Our Goal

In a country of a billion young minds, most students go through cutthroat competitive exams that perform large-scale filtering for colleges. This unfortunate system that has now been institutionalized forces biology students to blindly learn things for the sake of an exam, not stopping to appreciate the beauty of what is possibly the most fascinating, labyrinthian machine in the world.

Coupled with the fact that a large chunk of the Indian populace faces a systemic lack of access to good schools, textbooks, and tutors, a lot of students join college unmotivated, with no appreciation for the subject they’re learning, treating learning as a chore.

As a team that has gone through this process ourselves, this isn’t just a systemic problem that we are bystanders to, this is a deeply personal issue for us. We know first-hand what the holes that plague the educational system are and want to patch them by delivering a meticulously curated, engaging and informative learning experience.

It has been shown previously that student engagement is greatly improved when education is delivered in a gamified manner that promotes collaboration and peer learning. Additionally, it is also important to gauge students’ current knowledge levels in delivering educational material. This philosophy formed the ethos of our education efforts this year. Active engagement was our main focus - allowing us to effectively connect with students and impart knowledge through hands-on and digestible workshops, sessions, and games.

We have documented all the materials used for our activities in a way that can be used and built upon by other iGEM teams as well as educators and students around the world. Following are the values our diverse range of activities revolved around:

SynBio Monopoly

One of SynBio's founding pillars is its ability to modularize complex biological systems into parts. We have always found this hard to grasp ourselves and even harder to explain to a crowd. This abstraction has been traditionally conveyed through the "Lego Brick" analogy. As part of our gamification mission, we tried to figure out what cult classic board games convey the idea of parts, systems and villages well. The one that has been sitting under our nose all this time was Monopoly.

Just like how a Monopoly Board has various color sets each representing a neighborhood with multiple streets under it, our board game treats each color as a composite system containing multiple parts. Each player starts off as a chassis, collecting genes/parts as they move across the board. For our school visits we stayed true to Monopoly rules but we are developing a set of more stimulating rules that force a player to perfectly curate, pick and trade properties (parts) to accomplish specific functions.

Other modifications we made were to the accessory cards. Utility cards in our version are equipment that help accelerate the transformation process - gene guns, incubators, etc. We've also put a spin on the Community Chest and Chance cards which touch upon themes like Biopiracy, Contamination, Startup Funding, etc. The money equivalent is ATP.

To give the player full context as to what the parts are and what they accomplish, we have made a booklet to go along with the board game. This contains an amusing backstory to every project that we've picked for the board's parts along with an explanation of what each part does. For those looking for a complete understanding of the underlying genetic concepts (DNA, transformation, etc.) that are present in the game's design, we also have intuitive explanations with in-house designs and animations accompanying it.

After multiple iterations of ideation, design and conceptualization, our team managed to produce a distilled and engaging interpretation of a traditional Monopoly game. One of our driving motivations was to make the game accessible to the masses. A lot of work has been put into the architecture surrounding the game to allow a complete novice to the world of biology to get the complete experience. To further our efforts at achieving accessibility and fostering collaboration, we have also made every aspect of the game completely open source and printable.

We harness the power of gamification to broaden our outreach to new people and new communities. This game is one of our first steps in a long journey to make biology concepts simpler to appreciate.

Activity Book

Synthetic biology is often viewed as an advanced, complex field, typically reserved for high school or even university students. We believed that with the right approach, even young children could grasp and enjoy learning about DNA, genes, and genetic engineering. This inspired us to create the Synthetic Biology Activity Book, a kids’ activity book that introduces them to the fundamental, yet interesting concepts of genes and DNA in the form of an activity book.

In our efforts to cater to a younger audience, we made our book interactive and engaging by using playful learning tools like comics, mazes, coloring pages and matching games. At the same time we made sure that we are not diluting the underlying science behind it. Attached below are some snippets from our book that help in visualizing complex biological phenomena and forming useful mental connections.

