Learn: We are glad that our idea is appealing to the teens. Their understanding in ocean protection was incredible, they criticized us for using paper questionary because of more carbon emission.In subsequent projects, we adopt a paperless approach whenever possible.

Build: After educating students at Pingshan Middle School, we redesigned the electronic version of our questionnaire.

Test: After distribution, we have received a total of 287 questionnaires so far.

Learn: We distributed these questionnaires in various locations and settings. The final results revealed differences influenced by regional education levels, which ultimately led us to Hainan (See more details in Collaboration ) . If given the opportunity, we hope to spread the concept of combating the climate crisis and protecting the planet to even more distant places.

We found that:

• Public awareness of the climate crisis is still insufficient, and we need to further expand our efforts to educate people

• There is little public interest in carbon sequestration, and it is difficult to provide effective feedback, so we need to seek advice from the professional field

Learn: We explored various carbon absorption pathways. After comparing them, we adjusted our project plan and established the general direction of leveraging the ocean's inorganic carbon reservoir to sequester carbon as calcium carbonate. This helped the experimental team define the design approach for Vibrio natriegens. We aimed to driven three ocean carbon pump to make a comprehensive carbon storage.

Test: We reviewed the Emission Report 2023-2021 and conducted a qualitative comparison between existing emission reduction strategies and our approach.

Learn: We gained insights into the carbon sequestration potential of coral reefs, which further helped the experimental team refine the design of Vibrio natriegens In which we choose coral acid-rich proteins (CARPs) as the coding gene.

Build: We visited Qianlinshan Primary School to conduct a science outreach program titled "Seaweed and Carbon Neutrality."

Test: We tested the effectiveness of the presentation by asking questions and conducted in-depth interviews with teachers afterward.

Learn: The teachers suggested reducing text-heavy descriptions and incorporating more interactive images to capture the children's attention. This feedback guided us in designing the educational curriculum for the Dream Aquarium. This feedback guided us in designing the educational curriculum for the Dream Aquarium. (Click to see details)

Build: We reached out to the most popular aquarium in Shenzhen, hoping to establish a collaboration.

Test: We used our knowledge to help the Ocean Dream Pavilion design an educational program, and in return, they offered us a permanent exhibit space for our project.

Learn: We learned that as an exhibition venue, a comprehensive design approach engages all senses when showcasing a theme. This perspective has also been incorporated into our project design to promote the integration of various aspects of our work, which is essential! We followed this concept to design our co-culturing system and safety approaches. (Click to see details)

Learn: Public education was effective, but concerns about the economic feasibility of the technology were raised, leading us to focus more on cost-efficiency research. Since calcium carbonate isn’t valuable. We decided to search for a cheaper organic compound to consume.

Learn: We discovered that the beach had a significant amount of litter.

Among the litter, most of them are shells from seafood like mollusks, shrimp, and crabs are common on the beach, even buried in the sand. This abundance of chitin caught our attention.

Our primary PI Chuanlun Zhang appreciated our investigation and pointed out that coastal life is thriving and has many fascinating functions.

Learn: While conducting our “Eco Monopoly”, cost of science development is an important parameter. HP reflect this situation and inspired Wet Lab considering the cost in experiments. This consideration finally leading to a innovated low-cost formic acid detection method. (See more details in Experiment )

Build: Hold by the SZU-China, we participated in a technical discussion with other iGEM teams in South China.

Test: We participant in presentation and communication with other teams face to face.

Learn: The completion of HUBU China's project and SCUT-S-China's innovative ideas on carbon absorption provided us with valuable insights. Their work show us how can a project find its economical potential. Leading to our exploration in commercialization. (Click to see further works) Also, we were inspired by SCAU-China’s work in connection between modelling and hardware. This help us made a well-cooperated safety system. (See more details in Model & Hardware )

Build: Prepared detailed experiment demonstrations and a PowerPoint presentation.

Test: Expert reviews and team discussions validated our experimental design.

Learn: Through this discussion and our face-to-face communication with Professor Zhang, we confirmed the necessity of designing a suicide switch and a biosafety chamber. We start to focus on the laws and regulations to make our project extremely safe (See more details in Safety ).

Build: We aimed to engage in a collaborative brainstorming session during the CCiC workshop.

Test: Through active participation in their respective groups, our members shared ideas and engaged with experts, receiving real-time feedback from the prominent judges. Each group tackled unique challenges related to synthetic biology.

Learn: Genuine needs drive market potential. Our project addresses urgent demands, helping stakeholders quickly understand our initiative. The judges in this workshop appreciated our efforts in finding a cheap method of formic acid detection (See more details in Experiment ).

Build: Prepared lectures and interactive sessions showcasing project progress. Design interesting experiments.

Test: Gathered carbon footprint from global youth and their understanding of climate change.

Learn: Global friends are willing to participate in climate discussion. Their passion inspire us to learn more in global cooperation in climate action. (See more details in SDG )
Also, during our experiment in coral reefs in a more acid ocean is questioned, since CA lead to acidification. We choose co-culturing with Shewanella to solve this problem. (See more details in Design)

Build: Organized cross-team discussions on the application of carbon capture technologies.

Test: Focus on the potential of our project in industrialization.

Learn: It’s not easy for a premature project to gain investment. We should make it more professional and mature. Our hardware (2nd version) is innovative but hard to product, said by company attended. (See more details in Hardware )

Build: We got connection with our senior sister Xuan Du, who is now a expertise in carbon accounting.

Test: We had a online meeting with Xuan Du and asking some questions of carbon market. Also, we made a brief pre and invite her to evaluate our program economically.

Learn: We got clear picture of carbon market and how the carbon is calculated. This helps us to find out the carbon budget in our program from individual action to a industry. (As shown in the picture)

Build: Led by Jilin University's China-Japan Union Hospital, we collaborated with several iGEM teams to co-write a book on the ethics of synthetic biology.

Test: We shared our opinions in this great discussion.

Learn: Ethics safety is also a part of project safety. Thoroughly completing the project's safety design helps alleviate public concerns about the ethics of synthetic biology. (See more details in Safety ).

Learn: We should start locally, assess the situation, and establish a promotion process before expanding the project's scope. We started sampling locally first the result if shown in modelling work. (See more details in Model )

Build: Collaborated with professors from the South China Sea National Key Laboratory.

Test: Gained suggestions for experiment optimization and new methods through technical discussions.

Learn: Learned about how environmental conditions affect microbial applications. Appreciated the feasibility of our project.

Build: Conducted a team visit to the largest local seafood market to research where chitin goes after market operations.

Test: Talking with the seafood keeper about how they deal with the residues.

Learn: The seafood market is a extinct source of chitin output caused by human activities. We found that chitin has low economic value and incurs minimal costs for carbon sequestration. Fits our idea of organic-inorganic matter co-precipitation well.