Team:SNU India/Public Engagement


Public Engagement

Visit to Schools

Igniting curiosity in young minds and inspiring them to learn something new for a cause they care about has been a core belief of team AlBaCo. Members of our team (Shiv, Aakash, Ranjini, Mentor Surabhi and PI Dr. Rohini) visited two schools in Delhi- NCR- Pathways, Gurgaon and Pathways, Noida in order to provide food for thought to the younglings of 10 th grade! The hour-long interaction started off with a brief pop- quiz and an introduction to iGEM and our team. This was followed by a brief familiarization with the idea of “synthetic biology”. A short video on endocrine disrupting molecules and how they end up in waste water was screened to pique the interest of students. We discussed the current waste water treatment plans in India and how the government plans to introduce improvisations. Which led to the question- “How do we remove EDCs from waste water?” Current procedures for tackling EDCs are quite expensive… that is where our idea came in! Our team members educated the students about the benefits of algae and how it can possibly degrade estrogen mimicking compounds from pharmaceutical waste water. We further explained how a bacterial partner can act as a detection system. The last part of the session was a “think-tank” session where students were divided themselves into teams and came up with innovative ideas for solving real world problems. Some of these ideas included-
  • Engineering sea cucumber to produce O 2 for prevention of coral reef decay.
  • Using dragonflies to make glow sticks as a solution to lack of electricity in rural areas.

It was awe-inspiring for us to see how vast students can think if just provided with a spark.Our members helped the students in brainstorming their ideas and the possible issues with it.

The students stayed back asking questions even after the conclusion of the session. They discussed their ideas with our PI- Dr. Rohini Garg. They asked us about how we perform our experiments. One student also requested us to provide her with research papers on how algae can be used to purify water.

It is always satisfying to know that you have left an impact on a person with your ideas. It was thus, a very new a worthwhile experience for our members to become educators. Our members recall that one students parted ways on the note, “Science is so cool!” Oh! And also, the students were spotted flaunting their iGEM stickers in the corridors!

Interaction with Students from Shiv Nadar School

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Students of classes 11 th and 12 th of the Shiv Nadar School visited our university, and while they were there, our team members Shrihari and Aakash gave the students a brief introduction to iGEM and synthetic biology.

The students were made aware of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds as water pollutants and how our algae can be used for its bioremediation. We further elaborated on our bacterial system as a detection module.

The students were encouraged to brainstorm and come up with innovative solutions to problems that they think should be tackled.