Team:Thessaloniki/Communication

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Communication






Overview


The purpose of knowledge is to be shared. Therefore, our team decided to actively spread the knowledge acquired during iGEM’s competition preparation. During the past year, we held several informative and educational activities for people of all kinds of educational backgrounds and ages. Due to the need to consider the level of everyone’s prior knowledge, we divided our material into categories based either on the attendees’ age or on their educational background.



Educational Units


Our educational material was formed based on the educational levels and backgrounds existing in Greece:





| Ages 12-15 (Gymnasium)



Alongside our partners, iGEM Patras, we created a virtual educational game on Scratch, a software widely taught in Greek schools. Our game has different levels of difficulty and combines the textbook material with questions about synthetic biology. The game is displayed on our education page:

Education




| Ages 15-18 (High Schools)

Unfortunately, in Greece, high schools are completely uninformed about the existence of the iGEM Competition. Participation in such competitions is the best way for this age group to actively shape the future of synthetic biology. Therefore we contacted the Greek Ministry of Education and requested motivation for schools to join the synthetic biology research teams. To organize our material and provide an audiovisual experience to the students, we created an asynchronous webinar in the form of a video and slide presentation. After discussions, the Greek Ministry contributed to our work, sending our material to every single high school all over Greece!

~Photograph of our members and Minister of Education in Greece, Niki Kerameus on 12th of September 2021~






Furthermore, we visited private educational institutions to present, this time, a synchronous seminar concerning synthetic biology and the professions related to the field.






| Ages 18-25 (Universities)

~ 12th Electrical and Computer Engineering conference (Sfhmmy)


Conference of Electrical and Computer Engineering Students (Greek name: SFHMMY) is the Panhellenic student conference held annually, since 2007, in various cities throughout Greece. It is addressed mainly to students of the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering but also to anyone who wants to be informed about the latest developments in science and technology and to get in touch with the challenges of the labor market. SFHMMY is framed by world-renowned speakers who have excelled in their field and wish to contribute to the student community. In addition, students are given the opportunity to present their work, whether they are undergraduate or graduate. Finally, SFHMMY accommodates workshops and competitions in various fields of interest.


On the 24th and 25th of April, we participated in the 12th SFHMMY by presenting our team and introducing the audience to the iGEM Competition. We also organised a workshop themed “How to ‘read’ COVID-19” that was composed of the basic concepts of synthetic biology and the main sequencing and correlation tools being used.
For more details visit 12th SFHMMY website: https://sfhmmy.gr/en/the-conference/6/workshop-description




~ Scientific Congress of Hellenic Medical Students (ESFIE)
The Scientific Congress of Hellenic Medical Students (Greek name: ESFIE) is a conference organized on an annual basis since 1994 and each year is hosted by a different Chapter of ESFIE. It is the gemstone of the hellenic medical student society’s activities which provides the opportunity to thousands of students from Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences to expand their knowledge and develop their skills in various fields of Health Sciences. Students are provided with the opportunity to present their own scientific work through their participation in round tables and preparation of abstracts which are in line with their interests.


On the 16th of April, we participated in a 27th ESFIE’s round table joining our fellow iGEM teams, “Crete", “Thessaly”, “Ioannina” and “Athens” to talk about Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and to introduce the iGEM competition to the public. Our presentation focused on a definition of AMR, a broader spectrum of its influence on the world and why it must be considered a public and global threat.
For more details visit ESFIE website: https://www.27esfie.gr/en


| iGEMers

Alongside our partners, iGEM Patras, we held a webinar series on how to survive iGEM FR and Graphics.
On the 23rd and 24th of September,on a 2-day informative webinar, we covered two important parts of the iGEM journey, the FR and the Graphics, focusing especially on conveying information to new iGEMers, students who want to start their iGEM experience in the new season to come. For the FR segment, we prepared a presentation that focused on and highlighted some of the problems that an iGEM team might be facing regarding the approach of investors, and how to prepare a proper budget analysis. At the end of it, a Kahoot game took place, with questions from our presentation.At the end of the event, we even granted the winner a present! An annual calendar for their FR ventures. As for the Graphics segment, iGEM Patras, prepared an interactive workshop that focused on educating the participants on the basics of Adobe Illustrator, one of the most commonly used graphics tools.
A more analytical presentation of our educational material is documented on our Education page:

Education








Public and Communication




| Tech and the City

Tech and the City is a well-established event regarding youth entrepreneurship. It is held annually in Thessaloniki by students from both the University of Macedonia and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Its main goal is to inspire students to get involved with entrepreneurship and dare to try out new things from the University’s main Scopus- courses.






