Human Practices

We learned from limitations in people’s knowledge about synthetic biology that we should include more education about synthetic biology in future human practice events.

Our purpose was to measure people's understanding of synthetic biology and their interests in different topics.

In this questionnaire, we invited 240 people to join the survey. 96.25% of them are students.

Participants were asked to rate their interest level on a scale from 1 to 10, withm 1 being the minimal interest and 10 representing high interest. We included a subjective question that “Given this technology, which problem do you think is most likely to be solved” to contribute to our project planning and topic selection. This question gives participants more space to give us advice.

For people's understanding of synthetic biology, we found that 6.25% of the people understand a lot about synthetic biology, 34.58% know little bit, and 142 people know nothing about synthetic biology, which is more than half. We concluded from the data that it is necessary to educate the public about synthetic biology in future HP activities.

The survey reflected students’ knowledge about synthetic biology and the environmental impacts of microplastics before and after the presentation. Despite a clear increase in knowledge and interest, especially regarding synthetic biology's potential to address micro-plastic issues (rated 6.5), further education is needed to spread more knowledge about synthetic biology.

Aiming to share knowledge about synthetic biology, the iGEM competition, and the impact of plastic pollution on a student in BASIS-China, we organized campus presentations in the following schools: BASIS International Park Lane Harbor, BASIS International Bilingual Chengdu, BASIS International Hangzhou, and BASIS Bilingual Shenzhen.

The presentation significantly boosted awareness and interest. Respondents' knowledge of synthetic biology improved from an average of 2.5 out of 10 before the presentation to 5.9 afterwards. Similarly, understanding of iGEM increased from 1.8 to 6.2. Although the average interest in participating in the iGEM competition was 4.1, there was a marked increase in both knowledge and curiosity. This indicates the large impact of our presentation and the education that we made.

The presentation improved understanding of microplastics. Post-presentation, 72% of respondents clearly recognized the harms of micro-plastics, and 52% understood the difference between plastics and microplastics. This indicates a positive shift in awareness, although further education could help in fully grasping these concepts.

Participants' knowledge of iGEM also saw a significant increase. Prior to the presentation, respondents rated their knowledge of iGEM at 1.8, which rose to 6.2 afterward. This demonstrates a gain in understanding the competition and its objectives.

The presentations served as a catalyst for enhancing student awareness and engagement in synthetic biology and related environmental issues. The significant jump in knowledge scores suggests that informative sessions can fix gaps in understanding complex topics. This indicates a demand for such educational events within the iGEM community.

Given the positive outcomes, ongoing education should focus on engagement with synthetic biology and iGEM. Integrating hands-on projects, workshops, or collaborative competitions can help deepen understanding and application. Additionally, give feedback where students can share their experiences and ideas via presentation could enhance the learning experience and maintain interest.

This survey aimed to gauge public awareness and opinions regarding plastics, micro-plastics and potential solutions, including synthetic biology.

The survey shows a moderate to high level of concern among respondents about micro-plastics and their environmental impact. A majority (67%) have heard of micro-plastics and are aware of their potential harm to the environment.

There is a significant variation in knowledge about micro-plastics. While a majority of respondents are aware of micro-plastics (58%), a smaller fraction (28%) understands the difference between plastics and micro-plastics. Furthermore, 51% of respondents correctly identify that ordinary plastics can take hundreds to thousands of years to degrade, indicating some awareness of plastic pollution's long-term effects.

Most respondents see PET and PP plastics frequently in their daily lives and are generally aware of the environmental issues related to plastics. There is a substantial portion of the population that is not sure about which plastics are microwave safe. When it comes to solutions for micro-plastic pollution, the majority of respondents believe that microorganisms are the most effective method for degradation. Synthetic biology is recognized by about half of the respondents, with 43% expressing optimism about its potential to address microplastic pollution. Overall, while there is a growing awareness of micro-plastics and their environmental impact, there is a clear need for increased education on the specifics of plastic types and effective pollution mitigation strategies.

