importance of statistical analysis in biological research.
17th October 2017
BITES: A-Level Day
We aimed to foster learning through hands-on research experience, and so organized a microbiology lab and an engineering workshop for a group of local year 12 students, who are interested in undertaking a STEM-related degree when they apply to university next year.
As this was something new to us, we again consulted literature to help guide our teaching style. It was decided that to maximize the students learning experience, we would utilize an instructional scaffolding model. In this model, responsibility is slowly transferred to the student with time and they are allowed to explore and investigate within the confines of a structured plan.
In order to achieve this, we began by dividing the students into smaller groups and set them the task of looking at examples of ethical issues linked to genetic engineering. Each team was instructed to put together an argument either FOR or AGAINST the topic in question, and they were given some time to rehearse their debating strategy. It took a little while for the groups to warm up, but once they did the students made some really interesting and thought-provoking points.
Their next task was to build their own biomechanical arm. This part of the day was run by Zahid and Shafi, our Systems Engineers. They spoke to the students about how engineering plays a vital role in the field of synthetic biology, and how it doesn’t just involve traditional lab- based work. Afterwards, Callum Thornton, a recently-graduated engineer from Warwick University gave a fascinating talk on robotics and the role that they play in biomedical engineering. When we caught up with him afterwards, he said “It was good to see so many students interested in the work that I am involved in. Biomedical Engineering has so many applications and it isn’t as well-known as other engineering disciplines. It applies engineering principles and technology to medical and biological problems and has really developed as a subject over the past five years.”
After Callum’s session, we paused to discuss how his robotic arm worked and how their own biomechanical arms could be improved upon if the same workshop were to be repeated. Once several ideas of potential improvements had been discussed, the students were then set specific challenges, requiring them to adapt what they had already learnt to further improve their design. As the day progressed, the students were allowed progressively more control over the projects they were performing, all whilst still under the guidance and supervision of the iGEM team.
In the afternoon, Elsa, Jack and Amy gave the students a taste of what microbiology lab work is like. The students eagerly grabbed their lab coats and we gave them a brief lab induction, including the basics of good aseptic techniques, which have discovered are absolutely critical over the summer! We were obviously limited in what the students could physically do, and so we prepared 9 different Gram-stained samples, including Pseudomonas stutzeri and Serratia marcescens. They then had the opportunity to look at the specimens under the microscopes and see for themselves how there is an entirely different world living right under our noses... literally! They then had a go at streaking their own agar plates and we explained some examples of basic genetic engineering techniques.
We were pleased to see that by the end of the day, the students could comfortably discuss and debate new ideas on a range of subjects and even begin to design their own synthetic biology projects.
International Outreach
Raising public awareness of synthetic biology in science and society has been an integral part of the Warwick Team’s iGEM experience. We produced several educational YouTube videos, in an easy-to-follow format, which are accessible to all. Check out our YouTube channel to see more.
Recently, one of our engineers travelled to Honduras to work on developing a new water system for an area deprived of clean water. Whilst designing the system, Omar delivered a talk on synthetic biology, and how it could be used to develop new water testing methods, amongst a whole range of other applications which could help their community in the future.
We also delivered live mini online lectures to Engineering students at Monash University, Australia. We spoke about the promising future of the field within industrialized engineering and held short debates on the ethics of SynBio. The aim was to provide the engineers with a different, more biological approach to solving current problems.
“BLUEPRINT 361” App
Synthetic biology has been on the rise in recent years, but it is not receiving as much recognition as it should. Not everyone is aware of the discipline and don't understand the huge benefits we will receive from this research in the future. As a result, and alongside our project, we have developed a 2D gaming app for the public. The purpose of this app is to advertise synthetic biology through gaming and to educate the public the recent progress that has been made in a more interactive way.
In the game, the player has the choice of five different levels which vary in difficulty. Once in the game, the player has a limited time to collect gold coins. If a player has succeeded in collecting all the coins, they will learn an interesting development that has been made in Synthetic Biology.
The game was developed using the Unity game engine. The gaming app is available for PCs and touchscreen devices. The app can be found in Google Play Store and Apple's App Store.
