Team:BostonU/HP/Silver

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• People
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• Beyond the Bench
  Human Practices Integrated Human PracticesPublic EngagementCollaborations InterLab Contribution
• Achievements
  OverviewParts Judging Criteria

HUMAN PRACTICES

Art Project: Name of Art Project

We have created a painting that is an exploration of a future in which synthetic biology is used to modify circadian rhythms. The first half of the display takes place on Earth, with naturally occurring organisms fit to the 24 hour day. The second half of the project takes place on Mars with organisms synthetically modified organisms with circadian rhythms optimized to a 25 hour Mars day. The aim of this project is to display it to the public, Boston University community, and the public, to spur conversations about the possibilities that synthetic biology may afford humankind.

 

Outreach: Summer Pathways

In June, we partnered with STEM Pathways and the BostonU Hardware team to host Summer Pathways, a synthetic biology Workshop for high school girls interested in STEM fields. We organized and led four interactive activities to introduce them to synthetic biology.

Our activities included a bioethics forum, a plasmid design activity, a gel electrophoresis with foody dye activity, and a microfluidic design activity. The bioethics forum was led by Steve, Sophia, and Manu. They held a fishbowl discussion about controversial issues in synthetic biology such as CRISPR and germline gene editing. The forum allowed us to hear opinions about synbio from those outside the field.

PIC (WRAPPED)

Thomas and Jason, a member of STEM Pathways, led a plasmid design activity in which they introduced the girls to plasmids, primers, and restriction enzymes. After the participants constructed plasmids using construction paper and scissors, Thomas and Jason demoed Benchling, the software we use to design plasmids in our lab.

PIC (WRAPPED)

The third station, gel electrophoresis with food dye, was adapted from William and Mary's 2013 Synthetic Biology K-12 curriculum. In this activity, Abbey, Sai, and Madeline discussed the basic biology and protocol of gel electrophoresis. Each participant then loaded a sample of food dye into a gel with a disposable pipette. The final activity, microfluidic design, was led by the BostonU Hardware team. The team first gave a basic overview of what microfluidics are and what applications they have in synbio. The participants were then given a basic protocol for E. coli transformation and challenged to design their own microfluidic chip on cardboard to perform the procedure.

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Industry Visits

In August, we visited Ginkgo Bioworks in Boston's Seaport District. We toured their lab facilities, and were impressed by their automated workflow. We were shown some projects relating to synthetic fragrances and toured the workbench of Natzai Audrey Chieza, Ginkgo's current artist-in-residence, who uses bacteria to dye fabrics. Afterwards, we had a discussion with Ginkgo's creative director Christina Agapakis about Ginkgo Bioworks' interfaces of art and synthetic biology, and her experiences collaborating with artists and creating topical art herself. Our discussion inspired us to approach art that interfaced with the future of synthetic biology as the mainstay our human practices project.

PIC(S?) (WRAPPED)

Also in August, we visited the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation with BostonU_Hardware to inform our collaboration towards a microfluidic platform for RNA detection. They provided us with a wealth of knowledge about the considerations needed to translate a biological protocol to a microfluidic device at scale. More information about this collaboration can be found here.