Purpose

Key Highlights

Summary and Results

• The public promotion event in Shenzhen was a success. We significantly raised public awareness about microplastic pollution and the potential of synthetic biology through direct engagement and education. According to our survey:
• 85 percent of those taking part said they had gained a clearer insight into what microplastic pollution is.
• 78 percent would like to find out more about how synthetic biology can be used to solve problems.
• After the experiment, 70 percent believed that they were more aware of what role synthetic biology plays in dealing with environmental concerns.
• 65 percent indicated that they would be ready to help activities that aim at minimizing microplastic pollution.
• The positive feedback from the survey indicates that our message was well delivered and received and that there is a strong public interest in synthetic approaches to environmental problems. This event provides us with valuable insights, and we plan to continue our efforts in collaboration with the local environmental department to further enhance public understanding and engagement in future projects.

Feedback and Reflections

In summary, the children in the survey are familiar with plastic and are open to alternatives, but their knowledge about the environmental and health impacts of plastic is limited. This provides us with a clear direction: our educational efforts should focus on raising awareness about these impacts and discussing practical, eco-friendly alternatives to plastic products.

Purpose

Knowledge of Microplastics and Plastics

Reflection

Analysis

Improvement

To improve our educational program, we should consider the following:

• Simplify Complex Concepts: Use visual aids, stories, and hands-on activities to explain the harmful effects of plastics and the benefits of alternatives in a way that is engaging and understandable for young children.
• Incorporate Practical Examples: Demonstrate easy-to-implement alternatives that children can use in their daily lives, making the learning experience actionable.

By addressing these areas, we can better equip the children with the knowledge and motivation needed to make environmentally conscious choices in their daily lives.

Our team creatively utilized a booth and visually captivating posters to engage participants at the BISZ Science Fair. By integrating synthetic biology into our presentations and interactions, we not only educated but also sparked considerable interest among students. More than 100 students came to look at our booth, both from middle school and high school. We also attracted many teachers, who showed support for our project. This event excelled how it attracted many students, and according to the survey they filled out, many said that they fully understood synthetic biology and microplastic pollution after this information session.

The science fair hosted in BISZ was mainly about Biology, Physics, and Chemistry. We saw it as a good chance for blending the topic of the synthetic biology and other science topics. We have then realized that many don't know what synthetic biology is. So, through this booth we could also help and spread understanding of synthetic biology.

Nearly 100 eight-grade students were introduced to the concepts of synthetic biology, the iGEM competition, and our project. The event was a success, the presentation significantly raised students’ awareness of environmental issues, particularly microplastic pollution, highlighting the application of synthetic biology in addressing real-world problems. According to the survey this time, our act of being more informational on microplastic pollution was a success, and more participants responded that they fully understood the impact of microplastic on the ocean.

After this presentation, the 8th grade students had the most basic understanding of synthetic biology. What is the purpose of synthetic biology? The purpose of synthetic biology is to build artificial biological systems and make them operate like circuits so that they can solve real-world problems, such as depression, environmental pollution and pest infestation. Most students have great expectations for the feasibility of synthetic biology and believe that it can be used to solve our topic, which is microplastic degradation.

We will continue to lecture students to emphasize the harms of microplastic, so that students can have a certain understanding of this and take precautions against it. We hope that these students will be the ones who take initiative in the future to find solutions for this issue.

The two presentations in different Chengdu campuses reached an attentive audience of students from grades 6 to 8. The events were notable for their success in introducing synthetic biology and raising awareness about microplastic pollution. The interactive and informative sessions led to a marked increase in student interest in STEM and the iGEM competition, showcasing the presentations' effectiveness in fostering scientific curiosity. After the speech, we also conducted a survey. The survey results also showed that while many did not understand the concept of synthetic biology at first, more was not aware of the harms of microplastic. This initiated us to include more information on microplastic pollution in our next speeches.

This presentation was very successful. The students listened carefully and asked many questions. At the same time, we also found that before the presentation, almost no students knew about synthetic biology, but after the presentation, the understanding rate generally increased. Everyone also gradually realized the seriousness of the microplastic problem. We can understand that everyone has a sense of danger, but lacks understanding of microplastic and its hazards. We can clearly define the goal: to enhance the public's awareness of microplastics and their hazards.