Anatomy of an Overdose

Capitalizing on the buzz of the crime thriller “Anatomy of a Fall”, our team decided to put a SynBio spin on a murder mystery challenge - “Anatomy of an Overdose”. The backdrop of the event was a frustrated genetic engineer who plotted to murder her husband through deviously designed genetic circuits. With context clues explaining the nature of genetic circuits, the metabolites in relevant pathways and the behavior patterns of the suspect, participants had to collaborate in teams to solve the crime and present their case. To nudge them to think critically and make their cases watertight and scientifically sound, participants went through rounds of intense cross-questioning and feedback from the judges. This discussion was useful in patching up logical gaps in their concepts while giving them some food for thought to take away from the event.

Through careful planning we ensured that the challenge level was appropriate for the audience, with the clues scaling in difficulty to maintain engagement while also educating.The competition fostered active collaboration and learning among participants. By working in teams, students engaged in critical thinking and problem-solving together, learning not only from the clues provided but also from each other's ideas and knowledge. They were allowed to reference various websites to solve the clues, and hence actively gained knowledge about how genetic pathways work. The murder mystery format encouraged lively discussions as participants pieced together the scientific puzzle, thereby naturally cultivating an environment for dialogue around biological pathways. In addition, the competition aspect brought out creativity and different approaches to solving the same problem, ensuring that the event was as much about learning from each other as it was about competing.

SynBio Auction

Learning is more effective when it’s enjoyable, and interactive activities are a great way to make that happen. By turning complex synthetic biology concepts into an auction with a dynamic bidding process, participants can engage with scientific ideas in an active and hands-on way. Building on the popularity and success of last year’s event, and reinforcing our belief in learning by active engagement, our team hosted the event once again, this time with a new problem statement. The game was designed to be both educational and beginner-friendly, blending learning with an interactive challenge. With easy-to-understand explanations and an illustrative presentation, even participants with no prior knowledge of synthetic biology could enjoy and learn from the experience.

A critical challenge was presented to the participating teams: A group of astronauts, embarking on an ambitious mission to Mars, got exposed to space radiation due to a radiation shield failure. The prolonged exposure to cosmic radiation resulted in DNA damage of the astronauts, causing them to develop a form of leukemia. Stranded with limited resources, synthetic biologists had to rise up to the challenge and come up with a solution in a short period of time. After a lot of circumspection, the scientists came up with two potential drugs which could be produced by engineering host organisms they brought from Earth. Furthermore, as these could not be produced in sufficient quantities for direct administration, the participating teams had to come up with a genetic circuit to administer the drugs as a probiotic.

Teams were provided with a catalog of chassis, parts, and vectors, from which they had to devise a solution to the given problem. The interesting twist came in the form of an auction, where teams had to bid for and trade components while carefully managing their assigned budget. As teams competed for a limited supply of parts, the atmosphere buzzed with energy and excitement. The teams not only bid enthusiastically but also traded parts with each other and engaged with each other strategically. It was exhilarating to see the participants fully absorbed in this friendly competition.

After the auction and building the desired genetic circuit, the teams had to explain their solution in the form of a short presentation and were required to elaborate on their thought process for selecting the genetic parts. As the primary goal of the event was to bridge the gap between people and synthetic biology, participants received a detailed evaluation of their solutions along with constructive feedback to address any gaps in their reasoning or knowledge. Our engaging event successfully sparked a newfound interest in synthetic biology among many young undergraduates.

Indian Synthetic Biology Olympiad

In the last few years, iGEM has seen a fair share of high school teams putting on an impressive display. Despite India’s vast pool of talent, no high school team from the country has ever participated in this global event. This prompted us to take action and raise awareness about iGEM and synthetic biology among millions of high school students across India.

In our effort to promote synthetic biology at the grassroots level, we collaborated with the Indian Debating League, an organization dedicated to engaging Indian school students in global-level competitions and activities. Together, we conceptualized the first ever Indian Synthetic Biology Olympiad – a fun, accessible, and engaging platform designed to introduce students to the exciting field of synthetic biology.

The Olympiad, set to be conducted in October 2024, is designed to spark interest and foster curiosity among Indian students about synthetic biology. It will feature a resource-sharing session, where we will introduce participants to beginner-friendly materials, offering a clear introduction to synthetic biology and its vast potential. Students will gain access to resources that can guide them on their learning journey, with a focus on student-centered content that simplifies complex concepts. A lot of thought went into designing the question paper. We tried our best to achieve a good blend of questions aimed to make the students exercise their concepts as well as analytical skills.

