Team:Wageningen UR/Engagement
Education and Public Engagement
Within iGEM Wageningen, we attach great value to involving the public in our project. This is why we participated in several educational projects and presented our project at multiple conferences, meetings, and in various websites and magazines. This way, we informed all the different target audiences, from children and citizens to students and scientists, about our project and synthetic biology. Moreover, we organized a Benelux iGEM meetup to connect all iGEM teams in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in a meaningful way. Information about this meetup can be found here.
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Education
The relatively new field of synthetic biology raises many concerns within science. Especially when people are, for example, not educated properly about the opportunities and risks it can raise.
During other public engagement projects (see below) we engaged with the general public, informing them about our project, synthetic biology and the iGEM competition. However, in the activities listed below, we took it a step further, from informing to education and one-on-one engagement.
Quantified Self
We collaborated with Wageningen University & Research students following the Quantified Self: Monitoring Dietary Behaviour - course. In this course, worth 6 ECTS, they had to apply the idea of a quantified self to an existing project. We followed lectures on the topic of quantified self, to gain more insight into the topic. Also, we showed the students our project and progress so far. We taught them about our goals and the developed device. They applied this knowledge to the quantified self-principle. The students made a poster about the topic, which can be found below.
Read more
Will men be able to diagnose themselves in the future? According to the Quantified Self (QS) movement, a key contemporary trend emerging in big data science [1], they can. The QS movement involves integrating technology in men’s lives, aiming to gather information about itself and learn from this.
Quantified Self: Self-knowledge through self-tracking with technology
As Mantis is highly modular and easy to use, it could be used as a novel tool to measure your own condition in many ways. Besides detecting pathogens, other proteins as vitamins or hormones can be detected. We followed several lectures of experts in the QS field and collaborated with students of Nutrition and Health Science to explore the possibilities and needs.
According to the Quantified Self Institute, this movement can lead to a radical change in healthcare, as large self-tracking enables personalized healthcare and medication [2].
We attended evening lectures on the subject by prof.dr. Wijnand IJsselsteijn and PhD Student Marjolein Lanzing of the TU Eindhoven. We learned that for our device to be used as QS tool, it should be:
- Robust and reliable
- Available and suitable for a wide diversity of users
- Connected to healthcare service
We educated two Nutrition and Health Science students of the Wageningen University that were attending the specialization course ‘Quantified Self: Monitoring Dietary Behaviour’ on our project. After a visit and interview they made some suggestions on how Mantis can be improved to fulfill the QS requirements:
- Mantis can be connected to GPS or internet for large scale data collection (Big Data)
- Mantis can be extended to measure several things simultaneously
Read more about how we implemented this in our design!
They presented our case and their suggestions to their fellow students as well:
Figure 1: Poster that was made for the Quantified Self course by the students. It describes our project, and applies the Quantified Self principles to it.
- Swan, Melanie. "The quantified self: Fundamental disruption in big data science and biological discovery." Big Data 1.2 (2013): 85-99.
- https://quantifiedself.nl/ and gsinstitute.org, 16-10-2017
Will men be able to diagnose themselves in the future? According to the Quantified Self (QS) movement, a key contemporary trend emerging in big data science [1], they can. The QS movement involves integrating technology in men’s lives, aiming to gather information about itself and learn from this.
Quantified Self: Self-knowledge through self-tracking with technology
As Mantis is highly modular and easy to use, it could be used as a novel tool to measure your own condition in many ways. Besides detecting pathogens, other proteins as vitamins or hormones can be detected. We followed several lectures of experts in the QS field and collaborated with students of Nutrition and Health Science to explore the possibilities and needs. According to the Quantified Self Institute, this movement can lead to a radical change in healthcare, as large self-tracking enables personalized healthcare and medication [2]. We attended evening lectures on the subject by prof.dr. Wijnand IJsselsteijn and PhD Student Marjolein Lanzing of the TU Eindhoven. We learned that for our device to be used as QS tool, it should be:
- Robust and reliable
- Available and suitable for a wide diversity of users
- Connected to healthcare service
We educated two Nutrition and Health Science students of the Wageningen University that were attending the specialization course ‘Quantified Self: Monitoring Dietary Behaviour’ on our project. After a visit and interview they made some suggestions on how Mantis can be improved to fulfill the QS requirements:
- Mantis can be connected to GPS or internet for large scale data collection (Big Data)
- Mantis can be extended to measure several things simultaneously
Read more about how we implemented this in our design!
