Educational Outreach

Introduction

In an era defined by rapid advancements in science and technology, the field of synthetic biology stands at the frontier of innovation, promising revolutionary solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. Synthetic biology has proven numerous times that it is the crucial key when dealing with diseases, environmental issues and obstruction in front of innovation.

However, alongside its transformative potential, synthetic biology has also become a subject of misinformation and misunderstanding in different communities of this information society. Living in the risk society, the public is difficult to fact-check every piece of news which floods into daily life.

Misconceptions about the nature and applications of synthetic biology can lead to fear, skepticism, and resistance, hindering its potential to drive positive change in various fields, from healthcare to sustainability. The proliferation of misinformation surrounding synthetic biology underscores the critical need for educational interventions that bridge the gap between scientific advancements and public understanding.

Education, the essential part of our project, is to ensure and prioritize increasing awareness about not just our lab results but also relevant and important scientific topics in the society. This year, we strived to extend our outreach as far as possible, from targeting the general public in Hong Kong, to our local high school and university students who are specializing in non-science subjects. We aim to dispel the misunderstanding and doubts in our society, spreading correct synthetic biology information to different ethnic groups, communities and stakeholders.

Through collaborations with various organizations and teams, we successfully achieved our goal of extending outreach. Our creativity combined with scientific knowledge, which is further explained below, has only helped strengthen the impact we had. The HKU iGEM team believes that this will be a long path to fight against the misleading news in the society, but we will extend our vision and complete this utmost mission beyond this annual project.

UNICEF

Since the beginning of its inception, the HKU iGEM team acknowledged the significance of education in developing the CAR-M Advanced or CAR_Ma. Therefore, we approached and finally collaborated with the renowned humanitarian & children advocacy NGO, UNICEF, through its student branch in HKU, UNICEF Club in HKU. Through our brainstorming process, we reached an agreement to host BioIMPACT 2024, an education workshop promoting the world of Synthetic Biology & Science to Young adults. Catering both rising freshmen in universities and secondary school students from across Hong Kong, our full-day event introduced and encouraged individuals seeking to enter the world of biotechnology through playing cards and a series of workshops.

From the start of the Opening Ceremony, BioIMPACT 2024 is bustling with participants coming from various backgrounds. Honored ones coming from as far as Indonesia gather together in the InnoWing building with zeal and hope to gain insights from HKU iGEM and HKU Unicef’s flagship event. Interview with Prof. Sugimura after the Opening signifies our event with expert understanding in the field of Biology and Cancer Research, validating the urgent need for revolution in the drug delivery sector of chemotherapy.

Observing the immense potential in entrepreneurship that these young adults have, HKU iGEM provides precious knowledge through our speaker, Duncan Chiu, as part of our education initiatives. To further elaborate their excitement and connect the entrepreneurship sector with real-world settings, we soft launch our CRISPR Card Games by presenting limitless scenarios, solutions, and ways for young adults to aid in real-world problems with the art of science. After the introduction of the cards and the insight behind them, the afternoon break commenced to allow our participants to explore the HKU Campus while also connecting with our community.

Through the second part of BioIMPACT 2024, we then start the session of our core science education, titled “Cancer 101: Definition and CAR Therapies”. In this session, the Wet Lab division is showcasing its brightest minds through our members namely, Alika Wong, Scarlett Tsou, and Soumik Ojha. Their dedication to cancer therapies is unmatched, making sure our wide range of audiences are well informed and getting exclusive knowledge on the science behind cancer, recent breakthroughs, and some snippets to HKU iGEM’s project.

While these all may seem focused on education, our collaboration with HKU Unicef Club also brings us to the IHP sector through our Special Interview with Teriver Cheung, a Cancer Survivor from HSBC Life. Through this hour-long sharing session with him, the secrets of cancer patients are unveiled in the form of a multi-slide panorama of Teriver’s life aspiration. These young adults finally learned that cancer did not only affect human physical and monetary resources but also their psychological and soul as well. With Teriver’s belief in the HKU iGEM team’s research, our team quickly followed with the introduction to our project, the CAR-M Advanced or CAR_Ma. This sparks interest among the audience, especially several HKU freshmen as well as joining our team in the future.

Last but not least, we surprised our participants through the iGEM Simulation. We simulate the iGEM Jamboree environment and create 3 separate groups that will present their ideas through CRISPR Cards introduced earlier. With some of them already recognizing problems they want to solve, they actively build their plans in 45 minutes to create several solutions to be judged in front of HKU iGEM representatives. Finally, the winner came to fruition in their solution of Sickle Cell Anemia (SCA) which is apparent in Latin American and African countries. Their effort and analysis gained the attention of our representative, awarding them 1st place and the opportunity to shadow the HKU iGEM Wet Lab team for the upcoming lab session.