Unlike a traditional Olympiad, ours does not give out ranks and does not serve as a filtering tool into a further round. This was a conscious decision so as to not foster an overly competitive architecture and add to the pile of brutal exams that these students are forced to write.

Through this initiative, we aim to inspire a new generation of young scientists and innovators from India to explore synthetic biology and potentially represent the country on the global iGEM stage.

IIT Madras for Villages

An important facet of our accessibility program was to branch out to the underprivileged. Most government schools in India lack the requisite funding to set up labs or interactive teaching tools. While it was relatively easy to use existing architecture to reach out to urban schools, trying to break into a rural setting was a whole other challenge.

With the help of iVIL (IIT Madras for Villages), a student-run action platform for implementing ideas for rural upliftment, our team managed to transform a rural school visit into a STEM inspiring moment for students of grades 8th and 9th. By introducing synthetic biology in a way that was both accessible and exciting, we opened doors to STEM careers that many of these students might never have even considered. This marked the beginning of a long standing relationship as we plan on more frequent collaborations in the near future.

Through a Tamil-language presentation, our team broke down the basics of DNA and genetic engineering, making overbearing science jargons into something students could connect with. This was followed by handing out our Synthetic Biology Activity Book that turned these complex topics into a playful, engaging learning journey. With comics, mazes, and games, the students were able to connect with whatever the presentation was about, reinforcing their understanding of concepts such as Complementary Base Pairing, mRNA-ribosome interactions, etc.

To further spark their interest, we introduced a creative bracelet-making game, where students, who were paired with their best friends, made complementary strands of beads that represented the DNA base pairs, and tied them to their respective wrists. This hands-on activity made the intricacies of DNA replication feel intuitive and fun.

This was a truly rewarding experience. While projects change every year, the smiles on their faces created a long lasting impression that will probably stay etched in our minds forever.

School Visit: Kendriya Vidyalaya

In our nascent stages, we quickly realized that passive engagement through lectures and workshops are not the most effective way to connect with the students. We developed interactive games that keep the student’s interest piqued while tacitly teaching them biological applications. After multiple rounds of meticulous planning, our team has curated a perfect blend of fun games that make sure that active hands-on learning is possible.

Our team interacted with a group of 40 students at Kendriya Vidyalaya High School. The visit started off with a presentation that served as a primer to cell biology and genetics. Throughout the presentation, the team tried to keep the crowd involved through questionnaires, debates and by showing them real life applications of the concepts they learnt. After the presentation, we proceeded to conduct three fun activities:

SynBio Monopoly: We created a synthetic biology-themed version of Monopoly. Students not only learned core concepts of synthetic biology but also enjoyed managing Monopoly money, constructing genetic circuits, and acquiring “iGEM villages” on the board. The game helped make complex ideas more accessible and fun, encouraging teamwork and strategy.
Dice-Based ‘Base Pair’ Game: In this activity, we formed a group of students in a circle and provided a die along with a sheet containing a long DNA sequence. Each student rolled the die in turns, and the first to roll a 6 began writing the complementary DNA strand. The remaining students continued rolling, with each subsequent 6 allowing the next person to take over the task. The game continued until one student wrote the last base pair, completing the DNA sequence and winning the game. This activity was a fun way to reinforce their understanding of DNA replication in an exciting manner with a dash of fierce competitive spirit.
Make a ‘Super Cell’: We encouraged students to brainstorm innovative concepts for cells with unique abilities, prompting them to identify the specific proteins and genes that would be necessary to bring their ideas to life. This activity not only sparked their creativity but also deepened their interest in the fascinating possibilities of synthetic biology and its potential.

On receiving enthusiastic feedback from the participants, our key takeaway was that many of them found our active engagement approach to be a refreshing change of pace from a run-of-the-mill classroom setting.

School Visit: Chennai Public School

Our team conducted an educational outreach session at Chennai Public School. The two-hour session, focused on the future of biotechnology, was designed for 9th grade students.

