Public engagement & Education

Overview

Self education

Questionnaire

After our interest in breast cancer was intrigued, we started different types of investigation. First, we had obtained online data regarding the general influence and severity of the disease. Realizing that this disease is on the top of the list among all illnesses exposed to women occupying 24.2% of incidence, we were worried about the possible lack of awareness to prevent and to deal with cancer appropriately, especially when it comes to breast cancer. Then, we designed a survey and distributed it to over 600 people. In fact, we have expected a similar result that tends to reflect the lack of knowledge about breast cancer; however, the extent shocked us. Over half of the people being investigated acknowledged that they haven’t learned anything about breast cancer yet, and a lot of them are unfamiliar with commonsense such as what might lead to the danger of breast cancer, how is breast cancer developed, will it be spread infectiously among individuals. Apart from that, cancer treatment is also an unknown area for a lot of survey fillers. Based on the results, we decided to plan a series of activities to learn more details about breast cancer ourselves and then transfer the knowledge to others.

Synthetic Biology Card Game

To promote breast cancer, our team designed our own card game. Each card has different information ranging from the causes of breast cancer to obstacles patients might encounter along with the treatment processes. At first, we played this card game with students in the IGEM club. Some students thought this card game was a good way for people to learn more about breast cancer. For instance, initially many students were not aware that endocrine dyscrasia and persistent emotional fluctuations are associated with high risks of breast cancer, but after this card game, they gained a new understanding of potential factors contributing to breast cancers. The card game also introduced students to possible preventions of breast cancers like regular self-checking and early treatments. After this card game, our team also reinforced the importance of self-checking and regular checking in preventing breasts cancers. This card game received positive feedback from students and raised people's awareness about breast cancer intriguingly. Hoping to engage more people, our team decided to refine the card games and give more people chances to get involved in breast cancer.

Fig.1: From design to product

Fig.2: Playing the card game during the lab tour

Synthetic Biology Education in SCIE

After the beginning of school, we restarted the IGEM club that opened last year in SCIE to circulate the knowledge of Synthetic Biology with our peers. Therefore, we conducted a series of lectures about Synthetic Biology, Bio-engineering, and scientific research skills to teach our younger peers in SCIE.

Our members have prepared a lot for these lectures. We have covered many things, including basic knowledge of DNA structure and the central dogma of DNA replication, transcription, and translation. We also introduced them to the practical part of synthetic biology by playing the video which manipulates the real PCR and Agarose Gel Electrophoresis experiment. What’s more, the synthetic biology lab belonging to SCIE was still constructing. We promised our members that after the completion of the construction, we would show them around the lab and teach them how to do those experiments in real life under the supervision of a school tutor if we got the chance.

Besides the knowledge, we also provided full-scaled information about IGEM and shared our previous experiences as well as the heartfelt feeling of participating in IGEM. We hoped that the spark of love for synthetic biology and the spirit of curiosity and exploration could be inherited by juniors.

Lecture within iGEM Club

To further raise people’s awareness about breast cancer, we held lectures at our school. Our lectures introduced students to potential causes of breast cancer and preventions. In the hope of engaging more students, we tailored our lectures to what they are interested in such as different treatments for breast cancers. We also shared real stories about breast cancer patients with students to reinforce the importance of paying attention to breast health from a young age.

Lab tour

We would like to offer an opportunity for our IGEM club members to visit the laboratory in the real life. However, the construction of our own school lab was predicted to be completed in the next year. Thus, we prepared a lab tour for our IGEM club members to visit Bluepha lab, which was also the place we do experiments on our IGEM project. We hoped this special lab tour experience could help our members gain a deeper insight into the actual synthetic biology experiment. What's more, being familiar with experimental operations is a very basic point for learning synthetic biology and participating in iGEM competitions. If they want to participate in the IGEM next year, this experience will help them build a strong foundation.

Project introduction via Wechat Official Account

In order to promote the concept of synthetic biology and publicize our project, we have published several articles via our official account and SCIE‘s Wechat. At the beginning of July, we cooperated with GreatBay_United and GreatBay_SZ, and published an article containing introductions of all three teams. We have also continued several articles afterward. Those articles then got more than a thousand clicks.

At the same time, in order to let more people learn about synthetic biology and our programs, we launched an article which contains detailed introduction into iGEM competition and our program this year. In a short time, this article has already gotten thousands of clicks.

Presentation in Bluepha lab summer camp

Jerry and Albert