Apart from the different interactions that we had with other people to make our project progress, we wanted to share our knowledge on synthetic biology, as well as on the Asian hornet with other people, mainly students, through various conferences. Two of them were lead by two different Asian hornet specialists: Claire Villemant from the “ Natural History National Museum” of Paris, and Eric Darrouzet from the “Insect Biology’s Research Institute ” of Tours.

Why did we do that? Synthetic biology being an emerging discipline, easily misunderstood by the general public, we found relevant to share our knowledge on synthetic biology and on our project, for younger students, as well as for other researchers, to discover them. During our conferences, we also wished to discuss the production of GMOs in order to inform the public about the benefits they can generate.

What did they learn? SWe organised 3 conferences about synthetic biology and its related thematics: “Introduction to synthetic biology”, “Bacteria and Yeasts, Factories of tomorrow”, “Garage’s Biology, playful or harmful activity?”

Also, we invited Claire Villemant and Eric Darrouzet, 2 Asian hornet specialists, to discuss about the Asian hornet thematic and their work. You can find the summary of these conferences on our website: https://to-bee-hornet-to-bee.fr/event_EN.html.

You can also watch the full conferences on our YouTube channel here:
Warning, please note that these conferences are in French only.

• Introduction to synthetic biology:
  
• Garage’s Biology, playful or harmful activity?:
  
• Knowledge review on the Asian hornet:
  
• The invasion of the Asian Hornet:
  

Eric Darrouzet, an Asian hornet specialists during his presentation.

The Poitiers team with Claire Villemant, Asian hornet specialist

Gilles Truan, a molecular and metabolic engineer specialist of the Applied Sciences National Institute of Toulouse also came to Poitiers to make a conference on “Protein engineering to optimize a synthetic metabolic pathway leading to β-carotene in S.cerevisiae”.

Gilles Truan, molecular and metabolic engineer specialist at the Applied Sciences National Institute of Toulouse, making its conference on Protein engineering to optimize a synthetic metabolic pathway leading to β-carotene in S.cerevisiae.

We also did 4 school presentations about synthetic biology and our project, at the agricultural college François-Xavier of Venours, at the “Les Iris” high school of Lormont, at the “Victor Hugo” high school of Poitiers and at the “Jeanne-d’arc” Institute of Colombes (2 presentations, for high-schoolers and for preschoolers).

Tony Horbach, Marin Duthoit and Florian Justine after the presentation of Synthetic Biology and the To Bee… Hornet to Bee project at the François-Xavier High-school in Venours.

After the presentation at the François-Xavier High-school, a survey was given to the students to have a feedback on our presentation :
Our survey for our François-Xavier High-school presentation:

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Tony Horbach making a presentation of Synthetic Biology and the To Bee… Hornet to Bee project at the “Les Iris” high school.

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After Tony’s presentation, a survey was also given to the students to have a feedback on the presentation :
Our survey for our François-Xavier High-school presentation:

1 / 3

2 / 3

3 / 3

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It is interesting to note that one of the students indicated that they particularly appreciated that we broke the stereotype about GMOs. Indeed, during the question session of each presentation, we were able to emphasize on the difference between the received ideas on GMOs and what GMOs really are.

Marin Duthoit making a presentation of biology and the To Bee… Hornet to Bee project to preschoolers at the Jeanne d’Arc Institute.

After Marin’s presentation, a survey was also given to the students to have a feedback on the presentation :
Our survey for our Jeanne d’Arc Institute presentation:

1 / 3

2 / 3

3 / 3

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Finally, as we are the first team from Poitiers to participate in the iGEM competition, we presented our project, the iGEM competition and all it has brought us to master students, to see a new Poitiers team next year.

Tony Horbach making a presentation of the To Bee… Hornet to Bee project and the iGEM competition to master students.

Escape game

Other than classical ways to spread knowledge about synthetic biology, we wanted to add a touch of originality by organizing an escape game on the synthetic biology theme.

Why did we do that?
We wanted to make people discover synthetic biology in a more playful way than by classic conferences. Hence, an Escape game, where people would play around with different objects related to synthetic biology when trying to solve puzzles would be a nice experience

How did it go?
We organized 8 escape game sessions plus 2 training sessions, which went very well.

People were able to experience a fun activity where they were introduced to basic genetic principles applied in synthetic biology.

Draw my project

We also wanted to share an explanation of what our project is about in a more creative and visual way. Thus, we made a “Draw my project” video, helped by Emilie Robichon who did the drawings.
You can find the video here: