Science Through Dance
If there is something that we can be sure of is the primitive need that human being has
to understand and describe the world that surrounds us. Both science and art, are
avatars of human creativity, created to facilitate the process of understanding and
expressing. Nevertheless, most people use to think about them as separated fields.
That’s why, using our background in science and the experience as a dance teacher of one
of our team members, we fusioned them in a special show, named Science Through Dance.
The show Science Through Dance, gave us the opportunity to bring science and dance to the
table, where dancers, scientists, dance parents, university teachers and many supportive
people experienced, enjoyed, felt and learnt from it. It’s important to say that this
space was also a way to demonstrate the capabilities of the country in these areas,
which often go unnoticed or unconnected.
To achieve the goal, we contacted scientists, dancers from all ages and one of the most
famous theatres in Costa Rica. First, for science section, we counted with Rosalind
Innovations, a biotech-social entrepreneurship who spoke of the magnificence of nature
and the unbelievable biotech projects that emerged from it. Also, 4 chemistry students
from the University of Costa Rica, elaborated an incredible show, where they made and
explained amazing experiments. Additionally, our team presented the project we are
taking to the iGEM competition. As for the dance section, we counted with 90 dancers
from 7 to 35 years old, from beginners to nationally and internationally recognized
dancers.
Disciplines preformed were from Ballet to Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Lyric, Latin
Dance, Antigravity, Break Dance and African Dance. All of them appreciated by 285
spectators. The show was covered by Novum Comunicaciones S.A., a company who took all
astonishing photos you can see in the next slideshow.
iGEMxSDGs Challenge
*Insertar imagen: Logo SDG
In collaboration with the 2019 iGEM teams from Taipei American School (Taiwan) and the University
of Tübingen (Germany), we created a challenge related with the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) proposed by the United Nations. This three continents and different time zones collab,
was born to promote the SDGs and show the iGEM 2019’s footprint in the advancement of a global
sustainable development.
*Foto n45*
iGEMxSDGs challenge’s inspiration is the current need to address the global challenges we are
facing and we will potentially face in the future, confident that our challenge can impact teams
in their fulfilment of the SDGs.
Every year each iGEM team targets at least one goal through their project and even more
considering the human practice, collaborations and potencial outlook. Base on that, our
challenge invited teams to match their targeting goals and post them on their social media. The
strategy to encourage more teams consisted in a nomination chain, similar to the ice bucket
challenge, where you accepted the challenge, posted your information and tagged three teams to
do the same in the next 48 hours.
Considering the amount of tasks an iGEMer have to do this days, we elaborated a platform in our
wiki (LINK) to facilitate the process. There, you just had to access from an iGEM account,
select your team goals and easily create a collage for your social media. Also, we established a
hashtag for our challenge named #iGEMxSDGs, to show all team posts and motivate other teams to
do it.
Challenge Results.
A total 74 teams participated in the hashtag challenge. The list of them is located in Collaborations). We shall
now discuss the most shared SDG’s among the participants of our challenge.
*insertar foto n43*
SDG 3. Good Health & Well Being: This was the most frequent goal targeted by teams that
took part of the challenge. According to the UN, ensuring healthy lives and promoting the
well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development. Since the 19th century,
significant efforts have been made to eradicate all sorts of diseases, including polio,
smallpox, and malaria in most developed countries. It is not a coincidence that most iGem teams
targeted this sustainable development goal, since one of the main applications of synthetic
biology is the treatment of diseases. Whether they come from pathogens, or from pollution, most
teams agree that the most important goal to have in mind is the well being a health of the
general population. This, combined with efforts in promotion and prevention, provide local
communities with the necessary tools to achieve sustainable development.
SDG 17. Partnerships for the goals: Most teams agreed that partnerships are the key to
achieve major advancements in any field, specially if we are talking about development. For us,
one of the main reasons why iGem is unique, is because it promotes collaborations, and exchange
of ideas between many different countries and disciplines. Even if a team has a project more
oriented towards local issues, it’s important to document and share gathered information or
data. You never know if someone across the world is trying to solve the same exact problem you
are facing.
SDG 12. Responsible Consumption and Production: Climate is one of the major global
concerns right now. It is necessary to adopt a responsible approach towards production and
discard of every kind of goods (clothing, technology, food). It is extremely important to
achieve efficiency, and to minimize pollution via recycling. Being responsible with the
environment is one of the main axes of sustainable development. We need to shift our mindsets
from “How can we produce more and cheaper” to “How can we produce more efficiently, minimizing
our environmental impact”. A significant amount of teams agreed with this. Pollution is a small
and large scale concern, and efforts have to be doubled in order to solve this problem. Most of
the teams in this collaboration have projects related directly to reducing contamination in
industrial communities.
SDG 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: The fourth most shared SDG among the teams
is one of the most fundamental in matter of development. Progress is absolutely necessary for
sustainable development, and innovation is key to progress. Whether it comes from the
improvement of already existing processes, or the creation of completely new technologies, iGem
teams agree that to make a change, it’s important to create something new and relevant. This
also closely related to the very theme of iGem, which is the development of synthetic biology,
through interdisciplinary innovation.
Booklet
“Synthetic biology has expanded and evolved substantially from its initial rather narrow focus to
appreciate and use more fully the diversity of mechanisms found in natural biological systems”
-Christina D. Smolke.