They presented our case and their suggestions to their fellow students as well:
- Swan, Melanie. "The quantified self: Fundamental disruption in big data science and biological discovery." Big Data 1.2 (2013): 85-99.
- https://quantifiedself.nl/ and gsinstitute.org, 16-10-2017
National Biology Olympiad
The National Biology Olympiad (NBO) is the selection round in The Netherlands for the International Biology Olympiad. This is a biology competition talented secondary school students. In the international finals this year in the United Kingdom, 4 students per country compete in this science olympiad. They are tested on their abilities to tackle biological problems and performing laboratory experiments as well. Its aim is to promote science to young students and to stress the importance of biology in society. In the national finals on the 9th of June in Wageningen, twenty top-students of the Netherlands gathered for a week of science. We contributed to the NBO by educating the students in the field about DNA techniques and synthetic biology. A summary video of the whole NBO can be found here.
Before the lecture, they knew about Golden Rice and insulin production by microorganisms as the only examples in biotechnology. During the practicals on plant genetics, we gave a one-and-half hour lecture about current techniques for the manipulation of DNA and other topics regarding molecular biology and its applied use. , followed by an exam of 10 closed and 2 open questions. This covered the basics of gene expression and DNA construct assembly, as well as more complicated assembly methods and modification techniques. Attendees were introduced to the field of synthetic biology, a subject that was new for most students. After the lecture, they were encouraged to think about the rational and ethical issues that may arise with this technology. This way, we involved these students into synthetic biology and our iGEM project, and we got input from the students into these fields as well.
The main findings are summarized below. The students themselves concluded the following: after the lecture, they saw the potential in synthetic biology to combat infectious diseases. However, it also raises some safety, ethical and biocontainment-related concerns. Following these findings, we worked on the proposed issues. The outcome of this can be read on the biosafety page.
Synthetic biology has the potential to run out of control, but I believe we have the knowledge to keep it within limits.”
- Student NBO 2017
The greatest advantage of Synthetic Biology they discussed can be summarised into three main categories:
- The opportunity to improve food production. E.g. increasing yield by resistance introduction, drought-resistant crops, and more sustainable production.
- Production and development of medicines. Both developments of novel, better and cheaper medicines were mentioned, as well as better diagnostics.
- General, non-specific improvements in current and new industrial processes; faster, easier, more efficient, and economically favourable.
- Reduced impact on climate, by using synthetic biology for protection of the environment, protect threatened animal species, and improvement of sustainability.
However, there were also some concerns. They thought about their own concerns, as well as how they think the wider public will react on synthetic biology. The concern regarding Synthetic Biology can be summarized into three categories:
- Safety
- By mutations or combinations of different genes, hazardous microorganisms can be created or formed, for example bioweapons, superorganisms, antibiotic resistant bacteria etc.
- Fear of possible dangers of the end-product made via a GMO-production process. Lot of uncertainties and misunderstandings about safety of GMO-products.
- Ethics
- Ethical issues on modification of organisms and transferring genetic material of one species to another.
- Religion-related ethical issues: interfering with God’s creations.
- Hard to set boundaries in genetic modification; are we going to modify people in the future?
- GMO-products are considered artificial/unnatural.
- Biocontainment
- The possible negative effect on an ecosystem and lowering biodiversity when GMOs are introduced in nature.
Next, the students were informed about our project; making a modular diagnostic kit against tropical diseases. They were stimulated to think about possible problems this can bring into a community where it is applied. Their opinions can be summarised into:
- Availability of treatments. After diagnosis, sufficient medicines should be available to treat the diagnosed people. If treatment is not available, resources are not sufficient, or financially the people cannot afford treatment, a diagnose will not improve the quality of life for these people.
