Team:Thessaloniki/Public Engagement

March 7

March 7: Participation in “Biotechnology: A multifaceted science” event.

Participation in “Biotechnology: A multifaceted science” event.

This event was a great opportunity for us, to reach out to University peers. The event was structured in three pillars of topics, presented by professors, specialists as well as students. One of our team members held a speech on the basic aspects of biotechnology. As a newly founded team at that time, we found this event a great opportunity to reach out to University peers and spread the word of our future plan to participate in iGEM the competition. That day we talked with many students interested in learning more about our work. Additionally, we had the chance to meet Dr. Skouras Zaharias, a biology Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with great experience in Bioethics and Biosafety aspects. Professor Skouras showed interest in our team and was more willing to help us achieve our goals. A few months later, we contacted him again in order to present our work in more detail and discuss about the bioethics aspects of it.

April 1

April 1: Participation in PATh (Physicists Aristotle university of Thessaloniki) Event

Participation in PATh (Physicists Aristotle university of Thessaloniki) Event

Two members of our iGEM team participated in the third scientific conference for undergraduate researchers held by PATh ( a voluntary team of physicists in our University). This event took place in “KEDEA” the Research Dissemination Centre of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. One of our goals was to promote the interdisciplinary aspect of iGEM competition. Through our speech we welcomed undergraduate physics, engineers and computer scientists to join an iGEM team and involve in the field of synthetic biology. We presented the basic principles of synthetic biology, the iGEM Competition as well as the history of our team in the competition. The best part of the event was the after talk with the participants. In fact, a lot of students in the audience were interested to learn about the forthcoming 2020 iGEM team. It was the first time we presented our team and our goals to the public and it was safe to say that our mission was completed!

May 10

May 10: Participation in the 25o SCHMS

Participation in the 25o SCHMS

The Scientific Congress of Hellenic Medical Students (SCHMS) is the pinnacle of the activities of the Scientific Society of Hellenic Medical Students. It is a classic event especially for the student community, aiming to unify the whole scientific community associated with medicine. The Greek iGEM teams could not miss this event. This year it was held in Thessaloniki, so we welcomed our friends from Athens and Thessaly to join us in Concert Hall of Thessaloniki and participate in the 25th SCHMS. Two members of our team participated in the conference in collaboration with two fellow iGEMers from iGEM Athens and iGEM Thessaly. Before the congress, we had skype meeting with the other two teams in order organize our four speeches. Our goal was to present synthetic biology, its applications in medicine and the iGEM competition. This event was the first collaboration of the Greek iGEM teams in Greece for 2019. It was a great experience as we learned from one another and we had the chance to discuss about our projects for the competition.

May 11

May 11: Participation in 41st Scientific Conference of the Hellenic Society of Biological Sciences (EEBE)

Participation in 41st Scientific Conference of the Hellenic Society of Biological Sciences (EEBE)

Our team was happy to participate in the 41st Scientific Conference of the Hellenic Society of Biological Sciences, among other scientists and researchers. This annual conference aims to contribute to the collaboration between research teams working in various fields of Biology Sciences both in Greece and abroad. The main goal is to highlight the research activity of young researchers including pre- and postgraduate students. Our team, eager to learn more about the research developments in the modern fields of Biology research, participated in the conference. It is worth to mention that is was the first time our team presented the preliminary idea of our work to the participants of the conference.

May 12 & May 20

May 12: AUTH on Sunday- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki reaching to Community

AUTH on Sunday- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki reaching to Community

AUTH on Sunday is one of the biggest, annual events of our University aiming at welcoming all Thessaloniki residents. Through experiments, observations, guided tours of our University museums, archives and collections, creative workshops, games and presentations, students of all ages had the opportunity to experience the educational and academic work of AUTH for the seventh year in a row. Our team members were there the whole day. We prepared many activities for both young and older friends. Bacteria made of paper with “colorful” properties were given to children in order to make their own synthetic organism and understand the basic concept of synthetic biology. At the same time we presented to parents and older students the iGEM competition and the world of synthetic biology. We were happy to learn that many high school students were interested in participating in an iGEM team and learning more about this field of synthetic biology. Auth on Sunday reminded us of the inextricable links that our University has with our city. It was a great pleasure for us but at the same time a responsibility to ensure that these ties are strengthened year after year.

May 20: AUTH Student Week

Auth Students Week is an annual week event in our campus.Student Week stretches across multiple days, where AUTH teams can participate and present their work, which can include theatrical plays, concerts, sports, painting exhibitions as well as many cultural activities. Our team was a part of this year's events. We had a booth at the center of our campus where many fellow students arrived and learned about our work and research. The most exciting part of this experience was that two students of the Journalism School of Auth University interviewed us and wrote an article at their blog page devoted to the iGEM competition and our participation in it.