Overall, the project has been a huge success thanks to HKU Unicef Club’s collaboration and insights on Integrative Human Practices. After our events, we also award all our participants with physical certificates, recognizing their effort and their awareness in solving global problems through the lens of biology and sciences.

Asia-Pacific Symposium

Moreover, we have recognized the importance of providing a networking platform to build stronger connections among fellow iGEM teams and professionals. With this inspiration, we then co-hosted the Asia-Pacific (APAC) Symposium with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in late August. Throughout the project, there are rare opportunities for the iGEM teams from all over the world to communicate with each other and gain further insights. By inviting teams from all over the APAC regions , the main goal of this two-day event is to provide a networking platform for iGEM teams across the APAC regions, showcasing the innovative project and discussing important topics about synthetic biology regardless of the distance where we are.

DAY 1: The first day of our Asia-Pacific Symposium was an on-site event that fostered collaboration and idea exchange among participants through in-person discussion. To facilitate the bonding between each iGEM team, we have first started with an icebreaker game, which is an interactive card that encourages them to jointly solve real-life problems with synthetic biology solutions. For example, when the participants recognize the problem ‘vitamin A deficiency’, they have to find out the corresponding synthetic biology solution such as golden rice with the existing cards. To make it more challenging, they are also required to utilize the remaining card sets including the effector and methodology to figure out the principle behind the solution. The card games have truly inspired them with the dynamic nature of synthetic biology solutions.
After that, we invited Dr. Chua Song Lin from PolyU, a specialist in applied biology and chemical technology, to share his insights and professional research experience through an engaging talk. With his extensive experience in conducting microbial biofilm research projects, he has shared lots of practical genetic engineering practices like genetic circuits in his talk as well as some common wet lab practices in a research project. His presentation has gone through the brainstorming of a research project to its final publishing and execution, inspiring iGEMers of thinking creatively to create their own project that shed its impacts to solve real-world problems.
Concerning the importance of providing further skills training opportunities, we carried out a wiki-writing workshop. From the basics elements of wiki writing to ways of grabbing the readers’ attention, this workshop helped the participants how to document their projects and findings effectively. Meanwhile, they have deepened their understanding of the importance of wiki writing to foster communication with the general public, making science be more easily understood. Hence, the project can be more widely promoted to further extend its influence.
A wet lab trial is another training session, which enables the participants to go through some common wet lab practices. This serves as a good opportunity for some high-school teams to experience more kinds of wet lab practices. A highlight of the day was poster sharing session, where teams had the opportunity to present their iGEM projects and share their constructive insights on other teams’ works as well.
Through the first-day event, a platform has been successfully built for effective communication within the iGEM community, creating a supportive environment that featured innovative scientific ideas.

DAY 2: The second day of the Asia-Pacific Symposium focused on the hybrid mock judging sessions, providing teams with the opportunity to present their projects to a panel of judges in a setting similar to the actual Jamboree. Dr. Helen Ma, one of the judges, played an important role in the process, offering insights on both the technical aspects and the clarity of their presentations. Her feedback not only helped teams refine their scientific concepts but also improved the way they delivered their messages.

Dr. Helen Ma, one of the judges for the mock judging session, brought a wealth of experience in science communication and education to the panel. She currently serves as a Project Manager for Science Education at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she develops and manages science communication training programs in collaboration with the School of Life Sciences. With over 17 years of experience, Dr. Ma has hosted popular science television programs, contributed articles to media platforms, and served as a docent at the Hong Kong Science Museum. Her expertise extends to innovative teaching approaches, including the award-winning SciTouch program, recognised for its multi-sensory educational methods.

Dr. Ma’s extensive background in engaging the public with complex scientific ideas enabled her to provide invaluable feedback during the mock judging session. She emphasized the importance of making scientific concepts accessible to a broad audience, guiding participants in clear communication and audience engagement. Her feedback not only helped teams refine the technical aspects of their projects but also improved their ability to connect with both expert and layman audiences, a critical skill for success at the iGEM Jamboree. This guidance was particularly beneficial for teams as they prepared for actual judging sessions, where both presentation skills and technical knowledge are put to the test.

