Team:Thessaly/Communication
Overview
Responsible and effective Science Communication is vital in any scientific project. And more so
in any iGEM project. As we began our project this year, we noticed a massive gap in the
awareness people had, on basic biology and synthetic biology concepts. As we dug further into
it, we found patterns that we felt needed to be addressed! Using AMALTHEA as a compass we set
out on a year-long journey aiming to educate the next generation of Synthetic Biologists and
communicate science in a broader audience. Thus, it was our responsibility to create
tailor-made activities in order to achieve audience diversity and accessibility as this was a
huge need and a major component in our project.
Design, Execute, Reflect
We envisioned how a project like our own could be communicated to the general public as well as
the possible social misconceptions and misunderstandings we will have to face. To be effective
and precise in our movements, we strategized our approach on the basis of:
As we gradually evolved our project, we understood that since its applications can influence our lives, it can in turn raise some public, philosophical and scientific scepticism towards its biotechnological design and societal implementation.
Reviewing our project’s main aspects, we pinpointed the topics that we wanted to prioritize in our public engagement efforts. Those are:
- Unravel public opinions on the field of Synthetic Biology and Biology in general
- Design educational activities and materials in accordance to any societal concerns
- Execute meaningful and well-organised events
- Reflect on the feedback received and
- Re-organise and perfect our approach
As we gradually evolved our project, we understood that since its applications can influence our lives, it can in turn raise some public, philosophical and scientific scepticism towards its biotechnological design and societal implementation.
Reviewing our project’s main aspects, we pinpointed the topics that we wanted to prioritize in our public engagement efforts. Those are:
- General knowledge on the rising field of Synthetic Biology
- Social stigma and lack of understanding of Gut Health
- Application and use by citizens of Synthetic Organisms or Genetically Modified organisms on their daily nutrition and health care
- Elevating the importance of nutrition as a means for disease prevention and highlighting its place in our heritage and tradition.
Societal Impact
To further understand and implement our engagement design in a social context, we reached out
beyond the lab and our experimental design and into those most likely affected by our project
and the revolution of Synthetic Biology. We’ve developed a series of surveys -all GDPR
approved- to receive feedback on what is the status of what mentioned above.
The results of these verified our hypothesis on society’s opinion on the subjects we wanted to touch upon.
The Greek society in its majority knows very little regarding not only what Synthetic Biology is but generally fields of research such as Biology and Genetics. The data we collected reflected opinions not only on an academic level but in a broader societal spectrum.
On the subject of the development of gastrointestinal disorders and their treatment, the data indicates that the majority of people suffering from gastrointestinal diseases:
Those didn’t come to us as a surprise since they came into accordance with our stakeholders
Finally, we wanted to estimate if Greek society is still in accordance with our geographically driven Mediterranean Diet and how people view dietary interventions of new, functional food. It was interesting to discover that a large proportion of our responses showed that most people struggle to follow this dietary pattern while the majority struggles to accept a synthetic food or drug product.
Once we’ve identified the magnitude of the tasks set, we launched a series of events to engage the public, people in academia and younger generations about those issues.
We created a poster synopsis of how the microbiome interacts with other major organs as well as how our project is able to aid in the prevention of gastrointestinal disorders. To inform interested citizens about our project and the field of Synthetic Biology, we created flyers that were distributed to them.
Our team participated for the second consecutive year in the TedX Larissa event, this time in the pre-events, to make a speech different from the rest, a speech in which science and personal experiences of team members are united by unlucky but pleasant moments. The talk, in the form of a discussion between the participants, approached the issue of randomness in the field of science and art, through short stories from the fields of paleontology, computer science, microbiology and architecture. Afterwards, a brief description of our project Amalthea was made and each member of our team described the circumstances that led him / her to choose his / her field of study and finally take part in the iGEM competition.
The speech concluded on how such circumstances change the way we perceive things, leaving to the public a hopeful message about the unexpected paths that one often follows, without having chosen them. These options may be the only ones that have the ability to take us to places that fulfill us as human beings and that bring us into an encounter with all that ultimately fills our lives with meaning.
Throughout those 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone. However, those affected the most were the elderly that lived in isolation, with no real access to events and engaging with the rest of us. They are also people suffering the most from gastrointestinal disorders and have their dietary habits strictly monitored.