July 3

July 3: Visiting the faculty of Medical Sciences of Aristotle University Thessaloniki

Visiting the faculty of Medical Sciences of Aristotle University Thessaloniki. Project Reveal- An event organized by iGEM Thessaloniki

We were honored to meet the University Administrator of the school of Medical Sciences Dr. Dardavesis Theodoros. The purpose of the meeting was both to present our research project to Dr. Dardavesis and his colleagues, but also to inform the academic community about the opportunities given to students for research and innovation through an undergraduate research program like iGEM competition. After a long discussion with Dr. Dardavesis we were delighted to hear that he as a professor and Administrator and his team of colleagues would provide us with their support through our journey to the Giant Jamboree.

July 3: Project Reveal- An event organized by iGEM Thessaloniki

As our project was developing, we received a lot of questions on our work from fellow students from a wide range of scientific backgrounds. The need for a detailed presentation of our work was fulfilled with our project reveal event. On July 4th our team presented their work at the Department of Chemical Engineering of Aristotle University, many students and professors attended our presentation. During this event we received many targeted questions from the audience that helped us improve our presentation skills and explain in detail more complex aspects of our work.

July 16

July 16: Visiting Eurobank meeting with the v-Banking team

Visiting Eurobank meeting with the v-Banking team

We were kindly invited by one of the biggest bank companies in our Country, Eurobank, for a very fruitful conversation with the v-Banking team. V-Banking is an innovative approach of the company to young entrepreneurs in order to help them build their future company network and support them at every step. After an accurate presentation of the full potential of the v-Banking method the team presented us with a video of young entrepreneurs and how they made their idea a reality. They provided us with useful information on what are the next steps to move forward with our idea. We talked about funding opportunities for young businessmen. To help our effort, Eurobank became one of our sponsors and provided us with financial aid to achieve our goals.

September 1 & September 9

September 1: Visualizing our Toolkit

Visualizing our Toolkit. Our iGEM BOX: Production of The Box.

During our Journey to iGEM, our team performed multiple presentations of our work in a variety of different audiences. From scientists, doctors and corporate managers to younger students, parents and fellow students, our goal was to be seen and understood not only by the scientific community but also by the wider society in order to learn and implement in our work feedback the most efficient way. We teamed up with Real Creations Studio, a group specialized in the production of commercial advertising videos and creating high-end motion graphics. We were so excited to collaborate with them in designing the animation of our DNA computer. After long sessions with the producers, we came up with a precise representation of our work. We finally had a visual tool in our hands that could help us reach out to the world and spread the word of Synthetic Biology.

September 9: Our iGEM BOX: Production of The Box

This year, we wanted to make sure that the iGEM Competition, and synthetic biology in general, would come in attention of a larger audience. We aimed to inform people of various ages and scientific backgrounds about our work and our long iGEM journey. We teamed up with Tshop marketing services to produced a short video in which we "translated" our whole experience in iGEM with five simple objects. We described our experiences and our feeling connecting us with our team and the iGEM competition. Make sure to check the creative output of this collaboration in the following video:

September 7-15

September 7-15: Participation in the 84th TIF Helexpo Exhibition

Participation in the 84th TIF Helexpo Exhibition

Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) is the most important exhibition event in our country, taking place, annually, in Thessaloniki. Exhibitors from all over Europe meet at TIF every year to present innovative products and technological advancements. We had the opportunity to participate in this year’s one week event on ACADEMIA ,the pavilion that is denoted to undergraduate research teams, and present our work to hundreds of visitors. In addition, we met numerous specialists, company representatives and professors from different scientific backgrounds who were interested in our work. This allowed us to establish an overview of how our project reflects to a possible user.

September 28

September 28: Presenting our work to high school students at local scout community

Presenting our work to high school students at local scout community

During the summer, we arranged a visit to the local scout community at our home town. We were more than happy to present iGEM competition and synthetic biology to young students. The audience was interested to hear about impressive Synbio applications and innovations of the latest years. We were glad to find out that many of them knew the basic principles of synthetic biology and that they were excited to learn more about the iGEM community. We presented our work in a simplistic manner and answered many on-point questions. One of our goals is to make synthetic biology comprehensive to everyone. After the presentation, we held a short game of “Make your own iGEM project” by separating the kids into two teams and asking them to decide on a project as an iGEM high school team. We asked them to thing of a worldwide (or local) problem that our society faces. We then presented them the following diagram:

We asked them to find a way to fund their work as a high school team with no experience in fundraising and finally find the scientists, University professors and specialists that would help them complete their goals. The game was a success and both teams came up with great projects. They were so excited that after the end of the presentations we elaborated on how they could start their own high school in Team!