The mock judging session was conducted as a hybrid event, enabling teams who were unable to attend in person to present their projects via Zoom. This format allowed for inclusivity, ensuring all teams could participate and receive valuable feedback regardless of their location. With a 30-minute time limit, teams were challenged to present their work efficiently, balancing time between delivering their presentations and addressing the judges’ questions. Each team received personalized feedback, helping them refine both their technical content and presentation style in preparation for future competitions.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s iGEM 2024 ResiSense team provided valuable insights into the benefits of the mock judging process. They noted that when deeply immersed in a project, it’s easy to overlook the need for clear explanations, as certain terms and concepts become second nature. Engaging with judges unfamiliar with their work helped them identify areas in their presentation that needed clarification, ensuring the audience could fully understand the material.

By the end of the second day, participants learned valuable insights into how their projects could be improved. The hybrid format allowed all teams to fully engage with the experience, regardless of their physical location. This day’s events reinforced the symposium’s mission of fostering collaboration and growth, leaving participants better prepared for the iGEM Jamboree and the challenges ahead in the field of synthetic biology.

In addition, we are excited to announce a collaborative yearbook project with UC Berkeley. This yearbook will feature detailed accounts of the various teams’ projects from our Asia-Pacific Symposium, as well as projects presented at the symposium in the Bay Area. Our goal is to create a lasting resource that captures the innovative work being done by teams across the globe, showcasing their efforts and progress in synthetic biology. We hope this yearbook will serve as an inspiration and educational tool for future teams, providing them with insights into past projects and the lessons learned. More than just a documentation of achievements, the yearbook carries symbolic significance—it represents the growing connection between teams in different regions, the shared mission of advancing synthetic biology, and the collective aim of promoting this emerging field to a broader audience. By sharing our successes and challenges, we aim to foster a stronger, more connected community dedicated to synthetic biology.

HK-Macau Joint School Symposium

In addition, we had the pleasure of co-hosting the Hong Kong-Macau Joint School Annual Symposium on the 5th of August, an initiative led by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. This event served as a dynamic platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing amongst undergraduate and high school iGEM teams from Hong Kong and Macau, which cultivated an enriching environment for all participants.

The symposium was designed as a space for further collaborations, harmonizing the unique spirit of synthetic biology, and a deeper understanding of projects from each team. The symposium highlighted the importance of collaboration amongst diverse teams, highlighting how different perspectives and solutions to a similar Village problem can lead to richer discussions and debates.

Each participating team had the opportunity to present their projects and were evaluated by Dr. Helen Ma and Dr. Jacky NGO. Dr. Helen Ma has 17 years of experience in science education and communication training programs with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and has hosted popular science television programs, and served as a docent at the Hong Kong Science Museum. Dr. Jacky NGO is an Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is experienced with protein chemistry and structural biology. With both their insights on each team’s work, the structured feedback was able to enhance each team’s communication skills, thereby elevating and preparing them for future success.

Christian Action

Educating the public is vital in any society. However, there are usually groups in society who are knowingly or unknowingly neglected during this effort of knowledge exchange. One of the targets of our project is to amplify knowledge exchange, especially between these groups of people.

Consequently, we partner with Christian Action to extend our outreach to less privileged groups of individuals, particularly individuals belonging to Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities and asylum seekers. There are 3 different workshops for children, teenagers, and adults respectively. Each of the workshops is customized and planned to their needs:

Young children are naturally curious and excited about new things they will encounter in their mini endeavors in life. So why not utilize this curiosity to introduce and strengthen basic scientific concepts in their little minds? Concepts related to bacteria and germs are introduced to them through games. This would make the children more mindful of their hygiene Moreover, as our project is essentially about cancer and genetics, a simplified explanation of concepts related to DNA is also touched on through an interesting and simple game of Banana DNA extraction, in the hope that these young pairs of eyes would be able to view all the things in life, be it a banana or a plant in a different light.

Teenagers; are at an age where they are questioning and trying to find their identities, wondering which paths they would take and how those paths would determine the next 40 years of their careers. They are nearing the age of finding universities and programs that would suit them. For our workshop targeted towards this group of people, we prioritize giving them a dive into what life in science would look like for them with our “What is it like to be a biologist - Molecular Genetics Edition” and give them a glimpse of lab skills and knowledge related to genetics, topping it off with giving these students a tour around one of Asia’s top universities.

Learning is a lifelong experience. As we are older, our learning is more directed towards our professions and the field of work in which we will be employed. Hence for adults, the key goal of their workshop is to increase their general knowledge and awareness of scientific phenomena and processes that happen in daily life which can aid them. There is also some emphasis on skills that may increase their employability. Topics related to science misinformation, cancer, food science, and biochemical safety are covered in the workshops.

