Allan Bloom said that “Education is the movement from darkness to light” .We hope to light up the pathway to Synthetic Biology for students in our community and all over the country. We aimed to use the social media platforms to bring videos for students who aren’t able to access lab work, and lead them to Synthetic Biology lab. We hope to leave no one behind. We also engage with museum and other organization to collaborate and work for popularization of science.

We aim to cultivate public awareness of environmental protection from a young age, and thus, our primary target audience is students. We aspire to ignite their curiosity in synthetic biology through engaging experimental experiences. In alignment with our research topic, synthetic biology's methodologies offer a novel solution for addressing soil desertification, showcasing its practical application in resolving real-world issues. Beginning with school education, we have conducted both online and offline educational initiatives on synthetic biology and desertification control in Beijing and Shanghai. Our goal is to broaden the understanding of synthetic biology and its significance in tackling practical challenges.

Bilibili

Our team has chosen Bilibili, WeChat Official Accounts, and Xiaoyuzhou Podcast as platforms for our science popularization efforts.

Bilibili
On Bilibili, we primarily release popular science videos. We have produced videos on synthetic biology, available in both Chinese and English versions, with the aim of reaching a wider audience and increasing understanding of synthetic biology. Additionally, Bilibili has documented the outdoor research activities of our dry lab members through vlogs, showcasing our work content to the public. Among these educational videos, the most popular has been an interactive game video on laboratory safety. This video is engaging and entertaining, requiring viewers to make choices that align with laboratory safety principles based on different scenarios, and it has received extensive praise.

WeChat official account

The WeChat Official Account serves as a platform for publishing our popular science articles. The content we present includes records of our work, popular science on synthetic biology, and environmental protection popularization on desertification control. Furthermore, we have conducted a live broadcast on synthetic biology on the WeChat Video Account platform, which has attracted the attention of approximately 1,000 individuals from the public.

Our science popularization tweet has also been forwarded by the official school account, allowing more people to become aware of the iGEM competition and what we are currently engaged in.

Podcast

We chose the podcast platform with the aim of delivering high-quality science popularization, primarily centered around synthetic biology. We opted to introduce synthetic biology to the public through a streamlined approach to disseminating professional knowledge.

Beijing Xicheng Children's Palace Science Popularization Activity

On 28th July, our team had the honor to participate in summer education activity planned by the Xicheng District Children's Palace in Beijing. The event aimed to popularize knowledge of synthetic biology and desertification in China, and raise students' awareness of environmental protection. Through questionnaire surveys, video presentations, interactive Q&A sessions, and creative signature activities, students were successfully attracted to participate, effectively enhancing their understanding of desertification and synthetic biology, while also stimulating their interest in environmental protection. The event was reported by the official media of Beijing Time, commending the students for the significant importance of the science popularization activity, which allowed more people to understand desertification, environmental protection, and synthetic biology.

Science Popularization in Senlan Shopping Mall

On July 26, our team visited Senlan Commercial to organize a science popularization market exhibition. We created flyers highlighting basic information about iGEM, desertification, and our project, making it easy for passersby to quickly grasp our project's essence. We briefed the public on the causes of soil desertification and photosynthesis, while also elucidating the advancements in genetic engineering and the distinctive structure of genes. Additionally, we incorporated engaging experimental activities into the event, enabling children to genuinely immerse themselves in the thrill of scientific experimentation and sparking their curiosity in synthetic biology. The entire event lasted for 2 hours and attracted the attention of many children and parents on site. It sparked the children's interest in biology and also called for everyone to protect plants and safeguard the Earth.

1.DNA extraction experiment: Mix water, dishwashing detergent, and salt. Cut a small part of the fruit and crush it to make it easier for the cells to detach from the inside of the plant. Then add the mixture to break the cell wall and eliminate the electrical properties of the DNA inside the cell, allowing the DNA to bond together. Then add alcohol to make the DNA easier to extract and float it above the solution. Finally, some white flocculent substances can be seen floating in the solution, which is the DNA of the fruit.

2.Plant specimen: Fix a plant on a piece of paper with a rope, ensuring that every part of the plant does not fall off the paper. A simple plant specimen is made, and then put the plant label and desiccant together with the plant specimen into a bag for storage.

3.Chlorophyll extraction: Put plants with chlorophyll into a grinder and crush them to expose their cells. Then add alcohol to break down the plant cell wall. Prepare a funnel, filter paper, and beaker. Roll up the filter paper into a suitable shape and place it in the funnel. Place the funnel on the beaker, and continue filtering the solution until the filtered liquid turns green. The green substance filtered out is chlorophyll. In this way, chlorophyll extraction is complete.

The entire event lasted for 2 hours and attracted the attention of many children and parents on site. It sparked the children's interest in biology and also called for everyone to protect plants and safeguard the Earth.

Exhibition in SymBIOsis

On June 23, we attended SymBIOsis at Shanghai Pinghe Middle School, an exhibition organized by high school students in Shanghai. It attracted many parents with children aged 7-14 to visit. We introduced our research topic by highlighting the severe impact of global desertification: utilizing synthetic biology research methods to enhance plant root water retention, thereby improving plant survival rates and contributing to desertification control. We created plant and soil ecological models to vividly demonstrate the causes of desertification to the audience and popularize gene editing technology. During the event, we received a lot of feedback from parents: the event was very interesting, especially the ecological model, which provided a great learning opportunity for elementary school students.

Synthetic Biology: A Journey Through the Design of Life

On August 3rd, HW-ShanghaiUnited Shanghai Team had the honor to participate in this iGEM Shanghai Group Exhibition. The purpose of this educational activity is to promote our subject to the general public, to the visitors, and to enhance the audience awareness. We will also explain to all visitors and participants our team's project to improve the efficiency of xylofocolus cellulose synthesis through gene editing. We hope that cellulose can be used in the field of water conservation in plants to improve the efficiency of desert trees.

School Talk in High School about SynBio and Environmental Issues

On June 14th, we conducted a science popularization lecture on synthetic biology to aid in the control of soil desertification at Shanghai Hongwen School. Since most of our members hail from this school, we aim to expand the influence of iGEM and promote synthetic biology starting from here. The event garnered significant attention from the school, with all high school students participating. Following the event, we interviewed the audience to gauge their interest in various popular science approaches, gathering valuable insights for our upcoming educational initiatives. They expressed a desire to blend lectures with hands-on experiments to enhance the event's appeal. This suggestion was subsequently incorporated into our educational plans.

We hope to perpetuate the iGEM competition within our school, attracting more students to participate. In the future, we plan to collaborate with Hongwen School Qingdao Campus to jointly participate in iGEM, thereby expanding its influence among international schools.

iGEM Display Board

We have a dedicated iGEM display wall at Shanghai Hongwen School, which is primarily used for popularizing synthetic biology and iGEM. It also records our work throughout the research activities, attracting many students to visit and discuss.

WeChat live

On August 18th, HW-ShanghaiUnited were invited to organize and participate in an online promotional lecture about synthetic biology. The lecture aimed to explain the roles of synthetic biology in scientific studies and improve the awareness of synthetic biology applications.

HW-ShanghaiUnited took the responsibility of providing the livestream platform, and we used our WeChat Channel account to hold the livestream. A PowerPoint was designed for introducing the background and developments of synthetic biology in order to help the audience understand the contents clearly. Our team briefly taught the differences between classic biology and synthetic biology, and the future prospect of synthetic biology were also displayed.

To conclude, the event went successfully, as we gained 3782 audience members in total, with 49 new subscribers and 35k likes. We hope the lecture can promote more people being interested in synthetic biology and get involved in gene engineering research.