For the City of London iGEM team, we felt that expanding the reach of synthetic biology and educating the wider community about the foundations of this ever emerging technology was just as important as the pioneering science driving our project. Therefore, we felt it was our inherent duty to find ways to introduce the synbio basics to a multitude of demographics. From older secondary students, both boys and girls, to primary school children with special educational needs, we made resources and ran events to distribute bite-sized pieces of synbio information across the public and encourage people to engage in synthetic biology too. Being the only high school in the UK who competes in the iGEM competition, we even conversed with other London secondary schools and their teachers to introduce them to iGEM so that they take part in the future too!
Events
February - April: iGEM club at CLSG
From the start of February to the end of April 2024, 3 members of our iGEM team held an iGEM club every Friday 1st half of lunch for the year 11 students, in order to enrich them about the basics of synthetic biology concepts to help them prepare before application season. We covered a range of topics, working through the iGEM handbook as well as a last mini project we had completed in our year 11 summer, to help the year eleven students see how the concepts they have learnt look in action. From the basic genetic circuit to how a toxin/antitoxin kill switch works, the year 11s built a strong foundation of knowledge and were very engaged in all the sessions. We found that printing the bio-bricks and allowing the students to physically build the circuits or draw the systems out helped them to visualise the content and absorb it efficiently. This academic year we have opened up iGEM club to all years (year 7+), meaning that we will start to teach this content more slowly to even younger students! Hopefully they will be well-equipped when in sixth form and apply to join the iGEM team themselves…
Resources
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iGEM guidebook
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Year 11 summer project
9th March 2024: Medicon
On Saturday 9th March, 4 people from our iGEM team attended MediCon, an annual conference held by CLS for the City of London family of schools. We had a slot to present and explain what synthetic biology is, as well as the iGEM competition and the importance of genetic engineering discoveries for medical treatments. This was a great event to get year 10-11 from CLS and CLSG eager and aware of iGEM, as they have the opportunity to apply in Year 12 to become a part of the team. Moreover, many students in our partner schools were very interested once they learnt about the iGEM competition, showing a very high possibility of more high school iGEM teams from the City of London Schools. Audience participation was high, with students across year 10-12 answering questions as well as asking their own about the competition. We hope our iGEM team can return to the conference again next year.
Resources:
April 2024: SYNBIOSPHERE - Collaboration with ASIJ Tokyo team
In April 2024, the City of London UK team reached out to the ASIJ Tokyo high school iGEM team in hopes to collaborate with them on a sustainability magazine after hearing that their iGEM project was also sustainability related. After a series of google meetings, we curated a combined magazine called “SYNBIOSPHERE” which outlined the intersection between sustainability and synthetic biology - the main aim of this magazine. “SYNBIOSPHERE” was distributed in each of the school’s respective newsletters, giving us the opportunity to expand the scope of synbio to an international cohort of students. This online magazine contained articles about our corresponding projects: this allowed us to exchange our project ideas as iGEM teams while simultaneously presenting the relevance of synthetic biology in sustainability in a comprehensible and simple format, using the reasoning behind our projects as examples. City of London UK then conducted interviews with a range of different people of varying ages to gauge the existing knowledge of the general population regarding the environmental issues which inspired our projects, helping us to understand what education needs to be carried out in the future. We also thought that this would be a good resource for readers, as they could gain a sense of what level of knowledge they have themselves and perhaps feel comforted and less isolated if they know less about these topics. ASIJ Tokyo started to develop an online game inspired by our project, as they were intrigued by how we are aiming to reduce nitrous oxide emissions in hospitals. Although the development of this game was not finished by this competition cycle, this is a work in progress, and ASIJ Tokyo will provide the completed version at the 2025 jamboree, where they will be competing (They are not competing in the 2024 cycle, as they do 2 year cycles). In the magazine, there are images of the designs of the characters and buildings, as well as some preliminary coding. We are excited to potentially continue this magazine collaboration with ASIJ Tokyo, as it gives us the opportunity to expand the horizon of synbio internationally, ensuring we, as a combination of teams, educate as many people from as many different backgrounds and countries as possible.