Over the course of three days, the team engaged students across multiple grades in the fundamentals of synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, using a mix of speeches and interactive activities. The effectiveness of this approach was evident in the enthusiastic participation of students and the collection of 85 valid survey responses, reflecting a heightened interest and understanding of the presented topics.

We held three presentations at BASIS International School Hangzhou from May 13th to 15th. During the events, team members introduced students to synthetic biology, the iGEM competition, and shared the team's experiment results and future plans with the public, while collecting feedback from students and viewers. The activity included not only speeches but also engaging interactive elements, which drew active participation from many students. After the event, we collected 85 valid survey responses from students in various grades. Through this presentation, students gained a more comprehensive understanding of synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, and many expressed their interest and expectations for future progress of the team. At the same time, the audience also gave valuable suggestions and feedback on our project, providing useful guidance for the development of the team.

This presentation welcomed students from Grades 8 to 11. Over 60 students, mainly composed of students from Honors and AP Biology, came to watch the presentation. The sessions included speeches as well as questionnaires and Q&A sessions. In the speech, we introduced synthetic biology and iGEM, gave out past examples from other iGEM teams, and presented our project this year. After the presentation, students were extremely inspired, and some even asked to join the iGEM team next year.

In the presentation, we introduced synthetic biology, examples of other iGEM teams and our team in previous years, what IGEM is, the solutions to our projects this year, the predicted results, and the current progress (Ex. Intro to microplastic pollution, Plasmid extraction, PCR, possible mutation methods). After this presentation, many students heightened their interest in synthetic biology, and even asked about how to participate in iGEM next year. It can be seen that the students are full of enthusiasm synthetic biology.

After we did three cycles of our experiment, we decided to do a speech in the Nanjing BASIS Campus. This speech, different from others, included the process of our experiment by now. When we were doing the speech, the students were engaged in our speech, and most of them demonstrated profound interest in synthetic biology and how our project works. We also added some pop quizzes that could let the students stay in tune. Because of the pop quizzes, the students listened attentively. After the speech, the participants asked many questions about synthetic biology and our project. This showed that our improvements were very effective.

• In order to get students more engageg in our presentation, we added pop quizzes
• The students had many questions regarding synthetic biology after the presentation

We organized this speech in Nanjing not only to increase the students’ knowledge in the harm of microplastic, but also to see how interested students were regarding the topic of our project and synthetic biology. The reactions from the students showed that students in general were very interested in our project.

Dr. Wang advised that we could deal with the problem of the expression of PETase in cyanobacteria using signal peptides and AI technology for successful membrane crossing, and he stressed the need for environmental safety assessments in this context. This feedback prompted us to investigate the identification of peptides and conducting the environmental risk assessments which would make our approach with the technology become very viable and safe. Dr. Wang's study focuses on microalgae systems biology and microalgae synthetic biology, developing high-throughput microalgae genome editing technologies, with research areas including bioenergy and high-value-added bioproducts (e.g., DHA and astaxanthin) as well as synthetic organelles; and single-cell cytogenomics.

• He advised us to use signal peptides or exocytosis/endocytosis mechanisms.
• Cyanobacteria can reduce greenhouse gases and provide organic matter to other organisms, will bring positive environmental impacts.
• He recommended us to random PCR to create a library of PETase variants.
• We should combine random PCR with AI for identifying key mutations to enhance PETase efficiency.

Improvements

To enhance the feasibility and safety of our project, we plan to continue leveraging AI technology to identify and screen effective signal peptides for PETase expression in cyanobacteria. This approach will help overcome the challenges related to PETase's size and electrical charge that hinder its membrane crossing ability. Additionally, we recognize the importance of conducting thorough environmental risk assessments to ensure the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) does not pose ecological threats. Moreover, we will focus on optimizing PETase variants using random PCR in combination with AI-driven predictions to identify key mutations that enhance PETase efficiency.

