Instituto Unversitario para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades

During the past semesters we have visited the community of La Vía in Aguadilla in collaboration with the “Instituto Universitario para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades”. There, iGEM RUM met with community members to share some of our resources and knowledge in biosciences through hands-on workshops. The idea was to serve as a catalyst to facilitate useful tools to promote the development, growth and leadership of youth and adults in disadvantaged communities across the Island, specifically in La Vía. Our objectives were to provide support to address particular issues in their communities including infrastructure, food safety, healthcare, and education.

Molecular Biology: DNA Extraction Workshop

Nicole Zaragoza Rodríguez (Biology Team Member) guiding a community member in the process of lysis of a strawberry DNA extraction. Molecular biology, cellular biology and basic genetics concepts were discussed. This workshop was the first of a series of diverse topic areas, impacting about 8 young members between 6 and 17 years, and 4 adults.

Food Safety Workshop

Community young members attending and participating in the second “Ciencias pa’ La Vía” workshop. The main objectives of the workshop were: (1) sensitize persons in “La Vía” in Aguadilla about the relevance of food safety on our Island, (2) encourage community cohesion and resilience after hurricane María, and (3) establish a young leadership in a disadvantaged community in the west of Puerto Rico in agricultural sciences topics.

Microbiology Workshop

Lucía Colón (chief research director) interacting with a community member from “La Vía” during microbiology workshops. Young and adult had a chance to explore the microcosms by analyzing samples of water, sand, textiles, among others using light microscopy. The main objective of this workshop was to attract them to the fields of bioscience and Synthetic Biology.

La Vía

La Vía is a disadvantaged community located at the west-side of Puerto Rico, in Aguadilla. During the last decade, due to dissonances between community leaders, police and the mayor of this town, its encouragement, development and growth have been impaired with other sectors in this municipality. This had been influenced by past violent events, and high drugs incidents history. At present we, iGEM-UPRM, in collaboration with the Instituto Universitario para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades, and community leaders, are trying to captivate the younger persons attention and redirect it to positive subjects, such as the sciences. Using the Participatory Action Research (PAR), we hope to positively impact the future and the present of this historical community, and most importantly motivate them to get some interest on natural sciences.

Luisa R. Seijo Maldonado

Luisa R. Seijo Maldonado is a Professor in the Social Sciences Department of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez who focuses on researching gender issues, women violence and community-based movements. Seijo-Maldonado founded the Instituto Universitario para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades in 2003, having as main objective to transmit knowledge to disadvantaged communities through sciences and arts from the university community to community-based groups.

"Por una educación de ciencia y conciencia"