That’s why we hosted “My Mediterranean Diet”, an event in which experts on the field of nutrition and cultural heritage provided insights on how we have co-evolved with what we eat, the importance of good cooking and reflect upon locally based dietary habits. All, through the prism of the gut microbiome.
The participants created their own ideal plate by a list of food and through their actions understood why we make certain food choices, the importance of seasonal and local food and why we must listen to our gut when we make our food choices. Katerina Moutou, an Associate Professor of Vertebrate Biology and Kalliope Papadopoulou, a Professor on Plant Biotechnology gave scientific intel to the participants' choices.
While we evaluated those choices, Konstantina Kontsa, an Archaeologist-Anthropologist provided interested tales of food tradition of Thessaly and invited our participants to give their own.
Through this open dialogue, not only did we elevate the moral of older generations by giving them the opportunity to make their voice heard but also we, as the future, as a younger generation, learned the empirical wisdom these people held and how all are understood in the light of science.
Finally, Dr. Demetrios Kouretas, professor of Animal Physiology and Toxicology at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, agreed to give a monitored talk about antioxidants, a key factor and advantage of Mediterranean diet, over other dietary patterns. His lecture is available for other iGEM teams on the iGEM Video Universe.
Throughout our iGEM season, we wanted to communicate our work and our research field to a broader audience. Thus, we represented our work to multiple news outlets, trying to give a grasp of our research work and aim.
We also tried to remain active on our social media and engage with our audience as much as possible
Due to our mutual interest in engineering the gut microbiome aiming to improve people’s wellbeing and in parallel bearing in mind the fact that our society lacks basic knowledge on gut research innovations, we decided to hold “New Frontiers In Gut Research'', an online lecture to further understand the modern tendencies in microbiome research.
The researchers gave us an insight into their research and how hopeful they are about the future of the field.
The results of these verified our hypothesis on society’s opinion on the subjects we wanted to touch upon.
The Greek society in its majority knows very little regarding not only what Synthetic Biology is but generally fields of research such as Biology and Genetics. The data we collected reflected opinions not only on an academic level but in a broader societal spectrum.
Figure 1: How would you rate your knowledge on the basics of synthetic biology?
Figure 2: How would rate your level of knowledge on basic topics about Biology and especially genetics
On the subject of the development of gastrointestinal disorders and their treatment, the data indicates that the majority of people suffering from gastrointestinal diseases:
-
Have some form of mental disorder that has affected their social life and work efficacy
Figure 3: In what degree do you think your disorder has affected your mental health? -
The current diagnostic methods are unpleasant and lately applied to patients.
Figure 4: In what degree do you think your disorder has affected your social interactions? -
Their medical conditions have affected their dietary habits
Figure 5: How unpleasant is the exam on average?
Figure 6: How restricted is your diet because of your disorder?
Figure 7: At what stage was the diagnosis made?
Those didn’t come to us as a surprise since they came into accordance with our stakeholders
Finally, we wanted to estimate if Greek society is still in accordance with our geographically driven Mediterranean Diet and how people view dietary interventions of new, functional food. It was interesting to discover that a large proportion of our responses showed that most people struggle to follow this dietary pattern while the majority struggles to accept a synthetic food or drug product.
Figure 8: In your daily life do you eat according to the Mediterranean diet?
Figure 9: Would you be in a position to consume a drug or food that was produced with the help of synthetic biology?
Once we’ve identified the magnitude of the tasks set, we launched a series of events to engage the public, people in academia and younger generations about those issues.
Engaging our local society
World Intestinal Health Day
On the occasion of World Intestinal Health Day, our team decided to inform the citizens of
Larissa about intestinal health, gastrointestinal problems, the role of the microbiome and the
innovation represented by Amalthea. People of all ages honored us with their presence
in the Central Square of Larissa, asked us questions and were informed about what actually
happens in our body when we eat or when something goes wrong in it.It is important to learn more
and more about our health, learn something new and come out even better people from this
experience!
Figure 10 & 11 : Our team members showcasing our project to pedestrians that approach our stand about the World Intestinal Health Day.
We created a poster synopsis of how the microbiome interacts with other major organs as well as how our project is able to aid in the prevention of gastrointestinal disorders. To inform interested citizens about our project and the field of Synthetic Biology, we created flyers that were distributed to them.
