Lab On the Street
The goal of the event was to engage the general public in simple biology experiments, executed just
on the street!
During this engagement, we planned a structured communication of several basic synthetic biology
concepts people seem
to miscomprehend – as shown by the team’s survey.
The event was jointly organized with a voluntary blood donation in the center of Alexandroupolis
city, so as to (1) attract
more interest in blood donation and also (2) exploit the opportunity for science communication to
the public.
We designed some simple and interesting experiments in a public place, where people, independently
of who they are or how
old they are, could attend and get a little more familiar with the science of Biology.
On Bench 1, we introduced ourselves as a team, explained the context of the competition and
discussed some introductory
concepts in synthetic biology. On this bench, visitors could also browse our synthetic Biology
comic book
“The Adventures of
Little Aaron” and engage with the team's educational
tool
to learn more about biology while having fun!
On Bench 2, the visitor could use a simple optical microscope to observe cells from the roots of an onion. Most people have heard the term “cell” hundreds of times in their lives but have no clue of what it is and what it looks like. So we gave them the opportunity to watch some plant cells while undergoing mitosis and spark discussions on cell division. A presentation was also available to guide the discussion on cell and cell division in layman terms.
Figure 1: iGEM NOUS members at Lab On the Street (Bench 2)
Figure 2: Observing the cell division at the stage of mitosis under an optical microscope after toluidine blue staining
On Bench 3, the visitor could perform the extraction of DNA from a banana, using simple household
materials.
We explained the experimental procedure and the role of every ingredient, and further discussed the
molecule
of DNA and its role in life in layman’s terms.
More than 60 people of all ages stopped by and engaged in the experiments and discussions, showing
remarkable
interest and excitement. A lot of questions were asked and answered, and many concepts were
discussed and debated.
We believe that we brought synthetic biology a bit closer to the visitors of the lab-on-the-street.
Even if they
do not become scientists, they will sure support and spread the work of science.
Figure 3: iGEM NOUS members at Lab On the Street (Bench 2 and 3)