Our Contribution

With the information gained from experts, our PIs, advisors, and literature reviews, we started to spread awareness about antimicrobial resistance by writing short articles and posts for our social media channels including LinkedIn , X, and Instagram.

But we didn’t stop there, With the awesome help of the bioengineering department at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, our team put together a super fun campaign on the 17th of September to further inform the public about our project, and iGEM.

At our booth, we dove into the world of iGEM by sharing fun facts about its history, the medals teams can win, and the varied villages in iGEM. Using stickers with characters and symbols that represents different synthetic biology tools, and fun fliers we created, we were able to introduce synthetic biology to the public and speak about how it plays a great influence in our daily life, ranging from medicine to the environment. And of course, we couldn’t wait to show off our project too!

The best part of the event was seeing students and professors stop by. It was amazing to chat with people from all kinds of majors, answering questions and getting into fun conversations about our project. So many Students were eager to join the competition and had tons of questions about how to get involved, the timeline, and how to create their own teams. We believe with this event; we were able to inspire students to participate in iGEM competition. We can’t wait to see the next wave of iGEM enthusiast and maybe mentor future iGEM teams ourselves.

Since one of the most frequent questions asked during our campaign was, “How do we start an iGEM team?”, we knew that next year, we would have a boost of participants not just from our university but across Saudi Arabia. This growing interest motivated us to take things a step further. To help future teams, we created an interactive and easy-to-follow guide on how to start an iGEM team from scratch. Check it out here.

We took the initiative to acquaint younger students with the world of iGEM by visiting University School (KFUPM schools). During the visitation we engaged the students by introducing synthetic biology, iGEM competition and of course presenting our project to them in simpler terms they could easily understand. We intended to ignite their curiosity and enthusiasm for science, providing them with a glimpse into the captivating realm of synthetic biology and its real-world applications.

We prepared an Arabic flyer that summarized our project, aiming to provide students with a handy and engaging reference to complement our presentation. Our goal was to make the information accessible and relatable, ensuring they could easily connect with the key ideas of our project and synthetic biology.

To inspire students and spark their interest in the exciting possibilities of iGEM and synthetic biology, we handed out stickers which features our project and synthetic biology themes. It was a fun and memorable way to spread information about our project and give the students something memorable to take away. Everyone loved them, and it added a beautiful touch to our iGEM experience. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we were also able to give away gifts, making the event even more impactful.

To make learning about synthetic biology both fun and engaging, we created a card game centered around synthetic biology concepts and our project. The goal of this game is to make learning about biology more interesting and accessible. In this game, one player describes a specific concept related to synthetic biology without using the forbidden words, while the competing teams try to guess as many cards as possible within two minutes. This fast-paced format promotes teamwork, quick thinking and a deeper understanding of the subject. This game received enthusiastic feedback from our peers, and we believe it can serve as a valuable contribution to iGEM by making education interactive and enjoyable. It can also be used by other teams as an educational tool to engage their communities and promote the wonders of synthetic biology in a fun and competitive way. Check it out here.

Through the course of our project, we had trouble trying to figure out bioinformatics tools. We tried to recruit a team member who was an expert, but after weeks of searching without success, we rolled up our sleeves and dove in ourselves. With the help of Dr. Tran Van Dinh, we learned some basics. Since we faced challenges, we decided to create a simple manual to introduce bioinformatics. This manual is designed to be a helpful resource for future iGEMers who find themselves navigating the world of bioinformatics in their work, offering them a solid starting point to build their skill and confidence.

As is common knowledge, lab safety is essential to the integrity and success of any iGEM project since it enables teams to operate effectively while lowering risk. In order to lower risks and make sure that students can concentrate on their biology experiments while remaining safe, we have added a section in our manual that offers clear guidelines to help nurture a safe, orderly, and responsible laboratory experience.