Figure 12: The poster we created for the World Intestinal Health Day
TedX: An Ode To Serendipity
Our team participated for the second consecutive year in the TedX Larissa event, this time in the pre-events, to make a speech different from the rest, a speech in which science and personal experiences of team members are united by unlucky but pleasant moments. The talk, in the form of a discussion between the participants, approached the issue of randomness in the field of science and art, through short stories from the fields of paleontology, computer science, microbiology and architecture. Afterwards, a brief description of our project Amalthea was made and each member of our team described the circumstances that led him / her to choose his / her field of study and finally take part in the iGEM competition.
The speech concluded on how such circumstances change the way we perceive things, leaving to the public a hopeful message about the unexpected paths that one often follows, without having chosen them. These options may be the only ones that have the ability to take us to places that fulfill us as human beings and that bring us into an encounter with all that ultimately fills our lives with meaning.
Figure 13: George, Anna, Asteria, Kostas and Dimitris are shown here in the event speaking about their experiences at An Ode to Serendipity
My Mediterranean Diet
Figure 14: Newspaper article writing about our event
Throughout those 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone. However, those affected the most were the elderly that lived in isolation, with no real access to events and engaging with the rest of us. They are also people suffering the most from gastrointestinal disorders and have their dietary habits strictly monitored.
That’s why we hosted “My Mediterranean Diet”, an event in which experts on the field of nutrition and cultural heritage provided insights on how we have co-evolved with what we eat, the importance of good cooking and reflect upon locally based dietary habits. All, through the prism of the gut microbiome.
The participants created their own ideal plate by a list of food and through their actions understood why we make certain food choices, the importance of seasonal and local food and why we must listen to our gut when we make our food choices. Katerina Moutou, an Associate Professor of Vertebrate Biology and Kalliope Papadopoulou, a Professor on Plant Biotechnology gave scientific intel to the participants' choices.
While we evaluated those choices, Konstantina Kontsa, an Archaeologist-Anthropologist provided interested tales of food tradition of Thessaly and invited our participants to give their own.
Figure 15: Opening statements from the event
Through this open dialogue, not only did we elevate the moral of older generations by giving them the opportunity to make their voice heard but also we, as the future, as a younger generation, learned the empirical wisdom these people held and how all are understood in the light of science.
Figure 16: Commemorative photo from our event.
Finally, Dr. Demetrios Kouretas, professor of Animal Physiology and Toxicology at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, agreed to give a monitored talk about antioxidants, a key factor and advantage of Mediterranean diet, over other dietary patterns. His lecture is available for other iGEM teams on the iGEM Video Universe.
Video 1: Personalized Nutrition Plans Based on Measurement on Specific Redox Biomarkers in Human Blood
Science in Mass Media
Throughout our iGEM season, we wanted to communicate our work and our research field to a broader audience. Thus, we represented our work to multiple news outlets, trying to give a grasp of our research work and aim.
Figure 17: Online article title about our team.
Figure 18: Online article about our project, that discusses about the possibilities of our capsule.
Figure 19: Our project leader interviewed on national television about our project.
Figure 20: Our project leader in the Falling walls event.
We also tried to remain active on our social media and engage with our audience as much as possible
Status in Academia
New Frontiers in Gut Research
This collaboration with the McMaster Synbio team aimed to enhance the knowledge of the
people about how the health of the gut microbiome affects our health as a whole.
Due to our mutual interest in engineering the gut microbiome aiming to improve people’s wellbeing and in parallel bearing in mind the fact that our society lacks basic knowledge on gut research innovations, we decided to hold “New Frontiers In Gut Research'', an online lecture to further understand the modern tendencies in microbiome research.
The researchers gave us an insight into their research and how hopeful they are about the future of the field.
Figure 21: This is our digital poster for the event that we also used to promote it in social media.
HelMSIC: Medicine and Research
The “Hellenic Medical Students’ International Committee (Hel.M.S.I.C)” and the “Greek Pasteur
Institute” organized an online event titled ‘’Medicine and Research’’ and we got the chance to
communicate the importance of research and synthetic biology in the field of medicine.
Figure 22: The banner of the HelMSIC event we participated in.
The recent Sars-Cov-2 pandemic highlighted the crucial role and contribution of medical research in the handling of realistic global problems. To enable medical university students to have a contribution to the progress of research, and thus the progress of society in general, we are summoned to help them understand the research process as a whole. Our participation was a great opportunity for us to present our research project, acting as a motive to help them familiarize themselves with the research process and how a socially responsible research team operates in general. Through the framework of an iGEM Project, our team members, Venetios and Pericles, presented the value of identifying a serious problem and the importance of integrating the society’s opinion and perspective on its solution design. Furthermore, through the dialogue that was developed with the participants, they shared with us that we made them understand Synthetic Biology as an emerging science with an enormous potential to propel the Medical Science forward.