On the 6th of December, our team was invited to participate in “Tech and the City” AUTh's annual webinar, in a panel joined by a stellar selection of student teams including the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Aristotle Racing Team (ART), City Campus, Polls and Politics, and iGEM Nous. We had the chance to present our team, and talk about what we do and how our work in the iGEM competition can be combined with entrepreneurship. The webinar touched on a variety of issues emerging from science and youth entrepreneurship, such as what it takes to turn a good idea into a business idea and the importance of the team's communication and collaboration. Emphasis was given to the obstacles that someone might face and that failure should not be an inhibitory factor.
Furthermore, we focused on the catalytic role of science communication both in the context of the iGEM competition as well as for the success and acceptance of every scientific project and the role of social media in this regard. We talked about our goals and the importance of having people to support us both in the iGEM competition and in general, too. This event gave us the opportunity to obtain more funding for our research and to inspire other students and future scientists to join a scientific research team such as ours. For more details visit: https://techandthecity.eu/ or https://www.facebook.com/TechandthecityAUTh/



| HelMSIC


HelMSIC (Hellenic Medical Students’ International Committee) is an independent, non-profitable, non-governmental, and non-partisan organization, founded in 1958. The organization consists of 7 local committees, each one representing one of the Medical Schools of Greece. The goal of HelMSIC is to provide Medical Students with opportunities to expand their knowledge and develop their skills by organizing activities focusing on the six following pillars: Medical Education, Profession Exchanges, Research Exchanges, Public Health, Reproductive and Sexual Health and Human Rights and Peace.
  • On the 21st of March, our team participated in the webinar “Medicine and Research” with a presentation about Synthetic Biology and the work of our team. The goal of the webinar was to highlight the importance of research in the field of Medicine and introduce the medical students to different research programs, including clinical research and undergraduate team projects. Through this procedure, the Organizing Committee wanted to encourage them to get involved in these fields. In our presentation, we talked about Synthetic Biology and introduced the members and the goals of our team, focusing on the interdisciplinary character of the program.
  • Furthermore, we discussed the future challenges and opportunities for an iGEM team. The presentation was followed by a Q & A session, where we had the opportunity to discuss the methodology and techniques involved in Synthetic Biology and answer questions concerning the way a medical student can be engaged in iGEM teams. However, most importantly, we received valuable feedback on the accessibility of our work, which inspired us to further improve our project communication and increase public engagement. For more details visit: https://www.helmsic.gr/

| Molecular Cloud

MolecularCloud is a platform, provided by GenScript, that enables the sharing of biological materials, protocols, and research ideas. Genscript is a global biotech company focusing on various fields from basic life sciences research, industrial synthetic products, and therapeutic solutions.




On the 25th of May, our team had the honor to present our project, METIS, to Ms. Josmary Medrano from the Molecular Cloud (GenScript USA INC.). During the presentation, our team members analyzed the difficulties and challenges the global scientific community is facing regarding pancreatic cancer diagnosis and how our project helps towards an effective solution. We emphasized our goals; a low-cost and non-invasive method with high specificity and high sensitivity for PDAC early diagnosis in stages 1 and 2 and how we are planning to achieve them. We briefly mentioned the experimental procedure and the technology that we are using to develop our diagnostic tool and our fluorescence device. We also talked about human practices, how we approach science communication and raising public awareness, and about our next steps in the competition and our future events.
Furthermore, we encouraged the viewers to ask us questions about our project on our social media and by email, and even send comments and suggestions. By uploading this interview on both our and GenScript's social media, we had the chance to inform more people about our work and the importance of pancreatic cancer early diagnosis and regular testing of people in high-risk groups. In fact, after the presentation, we got feedback and that gave us the unique opportunity to approach our project from different views and even add some excellent ideas to our future events and human practices. For the full interview visit: https://youtu.be/Ss9z-l2GGDQ




| Webinar about Cancer



World Cancer Survivors Day or previously known as National Cancer Survivors Day is a secular celebration started in the United States of America. Nowadays, it has become an international day, which is celebrated on the first Sunday of June.




  • On the 6th of June, the World Cancer Survivors Day 2021, our team organized a day conference about cancer, a disease that is the scourge of our time. The content of the thematic conference referred to the molecular base of cancer, the promotion of carcinogenesis, and also, the application of molecular diagnosis to cancer. As we are aiming to create a diagnostic tool for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) early diagnosis, our main goal was to inform people that life, after a cancer diagnosis, can be a reality and that an early diagnosis plays a key role in this regard. In the context of our thematic day, we focused on the psychological impact of cancer on both caregivers and patients and how it affects the outcome of the disease. Furthermore, importance was given to the way we should treat people with cancer;
  • not as patients but as individuals. People dealing with cancer are in a constant "fight" with the disease and should be regarded as survivors. Our day conference was honored by distinguished speakers which covered the thematic units from all aspects and enlightened the attendees with their expert knowledge. Specifically, our speakers, in order of attendance, were Ms. Leukothea Papadopoulou Associate Professor of Pharmacology A.U.Th., Mr. Georgios Patrinos Regular Professor of Pharmacogenomics and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology of the University of Patras, and Ms. Penelope Melidou, Health Psychologist. It attracted 80 people of all ages and different backgrounds and it won a lot of positive feedback.