Here is the magazine we created:
April - October 2024: BioTech club at CLS
We launched the BioTech Club at CLS in April, to Year 10-12 students. For the first few sessions, we introduced them to the basic synthetic biology concepts essential to the iGEM competition, and all genetic engineering in potential future careers. Through worked examples of past school projects, we put into practice the problem-solving needed for the production of iGEM projects. Thus we began to inspire and train younger years to think about iGEM and potential project ideas for when they may wish to compete.
In the last few sessions, since the summer holiday, we have refreshed their memories on the concepts we introduced using the iGEM handbook, and will continue to expand on their knowledge with new scenarios mainly of diagnostics, bioremediation and therapeutics projects. We plan to expand the club by incorporating practical experiments such as pGLO, and discussing other aspects of biotechnology.
Resources
18th April 2024: Earthfest
Our first cycle of design included breaking down nitrous oxide within greenhouses because at first this was what we believed to be the best area to place our box. When we were in this phase of the project, we reached out to Camden Clean air, who were hosting a sustainability event called “Earthfest” from the 18-22nd April 2024, with hopes that we could take part in their event in order to educate the wider public about both climate change and synthetic biology. Fortunately, one of the main coordinators, Valeria Pensabene contacted us and gave us the opportunity to participate during the Schools day. Therefore, through 2 main workshops, 10 members of the City of London UK iGEM team educated hundreds of both primary and secondary school children about the dangers of nitrous oxide, our project and the potential of synthetic biology during the Earthfest Schools day.
Workshop 1:
Our first workshop was set up at the main site, where we had a stall at the careers fair. We educated 3 sets of approximately 300 secondary school children on climate change, our project, how synbio is helping us to achieve our project and about iGEM as well. This was a huge success with high levels of engagement and interest from all of the approx. 900 children, where teachers were also getting involved, asking how they can get their schools involved in the competition too. Through the use of a toolbox leaflet of synbio building basics, interactive molymods, posters, word searches and stickers, we managed to convey complex ideas in a manner that was both understandable and enjoyable to the children with many developing an interest in science when they hadn’t before and many more seeming more passionate about it, excited about the endless possibilities. We used the molymods to help the students visualise the breakdown of nitrous oxide to nitrogen and water, and teach them about how enzymes work. This was very beneficial as the students could then attempt to build the same breakdown reaction themselves after the demonstration. The stickers and word searches were also a great way to attract the students to our stall and ease them into the learning experience provided by our team.
Resources
- Sticker sheets
- Wordsearches
Workshop 2:
Our second workshop was off the main site and aimed at educating primary school children (year 5) about climate change and air pollution. We hosted 5 individual sessions back to back throughout the day and worked with children with special educational needs. Therefore, we made sure to tailor our approach to ensure that everything was both understandable and enjoyable for them. Overall, we managed to target a huge number (~1000) of people of all demographics with our appearance at Earthfest and successfully spread awareness about synthetic biology. Of course, working with many demographics meant that we were modifying and simplifying our language as well as the workshop activities for each specific group (e.g giving the primary school students a colouring sheet to complete).
Resources
Project trajectory: the impact of Earthfest on our project
Throughout the day, we engaged with various individuals stationed at the event. Notably, we had a conversation with Lyndsay Muirhead from the NHS, who highlighted how our project could be highly beneficial within the NHS. She explained the ongoing challenges with Entonox and concerns about the environmental impact of its waste. Following this, we focused on adapting our project to align with NHS needs, maintaining regular communication with Lyndsay and others to fully understand the current issues and potential drawbacks of proposed solutions. As a result, we developed a design tailored for hospital settings, making it both practical for doctors and more environmentally friendly.