Figure 23: Our team members watching Pericles and Venetios present at event
Scientific Congress of Hellenic Medical Students: One Health
The concept of One Health is one of the most emerging concepts of the 21st century, as it proposes a holistic view that does not examine human health independently, but links it with animal health and the environment.
Figure 24: The banner of the Scientific Congress of Hellenic Medical Students we participated
However, despite being an innovative approach to health with the potential to shape medical research to a great extent, the concept of One Health is just starting to become well-known in Greece. Medical University Students in Greece start encountering the concept during their undergraduate studies. Thus, they are becoming aware of a factor that can guide their future research to meet the needs and trends of the society. Fully aware of that situation and because One Health interactions are important for our project, we aimed to introduce Medical University Students to the concept of One Health and help accelerate the spread of the One Health concept.
We participated in the 27th annual Scientific Congress of Hellenic Medical Students, in a roundtable regarding One Health, along with iGEM Crete, iGEM Ioannina, iGEM Athens and iGEM Thessaloniki. In collaboration with these teams, we gave a series of 5 presentations. Our presentation opened the session, describing the concept of One Health and noting the importance of this approach through realistic examples and scenarios. Then, through this year’s Amalthea project, we highlighted the importance of a significant One Health factor, the gut microbiome and the impact of Synthetic Biology on securing a balanced microbiome and gastrointestinal health. This way, we showed how Synthetic Biology as a field can contribute to the achievement of One Health.
Figure 25: Asteria and members of other Greek iGEM teams present at the Scientific Congress of Hellenic Medical Students
9th Panhellenic Veterinary Students Conference
Figure 26: Virtual Poster of the 9th Panhellenic Veterinary Students Conference
In an effort to create a link to animals in our project we attended and made a presentation at the 9th Panhellenic Veterinary Students Conference and informed the veterinary students about the advancements of synthetic biology in the veterinary field.
Our team participated in the 9th Panhellenic Veterinary Students Conference that was organised by the I.V.S.A.- International Veterinary Students ’Association (Thessaloniki and Thessaly). The aim of this action was to inform the student community about how synthetic biology could contribute to safeguarding animal health and One health. At the same time, we shared our project regarding the functional evaluation of the intestinal microbiome. In particular, we stressed that in the context of One Health, the health of humans and animals is interrelated. Intestinal microbial imbalances occur not only in humans but also in animals, affecting both pets, such as dogs, as well as production animals, like pigs and chickens. The balance of gut bacteria can be disturbed by the presence of pathogenic bacteria that can be transmitted from animals to humans or vice versa. These imbalances are highly associated, inter alia, with disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. By utilising the means of Synthetic Biology, we can develop new and innovative methods, such as our project, AMALTHEA,, an idea transformed into a project to evaluate the health of the intestinal microbiome in both humans and animals.
Figure 27: Efthimia seen here presenting at the 9th Panhellenic Veterinary Students Conference
Figure 28: The closing remarks of the presentation of our team member Efthimia
MicrobioCOSMOS
The first step we made to implement our idea of uniting all the teams that worked on the various microbiomes was a celebration about the World Microbiome Day. MicrobioCOSMOS was our most ambitious meetup this year as it had many moving parts and so many responsibilities from our part to deliver the best possible meetup about educating and bringing together the various microbiome teams.
With the Aalto-Helsinki Team, we began by searching for teams that were working on the microbiome. Teams that participated in our World Microbiome Day video were the first to be invited and then we made a general call for iGEM Teams working on microbiome research to join. Apart from us and team Aalto-Helsinki, other teams joining were the MIT Team from Boston that presented their project which was about maple syrup urine disease, team IISER-Tirupati and their project had to do with the vaginal microbiome and less harmful contraceptives and Team Heidelberg that presented us how they are using natural transformation in order to train the microbiome to tackle diseases as obesity.
The event included presentations of the teams projects and individual Q&A, interesting keynote talks surrounding real world implications and iGEM. Dr Sotirios Vasileiadis, an Assistant Professor at the University of Thessaly presented us his work based on the soil microbiome while Leandros Tsiotos , an iGEM European Ambassador, laid out how iGEM elevates initiatives and research such as our own.