Dr. Li gave her thoughts on the health implications of microplastics that concerned the public, backing up the importance of data-driven risk assessments and public awareness. Her specialization in epidemiology helped us to come up with the idea of introducing education components in the whole program that would make the society more conscious towards microplastic pollution.

Background and Perspective

This interview is scheduled with Dr. Li, a Zhejiang University Children's Hospital professor. Her experiences in data analysis, disease prevention strategies, and public health evaluations will present insightful aspects for our project.

Dr. Li made it clear that health and public education must be based on qualitative data and get improved. What’s more, the pollutant must be determined through a very careful and in-depth risk assessment, and it should take the required amount of time to establish these standards and regulations. This will improve the safety and credibility of our project. She suggests that we create accounts on different online platforms to spread awareness about microplastic pollution.

Dr. He provided us with important insights into the issues of microplastic pollution. He pointed out that limited technological resources limit finding health damages by microplastics. Even though microplastics have been around for many years, no specific health problem has been detected, which he suggests that only through more research could we fully understand their consequences. Dr. He also highlights the potential threats posed by the buildup of genetically modified protein and the importance of developing and implementing biosafety measures when we are conducting our experiment.

Although it is known that microplastics are a threat to ecosystems and human health, their impact is not often recognized. To fully understand the problem and to improve our project, we asked for the interview of Dr. He, an esteemed oncologist with years of clinical studies and public health for advice.

• Dr. He said it's hard to detect microplastics' effects but monitoring them is limited. No major health incidents caused by microplastics in years.
• Health needs to be compared with environmental consequences.
• He is worried about potential ecological risks of using engineered enzymes in oceans. We must carry out thorough risk assessments for these proteins in the oceans.

The interview with Dr. He emphasizes the urgency of advancing detection technologies for microplastics and understanding their long-term health effects. The debate he put forward is that plastics has been around human’s living environment for over 50 years, if plastics in specific microplastic will cause severe damage then there will already be a lot of cases. His warning about the environmental hazards associated with our project has been the key factor to us to make a commitment to safety and thorough risk assessments in our research.

Our team wanted to understand how companies recycle and utilize plastic waste, and the techniques that they use in breaking down recycled plastic. We are also interested in their initiatives in designing products and how they wish to solve the problem of microplastic pollution. We interviewed Ms. Song, the CEO from WuYuZaiSheng to answer these questions. Her company focuses on collecting recycled plastic waste and processing it to make products, and also cooperating with other brands to design products. They have cooperated with many famous brands, like Heytea, and have hosted many events, like art exhibitions.

• We learned about the specific process of plastic recycling and reusage, including how they are made into sellable products.
• We learn about some flaws in our project, and how we could improve it to become more inclusive.
• We saw how their company created public influence by selling their products, and this creates more public awareness in plastic pollution.

Ms. Song pointed out at first that many of the plastic pollution in the ocean is cause by equipment like fishing nets, which are made from PP, PE, and Nylon. However, after research, we still found that the main pollution in the ocean is caused by plastic bottles, which are made from PET plastic. Our project still makes the most impact by tackling PET pollution. However, our team decided to do some side activities relating to recycling of other types of plastic. Our design team also learned from their product designs, and we gained new ideas for designing merchandise.

Mr. Xu from KeMao Company told us how to turn used plastic into new products. His method called catalytic cracking changes thin films of plastic into oil. This way of recycling catches all the important materials that can be used again. He told us that this type of recycling saves money and helps the environment. Mr. Xu gave us some ideas about our own project. We need to think about how people would buy it and generate funds. After the interview, we thought it would be a good idea to hold charity sales. This could help inform people about what we are doing and get funds for sustainable goals.

Our team wanted to know more about how businesses used chemical processes to break down plastic particles, and how chemical processes was different from biological processes. Thus, we interviewed Mr. Xu from KeMao company online to learn more about this.

• Learned about what our project was missing in the part of productization and promotion.
• Learned about how to select plastic out of the sea.
• This interview helped us to open our sight to a new type of Human Practices activity – charity sales events.
• Understood how to promote our project to different types of people during public speaking activities.