- Overpopulation in those areas. Lower mortality rate by good diagnostics can result in overpopulation, and possibly more hunger and unemployment problems.
A prerequisite that was proposed by several students, was sufficient education about the kit itself and the consequences for one’s life after diagnosis is confirmed.
Finally, the success rate of this diagnostic kit in third-world countries were compared to western countries (the Netherlands).
- The use would be more accepted in the Netherlands (50%) because the Dutch population has a higher education and would understand the purpose and the action of this kit and are thus more open to it. Here, people can afford healthcare and are used to novel techniques.
- The use would be less accepted in the Netherlands (30%) because people are more aware of the dangers of GMO’s. Moreover, the health care in The Netherlands is satisfactory as it is.
When such a diagnostic kit would be available in the Netherlands, the ideal antigens to be detected according to the students are cancer and STDs. Moreover, Pfeiffer, HIV and Hepatitis B were mentioned, as well as tropical diseases for travelers.
RIVM Kennisparade
We also presented our work at the RIVM: the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and Environment during their ‘Weekend of Science’, where the building was accessible for visitors. The public, which consisted mostly of children and their parents, could then attend multiple workshops and presentations organized by the institute. As iGEM team, we had a stand where we could put our project on display. By making a comic on biosafety, we educated children on the safety aspects that come with the use of GMOs. You can read the comic on our biosafety page. Moreover, we presented our project using our poster and distributed the postcards of the iGEM postcard collaboration. The children liked the colourful comic and postcards, and when they did some child-proof science experiments, the parents wandered around our stand. The families could take both postcards and comics home, to read them further and think about the issues we presented some more.
Biosafety on social media
To this day, social media is a great platform to reach the wider public and thus our target audience. Apart from keeping our followers up-to-date on our project progress, we also used the platform for public education, posting several memo’s conveying the messages of biosafety, ethical analyses and more. Take for example the biosafety post below. This post is a simple and approachable way to learn about the basic safety measures we take inside the lab. We even got a reply from the iGEM Foundation!
Public Engagement
The NBV, the Dutch Biotechnology Association is the organization for all professionals in the field of applied life sciences in the Netherlands. On the 17th of April, they organized the yearly Dutch Biotechnology Congress (NBC-17) in Wageningen. iGEM Wageningen 2017 was present with a poster presentation to clarify our project’s aims and goals. The highlights of the conference can be found on the website of NBV.
On the 4th of July, we participated in the Ultimaker Education Session in Zaandam. Here, the newest innovations in 3D-printing techniques were showcased. We presented our device, both in a presentation and a poster stand, and got some valuable tips on refining the settings our 3D-printer from Ultimaker.
Benelux Meetup
On the 24th of June, we organized the Benelux meetup: an iGEM meetup for all Belgian and Dutch iGEM teams. Part of this meetup included presenting the project. More about this day can be found on the meetup page.
iGEM TUDelft organised a European iGEM Meetup. On the 7th of July, various teams from all over Europe gathered in Delft for a symposium. This included three interesting speakers that talked about implementation of synthetic biology and poster presentations of the iGEM teams.
The Central Veterinary Institute (CVI) is the bioveterinary research institute of the Wageningen University. Located in Lelystad, it is commissioned by the Dutch authorities and carries out research related to vaccine development, diagnostics and animal health in general. On the 10th of July, we gave an elaborate presentation on our project, during which we discussed the setup and story with the people at CVI.
In order to involve our colleagues here at the university in our project, we presented a Go No-go presentation, where all researchers and students in the relevant chair groups were invited to. Here, we gave a comprehensive 20-minute presentation on our project, how far we have come, and how much we were still planning to do in the last few months before the Jamboree. After, the viewers were able to ask questions and vote if we made enough progress to proceed and participate at the Giant Jamboree. We got some valuable input and tips on the science part of our project, as well as the way we tell our story. Luckily, more than 90 percent of the public voted for a go!
