Team:UFRGS Brazil/Education

Educational and Public Engagement - GlyFloat - Team iGEM UFRGS 2019

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Spreading and Learning



In the last year, our group became very excited about one idea: how synthetic biology could change the lives of our community? From the start, our goal was to impact people's lives and the way they perceive the benefits of science for society. But how could a bunch of college students achieve this? We didn't know yet. We had to start from scratch, learning how to approach people, institutions, companies and the press - newspapers, and radio stations.

One of the best ways to impact our community is through education. This led us from middle school to college, teaching young kids to adults about the beauty of this science and its real-world applications. Aside from lectures, we reached the press so we could spread our knowledge about synbio and its wonders to the general public.

Also, during the development of our human practices, we noticed that people still have lots of concern when the subject is OGMs. This made us think about the importance of spreading synthetic biology to the community, so we intensified our engagement with them through more speeches and sharing more of our daily life in the lab on our social media.











Lecture in High School, João Antônio Satte public School of Porto Alegre. September 10, 2019

Talking to elementary school students about synthetic biology could be a challenge, but these students showed much interest in biology and genetics! On September 10th, our team member Angelo Luiz Angonezi talked to a group of students from a municipal elementary school in Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul state. They discussed DNA, Genetic Engineering and Synthetic Biology in a very interactive way. Once we showed examples of other iGEM projects, and


Lecture in High School, Dom Antônio Reis State School of Faxinal do Soturno. July 19, 2019

On July 19th, 2019, member Luiza Pereira gave a lecture to high school students at Dom Antônio Reis State School of Faxinal do Soturno, in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. In the lecture in question, the students were introduced to synthetic biology and how the biological systems work, with didactic and illustrative examples. They also learned about iGEM and its importance for the world scientific and lay community. Finally, the GlyFloat project was introduced to the students, explaining its importance in the global scenario of pesticide abuse and the machinery behind it.


Lecture in High School, Dom Antônio Reis State School of Faxinal do Soturno. July 19, 2019

Maybe because we study in a capital city, we often forget the importance of spreading science everywhere, from the capital to the interior, from school to university. Thus, on July 19th, 2019, member Luiza Pereira gave a lecture to high school students at Dom Antônio Reis State School of Faxinal do Soturno, in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. In the lecture in question, the students were introduced to synthetic biology and how the biological systems work, with didactic and illustrative examples. They also learned about iGEM and its importance for the world scientific and lay community. Finally, the GlyFloat project was introduced to the students, explaining its importance in the global scenario of pesticide abuse and the machinery behind it.


Lecture in Academic Week of the Food Engineering, UFRGS. July 11, 2019

During the execution of our project, we realized that we were giving due importance to the dissemination of the project and science outside the university and had not realized how vast and diverse the students at our university are. Therefore, in order to expand the scientific horizons of students from other courses at our university, on July 11th, 2019, members Heloisa Oss Boll and Vitória Xavier were responsible for conducting the lecture “Food Technology by Another Bias: Impacts of Synthetic Biology” during the Academic Week of the Food Engineering course. Between introductions on synthetic biology, biotechnology, and genetic engineering, many basic concepts have been elucidated, such as DNA, RNA, proteins, among others. Issues such as the emerging and important connections between synthetic biology and food engineering were also raised. The dissemination of iGEM, the competition, and the project was also the topic of the lecture, showing examples of food engineering projects developed at iGEM and highlighting the alarming dangers of glyphosate in rivers and lakes and how it arrives in these locations. Questions regarding biosafety and large-scale biotechnological production methods were raised and helped enrich the lecture.