Our mission was simple yet ambitious: to ignite curiosity and build a foundational understanding of synthetic biology in these young learners. We structured the session to break down complex concepts into easily digestible information, using relatable analogies to explain genetic engineering fundamentals, methodologies, and real-world applications. Staunchly committed to the active engagement approach, the presentation was filled with debates, group discussions and fun quizzes.

Despite their lack of a formal introduction to genetics, the 9th grade students demonstrated an impressive grasp in advanced topics like CRISPR and cell organelles. Their engagement level exceeded our initial expectations, with students remaining attentive and participative throughout the entire two-hour duration.

The event received positive feedback, with one teacher remarking on the unprecedented level of attention displayed by the students. This comment encapsulated the session's success in capturing and maintaining student interest in a typically challenging subject area. Multiple students also commented that this session completely changed their outlook on the subject and its potential.

Overall, the outreach event achieved its goals of educating young minds about synthetic biology and stimulating curiosity in this promising field.

The Final Frontier: SynBio and Space

As mankind further explores the cosmos, overcoming the challenges of surviving in harsh space environments demand innovative solutions. Synthetic biology is a very promising field in science that can help defeat these challenges. With this in mind, iGEM IIT Madras hosted a seminar on “Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing in Space”, where we explored how SynBio is actively shaping and offering exciting possibilities for life in this Final Frontier of space exploration.

Our seminar wasn't just about facts - it was about unlocking the imagination. We began by breaking down the fundamentals, demystifying the central dogma of molecular biology to make sure everyone gets to participate and learn regardless of their previous background in biology. The seminar illustrated how we can engineer life at the genetic level to solve humanity’s biggest challenges in space.

Participants - many of whom were astrophysicists or from non-biological disciplines - were intrigued by our detailed insights into situ resource utilization, from bio-efficient propellants to space farming and bioplastics. The projects of other iGEM teams and organizations like NASA, who have worked on the use of SynBio for space exploration, were also discussed. The discourse evolved dynamically as participants enthusiastically engaged with us, probing into the effects of microgravity on biological systems and potential diseases affecting humans on Mars, generating a lively exchange of ideas.

We concluded our seminar with thought provoking conversations and discussions on how innovative biology could redefine sustainability for humanity as well as extraterrestrial life. Needless to say our seminar expanded horizons of thinking as we inspired a wave of curiosity and imagination among our participants about the power of synthetic biology in shaping a sustainable future beyond Earth.

SynBio Symposium

The IIT-Madras iGEM team recently organized the institute’s first-ever SynBio Symposium, aimed at engaging students from both IIT-Madras and nearby colleges in Chennai. The event was designed to introduce participants to the rapidly growing field of synthetic biology and showcase its potential in solving real-world challenges.

The symposium featured Dr. Victor Lorenzo, a renowned synthetic biologist, as the chief guest. Dr. Lorenzo's presence added immense value to the event, offering participants insights into cutting-edge developments in the field. Throughout the day, current and former members of the IIT-Madras iGEM team delivered a series of talks and lectures on a broad range of topics.

The event began with an introduction to the foundational principles of synthetic biology, offering a primer for those new to the field. As the sessions progressed, more advanced and innovative research areas were explored. The team discussed and presented topics like the role of synthetic biology in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics and the creation and engineering of synthetic genetic circuits. One of the event’s unique features was a debate on the viability and ethics of space colonization and exploration, which sparked thoughtful conversation and critical thinking among participants.

The symposium concluded with an address by the team’s PI, Dr. Karthik Raman, who emphasized the importance of maintaining ethical standards in synthetic biology. His speech reinforced the need for responsible innovation as synthetic biology continues to expand its impact on society.

This symposium marked a successful step toward building awareness and interest in synthetic biology within the academic community in Chennai.

SynBio Webinar for High Schoolers

In collaboration with the Indian Debating League, the IIT-Madras iGEM team recently conducted a Zoom webinar on synthetic biology open to high school students across India.

The seminar began with an introductory session that broke down the core concepts of synthetic biology, like modularity and genetic engineering as a logic gate-based idea. The team then presented real-world applications, showcasing the impact of synthetic biology in areas such as medicine, environmental sustainability, and biotechnology.

