Simple Project Team The Language Project Human Practices Site Map

COLLABORATIONS

The Language Project

The Language Project is not merely a social outreach arm for the iGEM IIT Madras team, it is a perennial endeavour to bridge the disparity between the haves and the have nots in India. Across India, millions of students with limited comprehension of English are left to grapple with many fundamental educational concepts (generally explained in jargon-heavy textbooks) when they reach higher levels of education. Simply because these children were not exposed to English-medium education at the primary level, should they be condemned to pay the punishing price for it even at the higher levels of education given that most of them had to chart a much more rigorous course than their English-speaking compatriots to reach where they are? This is the question that kickstarted the creation of this team back in the month of April 2018.

We started off by making videos that explained basic concepts of biotechnology in vernacular tongues using simple examples and lighter terms. Over the course of a year, we uploaded 85 videos on our YouTube channel, amassing over 18000 views and 430 subscribers. We have covered 15 Indian languages and with the onset of this year, we set our eyes beyond the borders of our nation: translating into more than 28 foreign languages by extensive collaboration with iGEM teams spread across the globe.

Here is a list of all our international collaborations:

iGEM Warwick:

Replication and Transcription in French
Central Dogma and Translation in French
Introduction to Synthetic Biology in Lithuanian
DNA and RNA in Lithuanian

iGEM RUM:

DNA and RNA in Spanish
Proteins in Spanish
Central Dogma and Translation in Spanish
Genetic Code and Mutations in Spanish

Billkent UNAMBG:

Introduction to Synthetic Biology in Turkish

iGEM Nawi Graz:

Proteins in German

iGEM Hamburg:

DNA and RNA in Polish and German

iGEM NYUAD:

Proteins in Korean, French and Arabic
Replication and Transcription in Spanish
Introduction to Synthetic Biology in Portuguese

iGEM Wageningen:

Introduction to Synthetic Biology in Dutch

iGEM CU:

Genetic Codes and Mutations in French
Replication and Transcription in Arabic

iGEM Bioriidl:

Replication and Transcription in Gujarati

iGEM Nanjing China:

Central Dogma and Translation in Chinese

iGEM JNU China:

Genetic Code and Mutations in Chinese

iGEM Tel Hai Migai:

Introduction to Synthetic Biology in Hebrew

iGEM DUT China B:

Replication and Transcription in Chinese

iGEM SEFLS Shanghai:

Introduction to Synthetic Biology in Japanese
Replication and Transcription in German
Evolution 1.0 in Chinese and French

Teaching Synthetic Biology to High School Students

We collaborated with Team Sastra Thanjavur at Chettinad Vidyashram school, Chennai. The Human Practices session witnessed the participation of about 250 high school students. Along with the Sastra Thanjavur iGEM team, we gave the students a brief introduction about synthetic biology and a few cool iGEM projects just to give them an idea about the competition and synthetic biology in general. We played a fun card game with the students called Micropolis which was aimed at connecting the different fields of synthetic biology planned for the students. The students learned the basics of protein expression systems and promoters.

Analysing Menstrual Waste Crisis - Team MITADTBio_Pune 2019

The ever increasing burden of plastic waste, particularly waste comprising menstrual waste is of growing concern. A survey was initiated by the MITADTBio_Pune 2019 team to assess the level of awareness regarding menstrual waste in countries across the globe.

Mike the Microbe

This was a collaboration with Team US AFRL Carroll HS. We took pictures with our friend Mike in our lab! :)

Demographics and Inclusivity Survey

We collaborated with Team UAlberta to evaluate the demographics of iGEM teams on the parameters of sex, ethnicity and age to examine disparities in iGEM teams, if any.

iGEM Instagram Challenge

We collaborated with Team Stony Brook for an Instagram challenge that helped us get to know each team better. We have documented them as highlights in our stories.

iGEMxSDGs Challenge

We collaborated with iGEM Costa Rica, Tuebingen to highlight the ways in which our project is aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

iGEM Weather Contingency Plan

We collaborated with iGEM UPRM to assess the logistical challenges of pre-empting weather disasters and subsequently, develop and implement a Weather Contingency Plan (WCP).

Team:IIT-Madras/Collaborations