Team:XJTU-CHINA/Public Engagement
Public Engagement
Besides the project itself, we are also committed to making more people know about our project, synthetic biology and the conveniences it can bring to people's lives. To achieve this goal, we have carried out different activities for different age groups.
For the Public at All Ages
"Synthetic Biology Class" Activities
Knowledge Sharing through Online Courses
Since the beginning of the iGEM competition, we have realized that many people may not be very familiar with the competition and the synthetic biology field. Therefore, we created the WeChat public account of XJTU-iGEM.
In this account, we not only introduce and promote the iGEM competition and synthetic biology but also post the activities of project regularly to lead the public into life sciences progressively. In addition, we also recorded video courses related to our project or synthetic biology and put them in the WeChat public account. The video style we recorded was humorous and students around us thought highly of it.
"Compared with the teachers' lecture, sharing knowledge by peers is easier to understand. After listening to your course, I have a brand-new understanding of synthetic biology, which is much more interesting than I imagined before."--- Yutong Guo, our schoolmate
At present we have a total of 20 tweets, 248 followers and the highest click rate 201. We interact with the public on WeChat account frequently. There is no doubt that this approach will be constructive to bring the public closer to science and closer to our project. Furthermore, this approach fits well with the iGEM concept to combine with public and practical issues.
Questionnaire on Sleep Status and Acceptance of Microbial Products
We have collected 1300 questionnaires. The main respondents of our questionnaire were 18-35 years old. According to the data we collected, the main group of insomnia caused by excessive stress is also young people. In addition, the audience of our products is also mainly 18-35 years old, so we believed the questionnaire is valuable. This questionnaire plays an important role in the initial establishment of our project.
According to the survey results, the general sleep time of the population is 6-8 hours. Most people use a variety of methods to improve their sleep, including exercise, diet, music and more. About 47% said they would like to try aromatherapy products to improve sleep. For microbial products, most people agree that they are willing to try and use home systems that are based on microbial systems.
Based on this, we believe in the promising future of our product.
For Lovely Children
iGEMers Take You to Science!Laboratory Open Day: Amazing Bacterial Painting
Location: Laboratory of School of Life Sciences of Xi'an Jiaotong University
Participants: XJTU iGEMers, lovely children
First, the team members patiently told the children about DNA, RNA, genes, and traits, and enlighten them with some interesting examples to let the children understand the charm of synthetic biology. The children showed strong interests in the fragrance we produced in our project.
Secondly, to ensure that children can safely carry out experiments, iGEM member He Jiaxin delivered a lecture on laboratory safety to the children.
Finally, and most interestingly, bacterial painting began. The brushes we used were E. coil that can express three kinds of fluorescent proteins, namely GFP, BFP and RFP, which were also used in our project to produce green, blue and red fluorescence, respectively.
Under the guidance of several iGEMers, the children gave full play to their imagination and began the experience of painting creation. Children's works was full of whimsy and unique. In just one hour, everyone created amazing paintings by themselves using smart bacteria.
Science Camp
Location: Instrumental Analysis Center of Xi'an Jiaotong University
Participants: XJTU iGEMers, lovely children, teachers
A science camp for kids was launched at the Instrumental Analysis Center of Xi'an Jiaotong University for public awareness.
We invited professor Changhe Wang, professor Huadong Liu, and Dr. Zhuoyang Lu to introduce the principle and application of experiment instruments, including cryo-EM, TOF, LSCM, GCMC etc., some of which contribute to the measurements and demonstration of our project. Later on, a lecture on synthetic biology was delivered to improve their scientific literacy, and we also provided them a brief introduction about our project. The children were enthusiastic and asked us a lot of scientific questions, from genetically engineered drugs to what would happen if the earth lost gravity? Their lovely questions and their passion of science make us feel the significance of this activity.
Sun Village: Establishment of cell model
Sun Village: A rescue centre for the children of prisoners. In order to let these innocent and special children have a sheltered home and receive education as much as possible, Shaanxi established this center. With the support of the society, the fate of a group of children has been changed, opening a new chapter in life.
We are concerned about this group. As iGEMers, we belive it means much to take this opportunity to bring the knowledge of synthetic biology to children.
Lectures
Science Window: Cockroach Terminator
In 2018, the Chinese team at Shenzhen University chose the fungus metarhizium to solve the cockroach control problem. They enhanced the toxicity of metarhizium so that it could kill cockroaches more efficiently without being detected by the host's immune system.