Professor Qi looked at our experiment and pointed out a new PETase mutant, LCC-A2, which is a technological variation of the enzyme, that was much more powerful and well-coordinated. He said that its advantage was the speed of action and the use of artificial intelligence in the development of the enzyme. We also took his suggestion of how to apply the enzymes in natural conditions.

To understand how to develop PETase enzymes that degrade microplastics, our group talked to Professor Qi at Shandong University. The goal of this conversation was to find out things which can help us increase the activity of PETases in our current project and make them easier to use for cleaning up the environment by putting them into cyanobacteria.

• A highly active PETase enzyme variant called LCC-A2 has been created by Professor Qi’s team. This variant can decompose more than 90% of post-consumer PET plastic in 3.3 hours, which was done through dynamic molecular docking-based substrate affinity analysis method.
• In order for this process to work they had to heat up the PET waste by pre-treating it and then quickly cool it down so that there would be less crystallinity, which speeds up degradation.
• Rhodococcus converts TPA monomers produced during PET degradation into CO2 and H2O.

The professor stressed that the creation of the high activity PETase mutant LCC-A2 is mainly due to his team’s wide knowledge in enzyme engineering. He further highlights the need for pre-treating plastic waste and sustaining enzyme activity at cold temperatures. The interview inspired us to optimize PETase mutants for room temperature since it will be more practical. We are thus warned by his advice not to overlook these difficulties while designing reactors that might get affected by the environment depending on factors such as temperature or nutrient availability, etc.

Dr. Fu suggested that our project could utilize wetlands to guarantee the safety of the environment, she referred that wetlands that could assist with the bioreactor in biodegrading microplastics for water purification as one example. Moreover, she emphasized the importance of environmental factors such as salinity and temperature, which could have an impact on the bioreactor's performance. She pointed out the need for a more rigorous design to avoid instability and the efficiency of our device in actual environmental settings.

Key Highlights

Improvements

After listening to Dr. Fu’s thought about our bioreactor, we planned to change our bioreactor into a more stable structure, so that it would not be destroyed. We are also planning to combine our project with wetlands. We will surround the wetland with our bioreactor, and the reactors will degrade microplastics into TPA, letting the wetland convert the TPA into completely harmless carbon dioxide and water. Then, the plants in the wetlands will utilize the materials produced, creating a closed loop.

Dr. Zhou expressed his thoughts on the ecological impact of the intake of genetically altered cyanobacteria into the marine area. He drew attention to the artificial constructed wetlands and the use of the approach of simulation experiments. We went on to conduct the ecological risk assessments and ensure that our bioreactors are indeed environmentally safe.

Our team wanted to learn more about the design of our bioreactor as well as microplastics in nature and the bio wetland solution. Therefore, we interviewed Dr. Zhou from Shenzhen University.

• Learned how to improve our bioreactors to improve our reactors to be better and more efficient.
• Understanding what types of problems may be affecting our enzymes in natural environments such as the ocean.
• This interview helped us open a new path to synthesize our project with constructed wetlands.
• Understood the ways in which biological wetlands address microplastics.

Dr. Zhou told us about biological wetlands and constructed wetlands. Wetlands are used to purify sea water and intercept garbage because it is mostly located in shore deltas. A lot of plants are planted in the wetland, and in the crevices of the plants, a lot of wild bacteria can grow, which can break down some of the harmful substances. The balance of species is maintained here, and it is protected by the state, so the reactor is not suitable to be placed here. Dr. Zhou believes that bioreactors can be placed in the sea, which is not a nature reserve.

Dr. Zhou put emphasis the bioreactor placement conditions. The bioreactor needs a lot of validation before it is put into use, such as the efficiency of the enzyme in seawater, whether the reactor can be maintained under seawater tide, whether the cyanobacteria will be leaked or not, etc. Only by simulating these problems, testing, and improving them in the lab, can we make the reactor better, more efficient, and safer.

