Team:TUDelft/Public EngagementTest
As a team we we are inspired by the potential the microbial world holds, we wanted to share our fascination for this microbial biodiversity. That is why this year we introduced the general public to the hidden world of microbes. During our Foldscope event we taught attendees how to fold their own origami microscope and how to use these microscopes to access the excitement of scientific exploration. To further engage society in our project we organized Global Meeting Point, an open ended discussion with the local church community, where we received feedback on how people from outside the field of synthetic biology look upon our project and Genetically Modified Organisms in general. Furthermore, we participated and organised many more educational events where we discussed the impact of our project with a range of people, from little kids to students to experts in the field of synthetic biology.
Foldscope Event
On earth there are more than a trillion different bacterial species. We as a team are fascinated by this microbial diversity, and we wanted to share out fascination for this world. We thought that microscopes would be the perfect tool to introduce people to the hidden world of microbes.
That is why we organized a workshop in Delft, the place where the first microscope was invented by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. This workshop took place on the 7th of September, the day he put microbes on the map by reporting his findings to the Dutch Royal Society.
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We started with a talk by Michele Laureni, who introduced everyone to the world of microbes. Ad Bergkamp then explained how microscopes are the perfect tools to access this world. To make this experience complete, everyone was given a foldable microscope also known as Foldscopes.
--“Foldscope was created with a vision to solve the accessibility problem in science. What began as a simple idea has now grown into a company that provides powerful low-cost tools to communities around the world in an effort to help advance education, health, and opportunity. Our mission is simply to expand access to science and break down the price barrier between people & the curiosity and excitement of scientific exploration.”--
The workshop was filled with fun and amazing activities. After helping people fold their foldscopes, people could prepare their own samples. By guiding the participants on how to prepare these samples for in their microscopes, we gave them the opportunity to start exploring the wonders of nature.
During the event participants were able to take pictures of their own samples while they were looking through their self assembled microscopes. We walked people through what they visualised with these microscopes by use of a panel discussion. With over 50 participants our event was a big success.
Because we wanted to encourage interest in science across social and economic backgrounds, and we wanted to give more people this hand on experience. With the proceeds we raised from this event we bought more of these origami microscopes. In collaboration with Foldscope we send these microscopes to Mumbai in India. With these microscopes more workshops were organized by so called Foldscope superusers at multiple urban schools. We hope that these tiny actions can introduce more people to the hidden world of microbes.
Global Meeting Point
On August 22nd we organized Global Meeting Point together with the International Student Chaplaincy in Delft. The goal of Global Meeting Point is to bring people together and discuss a range of social subjects. During this event we discussed our project and synthetic biology with the people from different backgrounds and religions. By having an open ended discussion about we got the opportunity to teach the general public what synthetic biology is and what we can achieve with it. Furthermore, we were able to learn what people different backgrounds think about genetically engineered organisms. We believe that conversations are the way to narrow the gap between academia and the public, leading to a future where genetic engineering is no longer a taboo.
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Children's Lecture
As team we wanted to inspire and teach everybody about synthetic biology and the microbes that it contains. On the 15th of September we went to the Boerhaave museum where a special lecture was given by us to children from elementary school. We taught them about bacteria, synthetic biology and how to build a synthetic cell. This lecture led to some very refreshing discussions about how we could ensure the safety of our project and about how our platform could be applied to real world problems.
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Education & Engagement
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Throughout our project we have shared our story on biotechnologie.nl. With these stories, we aimed to inspire the public about the potential of synthetic biology and educated the public about our project.
To reach people about our project and what iGEM is we wrote a blog post in Eurofins Genomics. Click here to read the article: Blog Eurofins Genomics.
At the Dutch Biotechnology Conference we presented our project for the very first time! At this event we interacted with the experts in the Life Science and Technology field.
The eXplore eXtracurricular event encourages students from the TU Delft to participate in activities during their studies. Here we presented what iGEM is and what it stands for.
We presented our project to students of the Applied Sciences Faculty at the TU Delft. To inspire students to think about synthetic biology we informed them about iGEM and the potential it holds.
We presented at the Family Day of the Nanobiology study program. Nanobiology students can take their friends and family to this day to show them what Nanobiology is all about. To contribute to this fun and informative day, we showed the participants some of the amazing iGEM projects of past iGEM TU Delft teams, to showcase the potential of synthetic biology and nanobiology. Here we had the opportunity to inspire students to be part of a future iGEM team.
The OWee is an introduction week for new students at the TU Delft. During this event we had our own stand, here we had the opportunity to talk about what iGEM is and what it represents. Here we explained synthetic biology to interested students and we informed them about our project. Furthermore, we also talked about our other activities beyond the lab, such as the Foldscope Event and the Global Meeting Point. It was a beautiful day and hopefully we have made some students enthusiastic about synthetic biology!
We attended the Bioday organised by the TU Delft on the 2nd of July. At this event we will come to share and hear about new and exciting science, socialize with researchers from all faculties and present our own project in poster format.
At the very start of our iGEM journey, we represented iGEM at the TU Delft open day for new students. We aimed to inspire high school students to think about synthetic biology as a field of study.