| 1st Global iGEM Diagnostics and Therapeutics Conference



On the 26th of September, we had the honor to present our project to the 1st Global iGEM Diagnostics & Therapeutics Conference held by iGEM Korea HS. The global discussion on effective diagnostics and treatment methods remains ever prevalent – the METIS project team drove the discussion on its rapid pancreatic cancer diagnosis tool, an area receiving immense attention across the world (e.g., EU Mission: Cancer, Endeavor – Japan). The METIS project presentation excited discussion and ignited hopes for the future of timely pancreatic cancer prevention, a notoriously hard form of cancer to detect and treat. Discussions revolved around the novel methods employed by METIS, such as toehold switches and EXPAR isothermal amplification, its strategy for experimental validation, and the applicability of the final solution. The conference was also attended by scientists and students all around the world and among the speakers were the Estonia_TUIT team, Greece_United (NOUS), IISER_Berhampur, Manchester, Queens_Canada, SHSBNU_China, and UParis_BME team. After the presentation, a brief discussion on cancer diagnostics and toehold switches (the main technology used in METIS) took place with suggestions and comments from the attendees and other iGEM teams creating strong collaborations.


For more information check out our collaborations page:

Collaborations






| Social Media



As a part of our initiatives in the Education grounds, we launched a quiz series on Social Media (specifically, our Instagram and Facebook profile) of 9 sets of questions. Each question was formed into a 3-day Instagram story, meaning that on the first day, we posed the question to the public, to our followers, and gathered their opinions and answers on the specific inquiry. The next day we uploaded the correct answer so that they could check it out, and the last day, the third one, we posted a quiz, in the form of “True-False” or a multiple choice question and we used the results to create pie charts. These diagrams showed the most positive results, as to the understanding and knowledge of our followers, since in almost all the questions more than 50% of the answers were the correct ones.


You can check out the questions-answers of our educational Quiz in the following file:

Social Media Quiz







| Interviews and outreach



Throughout our journey in iGEM, we informed the public about the iGEM Competition, Synthetic Biology and especially about cancer, the importance of early diagnosis, and finally about our project METIS. This was achieved by taking part in many interviews for greek TV channels like “ERT3”, “TV100”, “DION TV”. We also gave interviews to the Radio especially for “Radio Thessaloniki”, “102 FM”, “100 FM”, to the online newspaper “karfitsa'', and finally to online interview platforms like “Live media” and “Molecular Cloud”. Furthermore, the journalists from those media asked us about our participation in the iGEM Competition, our project progress, and finally for our future plans.







Summary


Education-Communication Title Content
Game ~Game hosted on: Education
~Attendees: students from all over Greece
~Creators: iGEM Thessaloniki & iGEM Patras
~Game: “Scratch: A SynBio Game”
High Schools Seminar ~Seminars licensed by: Greek Ministry of Education
~Attendees: High school students from all over Greece
~Organizers: iGEM Thessaloniki
~Seminars theme: Synthetic biology & iGEM
Private educational institutes ~Seminars licensed by: Private educational facilities
~Attendees: High school students from Thessaloniki & Patras
~Organizers: iGEM Thessaloniki & iGEM Patras
~Seminars theme: Synthetic biology & iGEM
Workshop ~Conference: 12th Electrical and Computer Engineering (12th Sfhmmy)
~Attendees: University students from all over Greece
~Organizers: University Students and Professors from AUTH
~Workshop Theme: “How to ‘read’ COVID-19”
Presentation ~Conference: 27th Scientific Congress of Hellenic Medical Students (27th Esfie)
~Attendees: University students from all over Greece, doctors, and scientists
~Organizers: University Students and Professors from Ioannina’s EEFIE chapter.
~Presentation Theme: “Weakening of antimicrobial resistance: a step towards whole health”
iGEM Webinar Series ~Webinar series from: iGEM Thessaloniki & iGEM Patras ~Attendees: iGEM teams ~Organizers: iGEM Thessaloniki & iGEM Patras ~Webinar series theme: “How to survive iGEM fundraising and graphics”
Entrepreneurship Webinar ~Webinar: Tech and the City AUTh: Innovation & Entrepreneurship ~Attendees: University students from all over Greece ~Organizers: University Students from AUTH and the University of Macedonia
Synthetic Biology Presentation ~Webinar: “Medicine and Research”
~Attendees: Students from Schools of Medicine all over Greece
~Organizers: Members of HelMSIC from AUTh.
Project Presentation ~Organizers: Molecular Cloud GenScript USA INC.
~Presentation Theme: iGEM Thessaloniki team and METIS project presentation
Conference ~Conference: World Cancer Survivors Day
~Attendees: general public
~Organizers: iGEM Thessaloniki
~Conference theme: Cancer