Science Window: A Healthy Sweetener-psicose
The 2018 igem team at Xi'an Jiaotong University created a new option for diabetics by synthesizing aloxone as a sucrose substitute.
Cell Model
The children were actively involved in the build of a cell model with the help of iGEMers, and the vivid handmaking prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells were created.
The children were excited in the process of establishing cell models and had a preliminary understanding of the structure of cell models under the guidance of iGEMer. This activity not only publicizes the ideas of our project and iGEM, but also is very helpful to the future development of children.
For Passionate Peers
Teaching Activities from XJTU-CHINA 2018
At the beginning of our project, although everyone is interested in joining iGEM, in fact, no one has deep understanding of synthetic biology. Based on this, Li Jiabao, a member of XJTU-China iGEM team in 2018, recorded the teaching video of synthetic biology and sorted out the materials related to biological foundation, which played a great role in the process of project design.
Website：https://www.bilibili.com/video/av40887113/
Our blibli Account：iGEM_niwakoki
Applying for and Popularizing the Independent laboratory for iGEM
At present, most iGEM teams do not have independent laboratories for their project. They basically carry out iGEM projects in the laboratories of professors. At first, we did the same. However, in the process of our project, many junior students contacted us and told us they are willing to join iGEM next year. We began to realize that implementation of project in the shared space with other non-iGEMers is less efficient and is not conducive to the inheritance, so we have applied for an independent laboratory space for iGEMers from school, which is located in the Room 104 of our department, and equipped with sufficient instrument for our experiment. Up to now, many junior students have come to visit our laboratory. iGEMers also showed the experimental operation of synthetic biology to them. The junior students said that they can try their own ideas boldly in such a free environment and feel the joy of scientific research.
For the Elderly
In addition to the young people with high pressure, we consider that insomnia is also common among the elderly. Therefore, during the holiday, we went to the third village of Jiaotong University with small gifts to learn about the sleep situation of the elderly.
Among the 25 elderly people we consulted randomly, 22 of them have insomnia. Most of them suffer from other diseases, such as stomach disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc., which make it difficult to determine the cause of insomnia. In addition, 11 of them have long-term insomnia problems, and have tried a variety of sleep aid method, they think that the most effective method is eating sleeping pills. However, the elderly agreed that the smell of lemon is pleasant, while lavender has a calming effect. Based on this, we think our products can be used as auxiliary method.
For Our Team
Questionnaire on hardware and application
In order to better understand the future market demand and acceptance of our smell generating devices and matching APP, we designed a questionnaire and collect 1000 valid data.
According to the results of the survey, about 75% of people expressed their willingness to purchase our products and download related apps. We think that our products and matching APP have a certain degree of market acceptance, which laid the foundation for our future marketing. Based on the results, we have improved our hardware and designed APP.
Visit of Yuensun Biological Technology Co., Ltd
Location: Xi'an, Shanxi Province, China
Participants: A leading plant extracting herbal formula supplier, XJTU iGEMers
Xian Yuensun Biological Technology Co., Ltd. with a famous brand of "YESHERB", is a leading plant extracting herbal formula supplier in China.
During the holiday, we visited the company, introduced the iGEM competition to their manager, Mr. Jin, and briefly introduced our project. He thought that the idea of selective expression is relatively novel, and the production method had great advantages. The iGEM competition is a good way to let the public know about synthetic biology, and it will have a bright future to use synthetic biology to improve life quality.
Visit of Tianfeng Xi'an Natural Field Bio-technique Co., Ltd
Location: Xi'an, Shanxi Province, China
Participants: A plant extracts supplier, XJTU iGEMers
As a herb extract producer, Xi'an Natural Field Bio-technique Company is rich experienced in the production of plant fragrance, so we visited them, and discussed our project with Manager Yang of Quality Department.
He showed great interest in our project. He told us currently the most conventional method for fragrance extract is mainly physical process with easy operation but high cost and low yield. Compared with the traditional industrial production, ours has great advantages. We only need to consider biosafety and it is hopeful to put it into the market in the future.
Anecdotes
We have never been alone during the IGEM journey. Our teammates and good friends are always with us. It is lucky for us to have a "snail girl". When we do the experiment, we may forget to have dinner. Considering this situation, the kind "Two Long" (nick name) prepared delicious meals for the members of our IGEM team. After work, it is a very happy thing to have a hearty and delicious dinner!