Our deep desire to enhance knowledge exchange and empower the minorities in the community prevails over the competition timeline, which is why these workshops are scheduled to take place in December, way past the deadline of the competition as the most important thing for us is to ensure the empowerment of individuals through knowledge.

Educational Tour Workshop

With the aim of enhancing the public's understanding towards synthetic biology, we have planned to extend our education modules to secondary school senior students in mainland China. Moreover, from the IHP sharings of Mr. Markus Cheung, we further learned that the general public generally have limited knowledge about synthetic biology especially the wide applications of DNA engineering. Hence, our planned workshop will focus on educating them on the basic techniques involved in DNA engineering, underlying principles, and further applications in real-world scenarios.

Reaching out to these students, we recognize that they might not have as much synthetic biology as our research team. Therefore, we have designed a series of engaging activities to enhance their interest in synthetic biology. Firstly, we will have students sharing science from three different disciplines including biotechnology, biochemistry, and food nutrition. They will share their insights and perspectives such as underlying healthcare issues on viewing synthetic biology from different major disciplines and how diverse learning can ultimately come up with a synthetic biology that addresses real-world problems.

After that, we will have an iGEM project showcase session, highlighting how we applied engineering in our CAR_Ma study. This will outline the rationale and our methodology like how we engineer CAR for targeting solid tumors more efficiently to illustrate the application of synthetic biology. This session will also feature an engaging ‘Kahoot!’ game, which intrigues their interest in synthetic biology through interactive activity while refreshing their learnings during the sessions.

Finally, to further enhance their experience with synthetic biology, we also designed a micropipetting workshop and gel electrophoresis trial for them. For the micropipetting workshop, they are asked to demonstrate their learned pipetting skills to create different coloured images such as fish. This will inspire them on how science can actually be engaging and interesting, fueling their interests in this area. To increase the difficulty levels, we will also guide them to learn more about molecular genetics and perform DNA extraction, allowing them to experience the common techniques used in engineering research projects.

To conclude, it is expected that the education influence will be reached to a broader target group, educating them with practical knowledge about synthetic biology and gene editing. This will even inspire their interest in synthetic biology and motivate them to brainstorm with more innovative ideas. We believe that the Grand Jamboree will not be at the top of our vision, which is to tackle misinformation and help teenagers get in touch with synthetic biology. We will keep this as our dogma and progress beyond the Grand Jamboree.

SIG Workshop

Acknowledging how synthetic biology plays an important role in our future’s development, we have then specifically designed a workshop called ‘BioBuilders: The Future of DNA Engineering’ for the university students in late-September. This workshop covers the topics of DNA engineering, synthetic biology and practical lab skills that are involved in a synthetic biology project using easy-approaching ways. The first part of the workshop is two mini-talks. While the former mini-talk focuses on an introduction to our project ‘CAR_Ma’, the latter one involves a basic introduction to DNA engineering. As not all students have a good understanding of DNA engineering, so we have covered the basic techniques including DNA extraction, advanced techniques like CRISPR, and also its wide applications such as vaccinations. In addition, we introduced our project by mentioning the rationale, methodology, and other educational works we have done to foster their understanding of how an engineering project has an impact on reaching the public. Specifically, we also talked about our concerns when we are designing our project models such as the LNP option owing to its cost-effective functions. After the mini-talks, we have 3 hands-on activities in rotation to let them learn synthetic biology in an engaging and inspiring way. Since gel-electrophoresis has been a fundamental part of DNA research, we have provided this part to let them get used to this basic lab technique. At the same time, from gel preparation to loading of DNA samples, they will know more about the nature of DNA and the principle behind gel-electrophoresis. This has deepened their understanding of DNA. Besides, a MATLAB programming trial for crime solving is also provided in the workshop. To let the participants experience programming work that may be involved in DNA engineering projects, we have designed interesting crime-solving cases for them. In this part, they are required to adopt the MATLAB programming platform to analyze the physiological response of a suspect and find out whether he is telling lies. Participants have jointly worked as a group to create several graphs and output the average data results in this crime analysis. In this engaging way, they will gain more insights into basic programming functions and know that the engineering work could also be widely applied in different scenarios. For the remaining hands-on CRISPR card games, we aim to inspire students to think of multiple synthetic biology solutions to deal with real-world problems. For example, when they recognize the problem of ‘coral bleaching’, they might have to search for the corresponding altered target gene ‘Heat Shock Factor 1’. Following by, they will find out how CRISPR helps to enhance coral resilience and restore healthy coral ecosystems. Through the games, they will gain knowledge more actively and imagine more creative synthetic biology solutions. Also, they will know how DNA engineering techniques are practically applied to solve problems. In conclusion, this workshop was successfully held and achieved a high satisfaction rate regarding the survey filled by the attendees. Moreover, all of them have indicated an increased understanding of DNA engineering and synthetic biology after attending the workshop. Moreover, we are also glad to see that most of them showed an interest in contributing to the field of science in the future based on their understanding gained in this workshop. This aligned with our aim of educating the next generations of DNA engineering and synthetic biology, inspiring them to come up with more solutions to address real-world problems.