MAGIS Innovation, Anchieta School. June 26 and 27, 2019

On June 26th and 27th, 2019, four members of our team, Mariana Hentz, Augusto Penteriche, Angelo Angonezi, and Luis Dias, participated in the event MAGIS Innovation at Anchieta School of Porto Alegre. The idea of the event was short lectures of up to 15 minutes, inspired by the famous TedTalks to bring inspiration to the students. Members had to find a simple and interesting way to teach some synthetic biology to laypeople and younger people. We believe we have captivated many hearts through science and biotechnology. Overall, the project was explained to the students, but in this case, it was not the main focus. IGEM has served as a banner of inspiration, showing that we are all students and that everyone can do great things, such as participating in the world's largest synthetic biology competition. After our project was explained to the students, many expressed enthusiasm towards the possibilities that can be achieved with science and Synthetic Biology! Click here to get to know more about this amazing event, or hereto listen to our speak!


Pint of Science, Divina Comédia. May 22, 2019

On May 22nd, 2019, our team was honored to be invited to participate in the classic Pint of Science event, which takes place annually around the world and aims to bring science closer to people by taking them to the bar. Members Deborah da Cruz Schafhauser and João Pedro Wagner were responsible for discussing, at a bar table, the subject “Synthetic Biology and Water Quality”, at the bar The Divine Comedy. The table was also formed by Professor Alexandre Arenzon, who works in the UFRGS ecology department with aquatic ecosystems. During the conversation, concepts related to water quality, such as waste regulation, chemical accumulation and their consequences for the lives present in the aquatic environment were discussed. Different didactics were used by our members to capture the attention of the audience sitting at the bar, talking about the evolution of genetic engineering and the birth of synthetic biology, the difficulties in applying synthetic biology products in the market, as well as their relationship with the interface between companies and universities in Brazil. The event had a great participation of the public speaking at the bar and the discussions were useful for the listeners and table participants. More can be found on the link.


Lecture for post-graduate in Agribusiness students, UFRGS. April 17, 2019

Following the idea of disseminating in different horizons of our university, on April 17th, 2019, members Luís Dias and Solon da Rosa spoke to post-graduate in Agribusiness students at UFRGS. the focus of the talk was to give examples of how synthetic biology can be applied to agronomic sciences, especially to new technologies and products that could change the agribusiness scenario. Also, we were asked to introduce some techniques that are common when working in synthetic biology process. The techniques explored were cell culturing as the main source of biological material and DNA altering methods, as TALEN, Zinc Fingers, and CRISPR. Plus, our public was very heterogeneous in bachelor's courses, we centered our talk on basics and simple theories in biology. In the end, we presented our project (Glyfloat), our goal as competing in IGEM and it could be applied in the field. The agribusiness students were the main public, the possibility of our work becoming a real product was explored, as well as it could be changed and related to other agronomic fields and problems.


We also got the opportunity to speak in many different radios and got to be on the news all around Brazil! On the next part of this wiki page, we list all the different media we got to go out on, and the links to reach the article/video about us.

Band RS - "Students seek financing to participate in competition"

Click here to find out more about the Band RS article.


Record News - "Filter capable of degrading glyphosate from water!"

Click here to find out more about the Record News article.


Zero hora - "UFRGS students develop technology to end pesticides in rivers and seas."

Click here to find out more about the Zero Hora article.


G1 - "UFRGS students creates project to eliminate pesticides from water."

Click here to find out more about the G1 article.


'Integração' Newspaper - "Student from Faxinal do Soturno develops biofilter to clean rivers."

Click here to find out more about the 'Integração' Newspaper article.


'Super Interessante' Magazine - "Brazilians fight pesticides in rivers with bacteria that 'eat the poison'."

Click here to find out more about the 'Super Interessante' Magazine article.


UFRGS Science Website - "With a project to eliminate pesticides from water, students seek financing to participate in the world's biggest synthetic biology competition."

Click here to find out more about the UFRGS Science Website article.


Sul 21 - "UFRGS students create solution for glyphosate contamination in water bodies and seek financing for project."

Click here to find out more about the Sul 21 article.


'Tua Radio Cacique' - "Lagoense participates in UFRGS project that seeks to end pesticides in rivers and seas."

Click here to find out more about the 'Tua Radio Cacique' article.


Estação FM Radio - "UFRGS students seek to participate in EUA competition."

Click here to find out more about the Estação FM Radio article.