Based on questions on an interactive Flinga board, we then were split into different breakout rooms and talked about the ethics of our projects for about 25 minutes, which gave us the opportunity to discover each other's concerns, perspectives, etc. In the end it was a truly educational experience
Lastly we had a super fun kahoot session. In the end we ended the day with smiles on our faces and filled with new knowledge and ideas!
Figure 29: The timetable of our event “MicrobioCOSMOS”
Figure 30: Commemorative photo from MicrobioCOSMOS
Ambassadors Program
First introduced in 2019, the Ambassador Team is a way for fellow university students curious
about synthetic biology and iGEM to come and watch or participate in various of the main team’s
tasks and efforts. They are able to simply observe how an iGEM team works, pose questions and
overall interact with us in our journey in the competition.
Figure 31: Promotional poster for our ambassador initiative
We also encouraged them to be active, brainstorm and work on real iGEM scenarios such as organizing public engagement activities or propose ideas on our experimental design.
Figure 32: Our team members alongside the ambassadors
Overall, our ambassadors team was efficient and always present, spreading the world of Synthetic Biology throughout Greece and we hope that the future generation of iGEM Thessaly is ensured.
Synthesize the future
An Era of Heroes (Athens Science Festival)
Figure 33: Our online game
One of the firsts events we participated as a team was the Athens Science Festival and its subsidiary the Thessaly Science Festival. As this is one the biggest science communication events of the country, our team developed Syn-word an online environment which combines entertainment with the gain of knowledge.
Figure 34: Pericles and Maria demonstrating DNA extraction
A highlight of the first video-which you can watch here- about the term genetic material. Pericles, a member of our team, is guiding Maria on how to extract DNA from a banana fruit.
Despite the festival being a 3-day event, Syn-word is still available on the festival’s Online Library and you can find it by following this link, as it is a very interesting and interactive environment, and the organizers wanted the visitors to have access to Syn-word even after the festival was concluded.
During a period of 20 days after the festival concluded, we gained feedback on our environment through an evaluation form embedded at the bottom end of the page, that showed us how interesting whilst also fun it was for the students that participated.
Microbiome Learn and Create
Figure 35: Our Microbiome: Learn and Create banner
Newly defined terms such as the microbiome are not easily explained even at an academic level. Microbiome: Learn and Create is an in-person event with several working stations aiming to educate young children about the morphology and the function of the gut microbiome, through interactive activities.
Learn more on our Education Page.
Children's book
With the invaluable help of Ms. Katigianni, we created “Hippocrates”, a children’s book about a little
boy who faced a gut-related disease. We collaborated with the theatrologists, Antonia Magou and Nadia
Angelouli, and under the auspices of the theatrical workshop “Without Omega”, we organised a small
event to recreate scenes from the book. Our audience was children of 7-12 years of age with no prior
knowledge on the gut microbiome and what its relationship with nutrition is. We talked with them about
those topics, introduced them to the Mediterranean diet and helped them understand its benefits.
The children were free to express themselves, draw, dance and create a theatrical play in which all
of the little actors happily participated.
Figure 13-17: Photos from our visit to the theatrical workshop “Without Omega”
Introduction to Synthetic Biology to Education
Figure 36: Our Microbiome: Front cover from the High School guide we created
Synthetic Biology is a field completely unknown to high school students and most Biology
teachers in Greece. Our team decided to familiarise these two groups with Synthetic Biology
and iGEM competition, by creating a complete set of educational material, customised for
teachers and for students.
Learn more on our Education Page.
In our effort to ensure sustainability and inform about the possibilities of Synthetic Biology in its development, we decided to come in contact with the local department of Scouts of Greece.
Recently, the Greek Scouts, loyal to their commitment to a world without inequality, with
equal opportunities, respect for diversity and proud ambassadors of the 17 UN Sustainable
Development Goals, signed the Charter of Diversity. So, we thought to contact our local
scouting network in Larissa, discuss what it takes to ensure by action sustainability and
inform them how Synthetic Biology can become a promising tool to change the world for the
better.
Learn more on our Education Page
Learn more on our Education Page.
Engaging with Scouts of Greece
In our effort to ensure sustainability and inform about the possibilities of Synthetic Biology in its development, we decided to come in contact with the local department of Scouts of Greece.
Figure 37: Scouts of Greece
Learn more on our Education Page