During the introduction week of the new academic year of the Wageningen University, we presented our project to the new batch of master students in Biotechnology. This way, we already taught them something about synthetic biology, and hopefully got them hooked on participating in iGEM next year! After the presentation, we got some great comments and several curious and interested students who wanted to know more.
One of our team members pitched our project at the annual Topsector Chemie closing ceremony in Wageningen, at the 30th of August. This short pitch focussed on the challenges we face in using synthetic biology. Topsector Chemie is an organization with the goal to find solutions to big social challenges. These are the so-called Grand Societal Challenges by the Horizon 2020 program of the European Commission. The topsector approaches these challenges from a chemical point of view, collaborating with other top sectors wherever possible.
The Wageningen University organized SynCity: a film and art festival on the 5th and 6th of October about synthetic biology to involve the general public in this field. Here, both citizens, scientists and students could discover the field of synthetic biology and how it can be used for many purposes. This is done from an artistic point of view. Via art, synthetic biology is depicted, for examples with a series of short movies. Together with iGEM Wageningen 2014, we presented our view and projects.
Media attention
Snapchat Wageningen University
For one day, we took over the Snapchat account of the Wageningen University: WURSnap. Here, we Snapchatted throughout our day. We showed the target audience, mostly secondary school students who are interested in the Wageningen University, what we do throughout the day, and that science is really versatile and interesting! In this way, we not only promoted the Wageningen University but also brought the iGEM competition under attention by these future scientists.
NEMO Kennislink
NEMO Kennislink, an online magazine that focuses on making scientific news reachable to the general public, posted an article on iGEM and our project. This magazine targets Dutch citizens with an interest in science. You can read the article made by Nico Claassens "Spanning in het lab voor de synthetische biologie wedstrijd van het jaar" (in Dutch) on the website of Kennislink.
Resource
Resource is the magazine for students and employees of the Wageningen University and Research Center. After being interviewd by Stijn van Gils, he posted an article on the website.
Link to the full article: “Students work on field test for tropical diseases”.
Later, a second online article about our halfway presentation was published (in Dutch): “Wagenings iGEM-team mag naar Boston”. This was also published as an article in their paper magazine, both in the Dutch and international version.
Press release Wageningen University & Research
With some tips from the science adviser from the Wageningen University Dr. Jac Niessen, we wrote a press release about our project. The article “Wageningse studenten ontwikkelen diagnostische test voor Zika” was posted as a news article on the website of the Wageningen University (in Dutch).
Intranet
Following our halfway-presentation at the end of August, ing. Liesbeth Idema, the online editor of the Wageningen University, published a short article “Support Wageningse iGEM-team bij detecteren tropische ziektes” on the Intranet. The intranet of the Wageningen University is only accessible by employees. The article covers our aim and raises attention for our Crowdfunding project.
Bionieuws
Bionieuws is a magazine for biologists in The Netherlands. Via drs. Gert van Maanen, a small article in their magazine on the iGEM competition was posted (25 August 2017, year 27, page 12), featuring all Dutch iGEM teams, including iGEM Wageningen. The article, “Zes Nederlandse teams in iGEM-competitie” (in Dutch) cannot be reached online, but the page of the magazine can be found below.
Global One Health blog
The Global One Health blog is an initiative of the Wageningen University. A Global One Health is a theme that reflects the interconnectedness and global nature of health care. More specifically, it focusses on interdisciplinary ways for controlling the risk of disease outbreaks and reduction of endemic infectious diseases. Not only for human healthcare, but also for food supply, hygiene, medicines, vaccines, vector control and crop protection. More about this initiative can be found here.
For this initiative, we wrote a blog about the rise of infectious diseases, taking African Sleeping Sickness as an example for the problematic situations in tropical regions with regards to infectious diseases, and how there is a need for a new diagnostic device. Moreover, an infographic was made to visualize our device.
The blog can be read on the website of Global One Health blog(in Dutch).
International Students Blog
The International Students Blog of Wageningen University & Research is part of the Wageningen University & Research blog platform. It shares experiences from international students studying in Wageningen. Here, one of our international team members wrote a blog about iGEM and her experiences as international student. The blog, Name of blog can be read online.