Difusora Radio - "UFRGS students project intends to help in the cleanse of pesticides from rivers."

Click here to find out more about the Difusora Radio article.


Eureka Brasil - "Brazilians will take to the USA a filter for glyphosate degradation in water bodies."

Click here to find out more about the Eureka Brasil article.


Reporter Brasil - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticides residues from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the Reporter Brasil article.


'Outras Palavras' - "Escaping from a pesticide-diet based."

Click here to find out more about the 'Outras Palavras' article.


Profissão Biotec - "Brazilian temas participating in iGEM: GLyFloat."

Click here to find out more about the Profissão Biotec article.


Cidade Ibirubá Radio - "Group integrated by ibirubense creates bacteria that 'eats' pesticide.""

Click here to find out more about the Cidade Ibirubá Radio article.


Uol News - "Students create technique that 'eats' most used pesticide in Brazil."

Click here to find out more about the Uol News article.


Organic News Brasil - "UFRGS students develop technique to clean glyphosate in rivers."

Click here to find out more about the Organic News Brasil article.


'Semanário' Newspaper - "Barbosense integrates project against pesticide that might be selected to competition in the USA."

Click here to find out more about the 'Semanário' Newspaper article.


Caarapó Online - "UFRGS students create a project to eliminate pesticides from water."

Click here to find out more about the Caarapó Online article.


Agrolink - "Filter can degrade glyphosate in rivers and lakes."

Click here to find out more about the Agrolink article.


'Sou Ecológico' Magazine - "Students seek financing to a project that reduces pesticide contamination."

Click here to find out more about the 'Sou Ecológico' Magazine article.


Leouve - "Barbosense integrates UFRGS project that might participate in a competition in the USA."

Click here to find out more about the Leouve article.


UFRGS Propesq - "With a project to eliminate pesticides from water, students seek financing to participate in the world's biggest synthetic biology competition."

Click here to find out more about the UFRGS Propesq article.


Guaíba Newspaper - "UFRGS students seek support to participate in a USA competition after creating project that eliminates pesticide from water bodies."

Click here to find out more about the Guaíba Newspaper article.


Portal Adesso - "Barbosense integrates UFRGS project that might participate in USA competition."

Click here to find out more about the Portal Adesso article.


Uol TV - "Students seek resources to participate in a competition."

Click here to find out more about the Uol TV article.


CEVS Bulletin - "UFRGS students develop technology to eliminate glyphosate from rivers and seas."

Click here to find out more about the CEVS Bulletin article.


Sintrafesc - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the Sintrafesc article.


Ihu UNISINOS - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the Ihu UNISINOS article.


'Por trás do alimento' - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the 'Por trás do alimento' article.


Galileu - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the Galileu article.


Carta Capital Envolverde - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the X article.


'Ambiente Legal' - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the Ambiente Legal article.


'Primeira Hora SC' - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the 'Primeira Hora SC' article.


'Vila de Utopia' - "Afterall, is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the 'Vila de Utopia' article.


'Prosa Verso e Arte' Newspaper - "UFRGS students develop technology to end pesticide in rivers and seas."

Click here to find out more about the 'Prosa Verso e Arte' Newspaper article.


Amazônia Brasil Web Radio - "Is it possible to eliminate pesticide residue from water and food?"

Click here to find out more about the Amazônia Brasil Web Radio article.


Rastro Rural - "Brazilians fights pesticide in rivers with bacteria that 'eats the poison'."

Click here to find out more about the Rastro Rural article.


Microbiology Blog IFRJ - "Glyphosate degradation by E.coli"

Click here to find out more about the Microbiology Blog IFRJ article.


'Folha verde' News - "New technology to clean waters is urgent, once pollution of stream, rivers, lakes and sea are on the rise."

Click here to find out more about the 'Folha verde' News article.


Interview on Serro Azul Radio on Cerro Largo, hometown of the team member Mariana Hentz.

Our team member Mariana Hentz participated on an interview in Serro Azul Radio on the city of Cerro Largo, her hometown.