24th April 2024: DNA day at the Cavendish
On Wednesday 24th April a group of 3 of our iGEM team went to the Cavendish School, a local all-girls primary school in Camden Town to celebrate DNA day and educate 2 year six classes back to back about DNA and how it makes us all unique. One of our education aims was to target a multitude of demographics, so we felt that targeting women and girls was particularly significant considering the fact that women in some fields of STEM are underrepresented. Therefore, we wanted to expand the reach of synbio to a range of young girls in hopes to stimulate their curiosity and ignite an interest in this scientific field. Prior to the session, we made a lesson plan and a corresponding PowerPoint with exciting and stimulating images for the students. Here is an outline of the lesson we curated:
- What is our body made of?
- What is a cell?
- What does DNA look like?
- What does DNA do?
- Why does DNA change?
- Evolution
We also made some colouring sheets as a starter task as well as a fun task in the middle to act as a rest break between the bursts of information we were presenting. We ensured to keep the session interactive by asking the students questions about their current knowledge, so that we could adapt to their level and make sure they are reinforcing their current knowledge with new, interesting information that would open their minds to new horizons. Also, we always used easy-to-understand metaphors/imagery to make the topic of discussion easier to digest and learn about. For example, to understand “What is a cell?”, we compared the cell to a city, where the organelles were different buildings with specific functions. As a fun treat at the end of the lesson, we let the students make the double helix structure of DNA with sweets! It was a super fun, hands-on, engaging activity to finish the session, with one student saying it was “The best lesson ever!”
Resources
28th May 2024: Assemblies to younger years at CLSG
To introduce iGEM to the year 10 students at City of London School for Girls, 2 of the student leaders led an online iGEM assembly on the 28th May 2024 for all 4 of the year 10 form groups. The aim of the assembly was to outline what iGEM is, how it works, what we learnt throughout the process, how they can get involved and enriched in synbio, and what our project consisted of, so that they can start thinking of potential ideas for when they apply for the leadership team in the following year. It proved to be a huge success, with even the teachers keen to learn more and enquire about synthetic biology as a new and emerging field.
17th September 2024: Extracurricular fair at CLSG
On Tuesday 17th September 2024, the City of London UK iGEM Team ran a stall to promote iGEM and the continuation of the iGEM club in the new academic year. We had students from years 7-13 come to our stall, and by the end, 55 students had signed up to the club! Since we had a range of age-groups come to our stall, we adapted the sub-topic of the stall that we would talk about and the language and intonation used for each age group. For example, with year 7 students, we started by unpacking the definition of DNA and genes, why they are important and why and how they can be modified (putting the genes into context), however with the year 10s, since they had been introduced to iGEM before, the content was different, and we focussed on describing both current and old projects so that they understand what incoming projects are like.
24th September 2024: CJS visit
On Thursday 26th September 2024, we visited the City Junior School in London to educate the Year 5s and 6s about STEM opportunities at the Senior Schools, what iGEM is and how DNA works. For this event, we used the same broad lesson plan as we used at Cavendish school, though with adjustments to highlight the STEM opportunities that the CJS pupils will have at the senior school, as well as differences in how long the lessons were, which meant we cut the colouring in section of the lesson plan.
We began the day by delivering a 20 minute assembly covering how science is taught at secondary school as well as explaining what iGEM is, how it works and a broad strokes sense of what our project has entailed. We talked about all the experiments and trips that are available in the Senior Schools such as dissection, titration and flame tests, as well as fielding questions about the various clubs and societies that cater to STEM on offer.
After this, we delivered a lesson to each of the three Year 5 classes about iGEM and DNA. These lessons were loosely structured around our powerpoint presentation, with us covering areas like DNA, environmental vs genetic traits, dominant and recessive genes and genetic engineering. A good deal of the lesson time was spent fielding a diverse and challenging range of questions from the pupils, which we felt was appropriate as it allowed the pupils to engage in a curious and inquisitive matter with science. This included questions about the morality of genetically engineering humans, if genes change over your life and what happens if your genes do not copy correctly when new cells are created.
We finished off the lesson by having the pupils build models of DNA out of strawberry laces and jelly sweets, something we found the pupils loved just as much as they had at Cavendish. Finally, we provided a short writeup of the key points made in the lesson to the class's teacher so that the pupils would have a written record of what we had talked about.