We interviewed Dr. Pan before we chose the topic of using cyanobacteria to biodegrade microplastic, when we had many different project ideas. At first, we also had the idea of finding a solution to dysmenorrhea. Dr. Pan brought up the issue of dysmenorrhea concerns. He stressed the importance of recognizing emotional and dietary factors as well as the potential contributions endometriosis may contribute to the symptom. Dr. Pan highlighted that it would be difficult to carry out a research project on dysmenorrhea because it would not be possible to do experiments on humans, especially for high school students, and it would be necessary to ask an expert for help. Therefore, we concluded that it is more applicable to focus our project on the biodegrading of microplastic using cyanobacteria, rather than dysmenorrhea. Thanks to Dr. Pan, we eliminated some unrealistic topics for us to do.

In our five-day period of teaching in the underdeveloped and marginalized area in the Hubei province in China, we introduced basic information about synthetic Biology and the harms of microplastic in our science class. In order to promote understanding, participation, and help the children gain a deeper insight into our project, we integrated card game and electronic game into our teaching process. For example, when we introduced the harms of microplastic, we showed the “whale card” in our card game and explain the impact microplastic had on these creatures. By incorporating entertainment into the teaching process, we successfully introduced the concept of synthetic biology and microplastic to a broader audience. Also, we informed the kids’ parents on the last day of the teaching journey about what we taught them, enhancing the strength and influence of our journey.

• Introduced our project to the children and residents in rural areas, who have different educations from students in the cities, helping them understand its purpose and significance, and the harms of microplastic.
• Used our card game to educate the small kids about harms of microplastic and how to reduce microplastic by using our project, which will create a deeper impression in the kids' minds.
• Taught the kids how to play our electronic game, it introduced the children to how to degrade microplastic using the PETase in cyanobacteria, making learning more dynamic and engaging.
• Extended the learning experience to parents, ensuring a broader community impact by raising their awareness and understanding of the topic.

The public promotion event and information session in Shenzhen, China was a success. We significantly raised public awareness about microplastic pollution and the potential of synthetic biology through direct engagement and education. In this activity, we successfully collaborated with the Shenzhen Environmental Protection Agency to improve our authority and attract more people to our stand. We attended their charity sale, and used our own visual aids (e.g, roll-up banners, posters) to promote our own project and raise awareness on the topic of microplastic pollution.

Our team have conducted great deal of activities and public promotions; this has been organizing by us as a part of the campaigns to familiarize young people with the concept of microplastics and synthetic biology. This event successfully demonstrated our commitment to bring the urban community together for discussing challenging environmental and health problems. We have been effective in providing information to the locals through presentations and survey that we have made. The event in Shenzhen was intended to reach a wide range of people, whereas it had a profound impact.

This event’s main goal was to inform people about the harms of microplastics and how synthetic biology can help solve them biologically. We partnered with local environmental authorities in Shenzhen so that we could use their resources and network to achieve more.

Key Highlights

Feedback and Reflection

Our analysis of the survey data brought out the fact that even though most respondents have a grasp of basics on synthetic biology and microplastic pollution, more needs to be done in teaching them. In the future, we intend improving our communication strategy by using different media so that we can have wider understanding as well support for what we are doing.

We conducted a charity sale event in Nanjing to the tenth and eleventh graders. Before we started to sell the side products, we introduced our project to the audience, and the audience were interested in our project, making them knowing more about synthetic biology and the harm of microplastic on the world. More people were interested in synthetic biology and using it to solve real world problems. After we introduced synthetic biology and our project to the audience, more people were willing to buy our products, and we earned a total of 575.8 CNY, and we donated all of the profit we earned to support the SDGs’ initiatives under UNESCO. Because of the success of this charity sale, we decided to do a charity sales event in Shenzhen, not only facing the tenth and eleventh graders, but also facing all of the students, parents, and teachers.