Nevertheless, this accomplishment can only be achieved is there is enough dialogue between the
parts involved in Synthetic Biology improvement. In Costa Rica, as in many countries, there is
still a lot to learn and discuss in this areas. And so, resources, bureaucratic processes and
the lack of scientific diffusion to general public are some of the problems frequently found in
synbio investigations in our country.
Therefore, our team worked in the study and vinculation of synthetic biology segments needed to
be strengthen in our country. These sectors include National Politics, Healthcare Systems and
general public.
To gather information about the state of the art of National Politics in terms of Synthetic
Biology, we interviewed experts in the topic:
• Dr. Pedro Rocha, International Technology and Innovation specialist involved in
biotechnology and biosafety issues in the Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la
Agricultura (IICA).
• Dra. Sylvie Braibant, National Biotechnology Program Coordinator of Servicio
Nacional de Salud Animal.
• Eng. Beatriz Ortiz, Evaluator in the Registries Unit, Health Products Regulation
Department of the Ministry of Health .
• Lic. Alejandra Chaverri, Director of Regulation of Products of Health Interest of
the Ministry of Health.
• Dr. José Ramón Salcedo, General Coordinator of the Master in Bio-Law of the
University of Murcia
• Mcs. Alejandro Hernández, Science Director at the Ministry of Science and Technology
for several years.
• BSc. Ediner Fuentes, Ambassador of the iGEM Foundation for the CBD COP-MOP of the
Cartagena Protocol.
• LL.M. María Carolina Peláez Gil, Global Health Law Practitioner and International
Legal Consultant.
As for the Healthcare System, we wanted to approach to medical centers and doctors as a primary
source of information and future distribution channels of synthetic biology health solutions.
Therefore, we got in contact with:
• Dr. Fernando Morales, Dean of Medicine of the University of Costa Rica.
• Dr. Gustavo Leandro, Chief of Infectology of the Dr. Raúl Blanco Cervantes Hospital.
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Collected information from the interviews (explained below), we decided to elaborated a booklet
looking forward to inform the three segments mentioned before. You can see the material here.
(que “here” sea hipervínculo al diseño del folleto, que va a estar al final).
National Politics
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Health Care System
In a meeting with Dr. Fernando Morales and Dr. Gustavo Leandro, we talked about the prospects of
synthetic biology in health. In regards of their interest on the topics discussed, they helped
us organize a broadcast event in the National Hospital of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Dr. Raúl
Blanco Cervantes Hospital, which is also a WHO collaborative center.
The event was attended by 72 health professionals (the list of attendance is shown in the
following table). Participation was not only from the Dr. Raúl Blanco Cervantes Hospital, but
also from the infectology department of San Juan de Dios Hospital, both of them belong to the 29
public hospitals of our country. It was important for us to exchange ideas with experts of both
institutions because they frequently attend cases of multidrug resistant bacteria, which could
eventually be treated through synthetic biology solutions.
During the event, we were able to share with the audience the concept of synthetic biology, how
it is applied in Costa Rica and the possible use of bioengineered microorganisms as treatment.
The response of the participants about the topic was positive; however, we were interested to
know if they considered that a bioengineered probiotic as a therapeutic was a possible option in
our healthcare system. Among the comments we received, doctors reaffirmed to us the importance
of divulging this new kind of treatments, so that the public is more recipient of it and less
scared about its side effects. In words of one of the doctors: “if you publish, communicate and
socialize your treatment, then it is easier for us to suggest it as a therapeutic to patients
that have heard about it, in contrast with those who have not”.
Hand in hand with the above, another engagement activity we did in the Dr. Raúl Blanco Cervantes
Hospital consisted in providing the information of the booklet to various patients and
companions. As this hospital is specialized in the elderly, we were able to share about
antibiotic resistance with a vulnerable public. Must of patients were really interested on the
topic and they took their time to read the information provided and ask us questions. Therefore,
in the hospitals we were able to bring synthetic biology as an alternative closer to the Costa
Rican healthcare system and final beneficiaries.
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Academic Talks
Costa Rica is recognized as one of the leading countries in terms of education in Latin America.
However, for Costa Rican educational policy and practice there’s a lot to improve in the field
of science and technology. Within it, synthetic biology is undoubtedly an unexplored topic in
Costa Rican education.
Therefore, our team gave the booklet and talked to high school and undergrad students who aren’t
able to learn of it in order place. We introduced basic concepts of synthetic biology such as
genetic modification, recombinant proteins, domain fusions, among others. We also explained our
project diffEASY, raised awareness about the situation of Costa Rican politics regulation and
mainly, motivated them to don’t lose their interest to understand their surroundings.
Talk at the "Colegio Madre del Divino Pastor"
Our booklet aimed to engage synthetic biology with Costa Rican society too, considering the
beliefs of general population, some of them based on disinformation. Therefore, we reached
different press media from our country to help us inform a larger public. It is important to
emphasize that this kind of involvement with general public is key in the improvement of an
informed and critical society, in order to create awareness of the possibilities with GMOs and
their limitations.
Fortunately, we were featured in multiple press releases, including social media, radio and
television. Notably, TV interviews were hosted in the main TV news channels of the country.
Also, thanks to Kantar Media Ibope, software for press monitoring used by ITCR, here we show you
a summary with all the press publications and their reach, which had a total of 204 373 people.