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Education and Public Engagement
From the beginning, multiplying external opinions was an essential approach for us, since they allow us to take a precious step back and thus improve our project as we went along. With this in mind, we participated in several events during which we were able to present and explain our project to both a scientific and neophyte audience. On this last point, we have endeavoured to make our speech understandable and to raise awareness among the young public.
In this willingness for constant improvement, we have also undertaken:
- to contact professionals in order to refine the development of our project so that it can best meet a concrete need
- collaborations, both with iGEM teams and professionals.
- participate in many events
This page will detail the various events where we have communicated about our project.
DIANE in front of the scientific Community
- Young Researchers in Life Sciences – YRLS
- H+ for good
- Presentation of DIANE to PhD students
We participated, from June 4th to 6th 2019 in the Young Researchers in Life Science meeting at Imagine Institute in Paris. This event brings together young scientists from different fields and backgrounds to present their ongoing work, exchange ideas and learn from experts. We had the opportunity to present DIANE during the poster session. Conferences, talks and round-tables were also organized on a wide variety of topics. We exchanged with other researchers and gathered a lot of useful advice before beginning our laboratory work.
H+ for good is an organization aimed at promoting meaningful emerging technologies; technologies that rethink the role of science for human-beings and are dedicated to reducing inequalities. The organization organizes debates around emerging technologies, and then presents these developments to the general public.
On the 1st of October, H+ for good gave the floor to student projects in the field of biotechnology. We presented iGEM and our innovative diagnostic project at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (the National Library of France), among other students and scientists. We focused on ethics and on our wish to apply our technology in a humanitarian context, in order to reduce diagnostic inequalities between world areas.
We had the opportunity to practice our presentation of DIANE in front of international PhD students from Institut Pasteur. We talked about the science behind the project, as well as the results we had obtained, but we also mentioned our work on product design, human practices and entrepreneurship. We received a lot of positive comments and interesting questions. Our coach, Chloé, gathered the participant’s feedback for us in order to better prepare ourselves for the Giant Jamboree.
DIANE in front of the general public
- Cité des Sciences
- Intervention at Collège Madame de Staël
- Pasteur Don
This year, iGEM Pasteur Paris was invited to the Cité des Sciences, the biggest science museum in Europe, as part of a “Biology Pole” trial. Our objective was to present our project and raise awareness about antibiotic resistance for a weekend.
We spoke with more than one hundred visitors at our booth with the aid of videos and activities. First, we tested each visitor’s knowledge of bacteria by asking questions about their shape, size, location, and their beneficial or harmful properties. Then, we talked about antibiotics and we realized that a significant portion of the audience was not well informed at all. After explaining the context of our project, we popularized the principle of detection of our diagnostic device around one question: “How to catch bacteria with a DNA lasso?”. The idea was to imagine our aptamers as lassos or wires that were specific to some bacteria.
All in all, it was a great opportunity and a big challenge to share with non-scientists and adapt our speech to an audience of all ages.
We had the opportunity to present to four classes of middle school students. The objective, in agreement with their life science teacher, was to explain our project, synthetic biology and science in simple terms. We focused on antibiotic resistance since it is one of the greatest issues of the 21st century. We taught them about the basis of cellular biology by showing them how bacteria work. The concept of antibiotic resistance was then detailed with several animations.
We were pleasantly surprised by their insight and the questions they answered. We also received great feedback from the professor who wants to renew the experience as soon as possible. We truly hope that this presentation has raised awareness between these students and, above all, sparked vocations.
The Pasteur Don is the annual national call by the Institut Pasteur and all its researchers for public donations to fight against diseases that threaten our health.
During these days, famous patrons and media partners relay the cause and promote scientific research to as many people as possible.
The 2019 edition took place at the same time as the National Science Fair, held all over France to make science more accessible to children, teenagers and families.
We took part in both events at the Institut Pasteur where we presented our project to an extremely curious and interesting public. Young and old were there for the event, trying to understand how the next generation of rapid diagnostic devices for the detection of pathogenic bacteria will participate in stopping antibiotic resistance development.