The interactive format of the event encouraged student participation, with a dedicated session for questions and discussions. Students explored not only the scientific potential of synthetic biology but also its ethical and societal implications, fostering a broader understanding of the field. Additionally, a resource-sharing session was organized, equipping participants with learning materials designed to deepen their knowledge and facilitate further exploration.

Through its collaboration with the Indian Debating League, the seminar successfully reached a diverse audience of Indian high school students. The event provided a valuable platform for students to engage with cutting-edge science and sparked an interest in synthetic biology as a potential field of study. The seminar can be seen as an important step toward increasing awareness of synthetic biology among younger students in India.

Movie Screening

We organized a movie screening for students, featuring the documentary “Human Nature”, followed by thought provoking debates and discussions.

The film explored the breakthrough science of CRISPR, and its potential to reshape biology and society. It was a truly awe-inspiring and thought provoking experience, after which we held a fiery debate to explore the ethical boundaries of synthetic biology.

Through the debate we realized that even science students outside life sciences harbored many misconceptions about genetic engineering, GMOs and their effects on human health and society. This was an absolute eye-opener for us and spurred on our efforts to clear up common confusions about genetic engineering. The movie and the post screening discussions perfectly fit our criteria for knowledge transfer through active engagement and collaborations.

IIT Madras Open House

Every year IIT Madras opens its gates for all to witness the work done by the state-of-the art labs as well as the projects done by the student teams. It receives a footfall of over 10000 people, including academicians, professors, students and the general public from across South India.

At the Open House Day, we showcased our current as well as past projects and introduced our educational game - SynBio Monopoly. Through the example of our projects we showed how genetic engineering can be used to solve real-world problems. We explained our approach and tailored our explanation in a way that could be understood by everyone. We answered questions from students, faculty, and the general public attending the event.

One of the main attractions was our SynBio Monopoly game, designed to teach synthetic biology concepts in an interactive way. Attendees had the chance to play the game, learning about genetic engineering, biotech startups, and bioethics while having fun.

The open house was a great opportunity for us to share our work and make synthetic biology more accessible to the community. After interacting with a journalist at the Open House, our project for iGEM 2024 even featured in the national news!

Freshman Orientation

In our personal experiences as high school students, we had felt that the Indian high school curriculums don’t succeed in depicting an accurate picture of the true potential of biology beyond the 4 walls of a classroom. Hence, it is natural for freshman students right out of high school to have certain misconceptions and qualms about pursuing Biology.

Centre for Innovation (CFI) is India’s largest student-run innovation lab. Team iGEM IIT Madras also comes under this umbrella. One of its flagship events is the Freshman Orientation - giving the energetic freshmen a rundown of every team, their work, and the culture that the innovation hub fosters. The freshman orientation thus, was a crucial avenue for us to clear the clouds of confusion and ignite new minds.

During the orientation, we were stationed next to traditional engineering teams that worked on large rockets, rovers, and hyperloop pods. The genetic engineering used by our team did not fit the stereotypical image of an engineering project and this was a myth we wanted to clear up.

Our tools were natural biological apparatus - capable of making cuts, fixing links, and piecing things together at a nanometer scale, significantly more precise than a drill or a glue gun. We also explained the founding pillars of genetic engineering and synthetic biology, explaining them ideas of the central dogma, transformations, BioBrick parts, and modularisation. We also introduced our board game - SynBio Monopoly, which was appreciated by the freshmen.

This orientation served as our first point of contact with interested freshmen, many of whom would go on to become members of our project for iGEM 2025. We explained the structure of our team, our work ethics and guided them through a typical tenure of a team member including our shenanigans at the labs and the team bonding process. We also ensured to lay emphasis on the responsibility that comes with engineering organisms and taught them about the various biosafety measures we usually follow in our labs.

We reached out to over 400 freshmen who got a glimpse of the synthetic biology community through the event. Freshmen who expressed fascination to join the team were made to join an Interest Group on Whatsapp where we regularly posted updates about the team, our work, and the application process for the next tenure.

Student Interactions

As part of our educational outreach, we welcomed several school and college students from different institutions to our workspace throughout the year. During their visits, we engaged them in discussions about synthetic biology and introduced them to our initiatives for this year. By breaking down complex ideas and demonstrating real-world applications, we inspired curiosity and increased awareness of synthetic biology's potential to address global challenges.