Biotechnology, synthetic biology, and genetic engineering are still widely discussed in our community [1]. People are often ignorant of scientific research and afraid of anything related to biotechnology or its benefits. Therefore, we were talking to different experts in science communication to have a better and more integrated approach on how to interact with people that are not directly involved in science. During these interviews, we learned that most problems with science, in general, come from the open public’s fear of the unknown and too little time or commitment of scientists to explain more about their research.

We wanted to tackle the problem at its root and decided to concentrate on the young generation and encourage them to be more open to science. However, before we set out to engage the public, we wanted to get some advice from science communication professionals. Two of our interviewees gave us advice on how to approach science communication and what to look out for.

Dorothea Kaufman told us that schools often have problems with providing the materials and time to show young students what the practical implementation of genetic engineering looks like. Moreover, she advised us to go back to our former schools, talk about our studies, and thereby to raise interest in young people for science. That's why we decided to visit schools and teach students about synthetic biology and its most recent approaches. To make this as easy to understand as possible, we used our project as an example of the great advantages that can be accomplished with science and biotechnology.

Following the advice given by Dr. Lorenz Adlung, we decided to do a short Q & A session with the students. This way, we learned about their hopes and fears related to biotechnology. We observed them carefully and collected feedback to improve our way of reaching out to other students. Also, we were very curious about their thoughts on our project. Dr. Adlung had recommended us to specifically speak to the youth since they would be expected to ask “basic questions.” These are obvious questions that are both most relevant to the grand public and researchers but possibly hard to think of from the perspective of a professional when dealing with the layman. “How do you bring the DNA into yeast?”, “How does the yeast know that it has to express the DNA you brought into it?” or “Can one isolate the receptor and look at it?” are questions that are not so different from the ones we asked ourselves during the project. That underlines Dr. Adlung’s statement that the curiosity of young people is fundamental and not such different from scientists’ questions.

However, we also conducted several experiments that we designed specifically for young students. This way, we gave them the chance to experience real lab work in their classroom. We made sure to choose simple but also vivid experiments to encourage further interest in scientific research.

We wanted to get as much feedback as possible from the students to have a confirmation on whether we were successful with our mission. Therefore we conducted a survey featuring different aspects of how our lesson was.

After our school experience, we decided to go even more to the roots of society. Therefore, we collaborated with iGEM UNAMBG to create a German version of their children’s storybook. It features different biotechnological approaches for diabetes patients. This way, we reached out to children giving them an insight into possible benefits of biotechnology. Thereby we were also taking away the fear of synthetic biology not only from them but also their parents.[LIKN PAGE] [Our German version]

Young students often believe that science is all about showing great results or celebrating achievements. But sometimes it is just about trying to tackle basic problems, like finding the optimal conditions for cloning or an in vitro ligation. That’s why we diced to create a PCR dice game for high school and college students. This way we indroduced them in a playful way to the exciting but sometimes also very tricky world of PCRs. [Bilder vom DICE und “SPIELREGELN”] Just like playing a game of ludo we want to encourage young scientists that giving up is never an option no matter how frustrating the situation may be. Sometimes all it needs is another try to make it work.

According to the advice given to us by both Dr. Dorothea Kaufmann and Dr. Adlung, we also wanted to reach out for the masses. Both told us that talking to people on the open street is an excellent way to start raising more interest in science and engaging in informative dialogues. For this reason, we decided to go to different public places in Heidelberg to talk to random passersby.

Very soon we realized that approaching people in public to talk about bioscience and biotechnology is not always easy. They are reluctant to be confronted with the topic or even afraid to ask questions themselves. Therefore, we used the postcards we had designed for our collaboration with Düsseldorf to educate the open public about our work. That's how we were able not only to raise more public interest in biotechnology but also to educate the society about the field and its recent proceedings.

Links habe ich [kursiv in Klammern] gesetzt