JAMS Stall - Science Week Fair

Imagine a room full of kids, all moving in packs between various stalls that run from robotics throwing Frisbees in the far corner, to DNA extraction from strawberries in the other. Levels of fascination were peaking, and not just with the school kids that came by.

We each took turns to represent the Joint Academic Microbiology Seminars (JAMS) group to educate kids ranging from Kindergarten to Year 12’s on all things Micro. We as a team took a particular focus on explaining the importance of Microbiology for research, particularly how organisms can be genetically engineered to have different phenotypes. GFP-E.Coli was certainly a hit!

University of Sydney Open Day

Amongst the bright, dopey eyed university hopefuls of 2018, our iGEM team spent the day inspiring the keen scientists. We were there to guide them in loading their first gel, and watching protists swimming in glucose filled pond water, while giving valuable advice on what’s so great about a science degree! To our surprise however, just as many kids of all ages were also bouncing along with their parents, all too keen to see all the science that can be done at Sydney University. Their enthusiasm was just what the team needed amid our own laboratory distress.

Northern Sydney Science Hub

Considering the day didn’t exactly start off as smoothly as we had hoped, with one member of our team Alex needing to drive all around the city to get solid plates, the day was a fantastic success. Once plates were sourced, mouth swabs were taken from all kids who were willing to twirl around a little bit of cotton in their mouth. Photos of all the weird and wonderful things were then sent to their parents. From there we can only imaging those poor kids had their mouthes washed out a few times, considering the all gross bacterial colonies we found on their plates. More than that though, we explored the mechanics of terraformation on Mars. Kids were enthused with the idea, which we hope inspire the future generations of Microbiologists!

Mount St Benedicts School Presentation

As our team heads towards the end of our undergraduate degrees, we had the exciting opportunity to test out what it’s like to be a practical class demonstrator in a real university lab. For many of us, this lab was in fact the first lab we ever did any DNA based experiments! We spent our very short hour with them explaining what bacteria are and their morphological structure, prior to letting them perform their first Gram Stain. Following the stain, we helped them all set up microscopes properly so they could all see their gram positive E. coli and gram negative Bacillus cereus. Hopefully we inspired some curious young females to join us in the future in this very lab again!

Synthetic Biology Australasia 2017 Conference

Across two days in late September, the team all travelled to the beautiful Lavender Bay to sit among the fore front of Synthetic Biology. Everyone showcased their own projects with vitality and enthusiasm, demonstrating the breadth of knowledge and innovation that Synthetic Biology can inspire.

We were by far the babies of the conference, but we shared our project with all attendees. It was hard and daunting, to present our work to those that have achieved so much. But we did, and from there we were able to connect with people at the conference to further both our own project, and there own as well.