• Donated all of our profit (around 2000 CNY from the Shenzhen and Nanjing Charity sales combined together) to support the SDG’s initiatives under UNESCO
• The things that we sold were all designed by our team
• Promoted synthetic biology and our project along the way

We decided to organize another charity sales event at BASIS Shenzhen. This time, we organized the charity sales event to face the whole school, including the students from all grades, all of the teachers, and the parents. The result of this is that we earned way more than last time. In total, we earned 4246 CNY and around 2000 CNY profit (the profit from the Shenzhen and Nanjing charity sales combined together) in the Shenzhen charity sales event. All of the profit made by this charity sales event was donated to support the SDGs’ initiatives under UNESCO. Because of these two successful charity sales events, we decided to spread the gist of our project to more people via social media, and sell our side products while promoting our project at the same time.

• Earned a huge amount of money (4246 CNY) and donated all of the profit (around 2000 CNY from the Shenzhen and Nanjing Charity sales combined together) to UNESCO
• Promoted our project to the entire student, teacher, and parent bodies while selling the merchandise

At the Charity Sale event in BASIS Shenzhen, a Chemistry teacher, Mr. Brown, bought 36 of our mascots plushies and decided to gave them to the primary school kids. He asked us to educate the kids when we gave them the plushies, and we introduced the kids to some basic knowledge on Synthetic Biology, and the harms that plastic and microplastic waste is doing on our environment. We hope that this will make the kids more aware about the world around them, and would act to protect it.

After the Charity sale event in Nanjing and Shenzhen, we decided to collaborate with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Guangzhou Campus to promote our project while selling our merchandise. At HKUST, we decorated a stand and sold our merchandise while introducing our project to the people who came by. By collaborating with HKUST and being located in a large charity sale event, people were more willing to come and check out our project, learning about our ideals at the same time.

• Promoted our merchandise and ideas to a large group of people.
• Gained more popularity.
• A fast way of spreading our project (attracting people through the creative merchandise)

Once we started to brainstorm our project, we created an official account on Wechat (Chinese Social Media App) to spread our project via the internet. In total, we had 2293 views on the posts that we put on the account. By promoting our project and synthetic biology, more people became aware of our project and realized the harmful impacts of microplastics on the ocean. Subsequently, we decided to open a shop online further promote our project.

• Used the speed of the internet to promote our project to more people in a short amount of time.
• Gave us a new way of promoting our project

We wanted to promote our ideals and side products to more people using social media, so we created an account on a Chinese social media app, and put interesting and educational information about our project on there. We decided to sell our merchandise there to give people a more profound impression about our project. A lot of people bought things from our online shop, and we found that using social media to promote our project is a powerful act. So, we decided to promote our project online more.

• Used the power of the internet to spread our project.
• Used the internet to reach out to more people.
• Promoted our merchandise to a wider market of people.

As mentioned above in the section of “Teaching in Marginalized Areas,” we designed and created our own card game to let people engage more when we did the Human Practices activities. This educational game was very fun to play, and it could be played in a short amount of time, so more people became attracted to our Human Practices events. Through the usage of this game, more people were engaged in our teaching process and displayed more interest in learning about synthetic biology and the harms of microplastic in the ocean, and they supported our project strongly. This card game was also useful because of its strong adaptability characteristics, so that we could use it in any situation to appeal to the audience.

• Created a fun way to teach little kids about our project.
• Helped us to attract more participants to our Human Practices activities.
• A fun and easy way to spread our project.
• Used a fun way to show people the importance of protecting the ocean from microplastic pollution

After we opened our online shop on XiaoHongShu, we noticed the profound impact on the general public using the internet. Therefore, we decided to create an educational electronic game to promote our project furthermore. Up to 2024/9/29, around 9000 people played our online game. When people played this game, they are educated by the concepts used in it. For example, the bullets that the cyanobacteria used to shoot the plastic bottle boss in the game were our PETase. This game also helped us to attract more people to our Human Practices event because of its attracting and vivid music and images.

• Used the attractiveness of the internet to promote our project to people who like to play games but doesn’t want to listen to speeches.
• Around 9000 people have played the game, and they were all educated about our project while playing the game.
• Let the general public use a simple way to understand our project and synthetic biology.
• This game had around 30 different versions.