Podcast

In our mission of educating the public and bridging the gap between science and the community, we launched a mini-podcast series called BioConnect, consisting of 5 episodes. As the name of the series suggests, this podcast aims to connect you to the world of Biology.

In each episode, we discuss different topics in science that are relevant, in the hopes of enhancing their knowledge regarding the discussed topic. The areas in biology covered range from cancer to synthetic biology.

The goal of this entire series is not to cover topics extremely dense in scientific knowledge as the target audience is the general public. Instead, topics are simplified and briefly touched on while discussing the most relevant issues regarding them, to spark curiosity among individuals hearing the episodes.

In some episodes, we were joined by some great special guests who gave us valuable insights into how to improve our project as well, which was crucial for our IHP. Guests like Professor Brian Wong and Mr. Markus Cheung gave us unique perspectives regarding topics that are so current and compelling.

Bioconnect was a vital key for us to make our voices be heard from anywhere and everyone, maximizing our outreach and bringing scientific knowledge to the global community.

Storybook

How it started out Spending every day in the lab trying to complete our project, it is inevitable that a group of undergrads would make a few mistakes here and there. We soon realized that everyone so frequently makes the mistakes made in labs.

Whether someone is starting their career doing lab work or has years of experience in their hands, errors are made unintentionally sometimes. Of course, as time goes on, we learn from experience and hopefully reduce those mistakes made. But, it would be so useful to have a guide that consists of errors made by novice and sometimes even veteran scientists.

An idea emerged among the wet lab members to create a book that compiles the mistakes they had made, hoping that it can give fellow researchers what they had once wanted; a guidebook compiled of what things to avoid doing in the lab.

What the book includes Our book is called A - Z Wet Lab Mistakes Book. As the name suggests, this book contains mistakes listed alphabetically for our fellow biologists; mistakes that happen while we are hands-deep in experimenting.

A book consisting of mistakes without prevention methods is like a dictionary listing words without its definitions. Hence, to further elevate our book, the mistakes listed come with their ways of prevention/ what things to do instead.

Aims of the book Every scientist has a beginning when they enter the lab for the first time. It is inevitable for anyone to start to do so without mistakes. This book offers a general idea of common mistakes committed in labs in hopes that it can serve as a guidebook for our fellow researchers.

Along with the mistakes that are creatively listed alphabetically, the methods of prevention written alongside them will provide information and ideally make anyone more confident whenever they are out and about doing experiments in their labs.

This is made in the hope of being a simple read suitable for all groups of people, particularly for beginners who have little to no experience in laboratory settings.

Impact In fact, during one of our events, this lab book was read by members of the public with no experience working in the laboratory. It was great news to us that the book was met with countless positive feedback, as expected. They were very engaged and their excitement only further proves the book’s success.

Card Game

Through extensive research and surveys from our Science Communication team, we find that a number of young adults and future researchers alike are more keen to engage with our project through something fun. From physical games to talks to strategy building, we conclude and improve our last card game to our current version.

As of now we have 2 Card Games that we used in different events. The first version is more in-depth towards the elimination of biological affairs on a specific scale. Getting more in-depth on several areas, we did find this to be the most suitable to present our team’s goals in educating youth about science and how to present it in their own way.

However, further feedback boosted our effort to launch the second version, which has an additional feature on gearing towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Combining multiple sectors and today’s era of circular economy and responsible living, we found it to be an excellent opportunity to make our cards acceptable to a wide range of audiences! This clearly opens our horizon towards better inclusivity for children and future generations which are projected to be more wary about our environment holistically.

Overall, both versions of our card have been well accepted by the public through multiple introductions on our IHP and Education initiatives. We hope that by not only fostering their education, a lot more scientific discoveries and bioentrepreneurship talents could be reaped through efforts for our community here in Hong Kong.