In order to generate interest and create a positive awareness about synthetic biology amongst the general public, our team decided to start at the grassroots - and in this case, who better than a future legion of budding researchers? We reached out to government and private schools across the city. We held public awareness programmes and spoke about synthetic biology and its myriad applications.
Through engaging presentations, hands-on experiments with DNA extraction, and interactive sessions we were able to teach a number of high-schoolers the basics of SynBio, as well as prime an active interest in biological research and initiatives like the iGEM.
As a core component of our education and public engagement initiative, we visited six schools in Bhopal. We endeavoured to ignite the eager young students’ curiosity for science in general, and genetic engineering/synthetic biology in specific. We held an interactive session with the high school students (11th and 12th grade) which involved an initial presentation covering the broad ideas about DNA, genetic engineering, synthetic biology and iGEM (of course!).
We started off by helping them appreciate the indispensability of an inheritable genetic material, and how one could open up exciting new avenues by developing capabilities to responsibly modify the same. In order to make it more relatable and impart some hand-on experience, we performed the classic crude banana genome extraction experiment using simple household materials like detergent solutions. This elicited an almost immediate surge of interest and quite a few students volunteered to actively engage in this activity!
We further built up from here by briefly discussing standard molecular biology techniques like PCR, gel electrophoresis, and molecular cloning; as well as the applications of the same to create new genetically engineered models. Furthermore, we cited some groundbreaking projects from past editions of iGEM which helped them appreciate the potential of synthetic biology to solve real-world problems even better. We concluded by describing our own project and its proposed applications.
Our overall impression from this extensive exercise was that we managed to get the young minds piqued about Science’s emerging windows of discovery - specifically, synthetic biology. What delighted us the most was our humble success in getting them to think beyond their regular curriculums, and actively harness scenarios from their surroundings as sandboxes for their innovative imaginations. Accessory to this was inculcating an understanding of not just burning issues facing our contemporary society, but also the zeal to tackle them head-on.
In conclusion, our team’s ultimate take-home were these experiences of deeply meaningful interactions with the very students who would soon be the torch-bearers of progress for the future, and the modest satisfaction that we did our bit by contributing towards shaping their minds in a constructive manner to the best of our abilities.