Resources
We used the same resources as we did for DNA day at the Cavendish School.
Created resources
BioBites podcast
This year, the City of London iGEM team wished to start a form of education that could be passed down to future teams and so would continue on for years to come. Therefore, we decided to start up a podcast series called “BioBites”. This series starts from the very beginning and covers the key principles of biology, before moving on to apply this knowledge within the complicated yet wonderful world of synthetic biology. This competition round, we released 6 episodes, forming season one of the podcast, and our aim for the future is that each season naturally increases in complexity, allowing the listeners to eventually become an absolute pro at everything synthetic biology. We decided to go for a podcast format instead of any sort of visual format, for example posters or magazines, as we strive to be inclusive in our educational approach; In podcasts, information can be obtained via listening, meaning this form of education does not discriminate against the visually impaired. We felt this was important, as it contrasted the other forms of education we had carried out previously. To integrate these podcasts into school life, they were assigned as year 7 biology homework. We cannot wait to see what the future podcast seasons include - perhaps the next year’s team could even host special guests from other iGEM teams to collaborate on this podcast too!
Podcast content:
Episode 1: Eukaryotic cells
Episode 2: Prokaryotic cells
Episode 3: Cell transport
Episode 4: Respiration and ATP
Episode 5: Macromolecules
Episode 6: Enzymes
A link to the podcast can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2XNFwxZbRmFtxHmEZhHJ5O
Lab protocols
For the City of London iGEM team, allowing students to ask to get involved in practical lab work was really important. Therefore, a few members of our team curated a small collection of 4 accessible and easy to complete lab experiments that cover some of the basics and fundamentals of what iGEM lab work would be like. These protocols are to be implemented into the school curriculum this academic year at both partner schools, and hopefully will be put in place at the other external partnership schools too!
1. Extracting DNA from strawberries
2. Cultivating bacteria from a cheek swab using home-made agar
3. Viewing mitosis in an onion root
4. How does concentration affect reaction rates of enzymes?
Boardgame
The City of London UK iGEM team wanted to to think of a new and fun way to get the whole family involved in synthetic biology, so that synbio is more integrated in daily life. Therefore, we designed an exciting board game which relates both to synbio and our project! Our aim is to test our game out at the jamboree, bringing a printed version of the game to play with other iGEM teams.
Comic
Earlier on in our project trajectory, when our target location was in greenhouses, we made a short and eye-catching comic to further our project outreach to a much younger audience. In this short, 6-frame comic strip we outlined the problem nitrous oxide poses and the solution we created in extremely simple terms. The aim of this comic strip was to catch the attention of young children (4-7) so that they could understand that greenhouse gases are harmful and that emissions must be reduced in the near future. However, we also wanted to focus on the progress and opportunities the future holds, highlighting how with imagination, innovation and optimism, the world’s biggest problems, such as climate change, can be solved with the intelligence of budding young minds.
Kids' activity magazine
Having educated a plethora of older primary school and secondary school children, we felt it was appropriate to expand the reach of genetics and synthetic biology to an even younger audience in year 1 and up. Therefore, we decided to make a short Kids’ Activity magazine which includes colouring, a word search and one of the lab protocols we had written, as they are accessible and easy to do at home too! We chose this approach as we thought the experiment would add a level of interactivity and permit the whole family to take part, which is perfect. We plan on taking these back to the primary schools where we held the DNA lesson so that the idea of iGEM and synbio can be passed down the school and to future generations.
Toolbox leaflet
In order to educate people about the basics of synthetic biology and genetic engineering in a brief, easy to understand and portable form, we made a leaflet with the appearance of a toolbox, which contains all the basic ‘tools’ needed to gain a grasp on synthetic biology and how it works. We printed copies of this to use at the Earthfest event, as well as distributing them across our schools.
The topics covered in this leaflet are as follows:
- What makes organisms unique?
- Genes
- Transcription
- Translation
- Genetic engineering crash course
- The basic genetic circuit
- Promoter, RBS, coding sequence, terminator
- Our project
- Why this project?
- How will we carry this out?
