| Ulink-SZ - iGEM 2024

Overview

Our Education strategy is to go both inside and outside the school. In the school, relying on the platform of Ulink High School of Suzhou Industry Park, we have carried out a series of activities with school characteristics. We created the "iGEM" club on campus, and through cooperation with other clubs, we held a number of fruitful seminars, which not only promoted the exchange of ideas among students, but also stimulated their passion for synthetic biology.

We also reach out to the communities around our schools and labs to bring the knowledge of synthetic biology to a wider audience by holding outreach and educational activities. This includes going into the community and summer nursery schools, and going to the lobster restaurants on the street for on-the-spot exchanges. We believe that through these events, we can raise public awareness of the importance of synthetic biology and stimulate their interest in science.

In order to further expand our influence, we have also opened self-media accounts and carried out online live broadcast activities, hoping to reach a wider audience through these modern communication methods.

Awareness Activities inside the School

Ulink High School has relatively few learning resources in synthetic biology, so we actively create opportunities to provide more platforms for students to learn and communicate through class presentations, sharing sessions and clubs. Students are encouraged to take the initiative and explore the cutting-edge knowledge of their professional field. Based on this, we decided to set up an innovative club, with seminars as the main form of activities, in order to stimulate students' independent exploration and innovative thinking. Workshops not only promote knowledge sharing, but also enhance teamwork and improve participants' communication skills and critical thinking skills.

As soon as the decision was made to form a club, we began to prepare for it. First of all, we learned in detail about the application requirements of the club and made all preparations as required. In addition, we also invited Ms. Poppy from the school's biology group to be the instructor of the club. After the club application was approved, we started planning activities for the semester. Depending on the depth of the activities and the different target groups, we divide the activities into two categories: sharing sessions for all teachers and students and roundtable discussions held in cooperation with other clubs. As of September 25, the club has successfully held 1 sharing meeting and 3 roundtable discussions.

1. Turning "Waste" into Treasure - Topic Sharing Meeting

Ulink High School often holds thematic sharing sessions, and we took the opportunity to introduce our project to one class. Most of the students in this class focus on the biology direction. Starting from the characteristics of the city of Suzhou, which is rich in water resources and abundant shrimp and crabs, we discussed how the waste of shrimp and crab carapace on the table can be reused to extract chitooligosaccharides, and the application prospects of chitooligosaccharides. The students listened very carefully and expressed great interest. They believe that if the project is actually put into use, it will have the potential to change the face of the entire city. We are encouraged by positive feedback.

However, the students also asked a few practical questions: "Will there be new environmental pollution in the process of processing shrimp and crab carapace?" "Can the cost of producing chitooligosaccharides be covered by its market value?" In response to these questions, we have conducted in-depth discussions. After the event, we all felt that the discussion was not only profound but also significant. Therefore, in order to further promote the knowledge and communicate with more people, we came up with the idea of creating a club.

2. Synthetic Biology Learning Experience Sharing

In September, at the beginning of the establishment of the club, in order to let more students know about synthetic biology and the iGEM club, we held a sharing meeting. A total of 8 students and a teacher from the Department of Biology attended the event, all of whom were interested in studying biology in the future. Ms. Poppy specially invited Hans as a guest. Hans is a research MSc graduate in Systems & Synthetic Biology at Imperial College London and currently works as a research assistant at Research Complex at Harwell.

At the sharing session, Hans introduced in detail the concept of synthetic biology, the importance of this field in various countries and its broad application prospects. He also shared why he chose synthetic biology as his research direction. Afterwards, we had a discussion about the competition iGEM. Hans used his in-depth expertise to explain the fundamentals of sn ynthetic biology experiments—the process of Design, Build, Test, and Learn. Our team members demonstrated the practical application of DBTL through their own project experiments.

During the event, some students showed great interest in the iGEM, believing that it is one of the important ways to learn synthetic biology, and expressed their desire to become the president of the iGEM club in the next year. We are very happy to receive such positive feedback.

3. "Collision of Ideas" Series of Activities

3.1 Discussion of Ethical Issues in the Direction of Synthetic Biology

Without waiting for us to send out an invitation, the Philosophy club heard that we were planning to hold a seminar on the ethics of synthetic biology, and they offered to join the discussion. Unfortunately, due to time conflicts, their members were only able to send one representative to attend. We were joined by Teacher Charles and Poppy and Mrs. Wu.

They gave their concerns about the ethical issues that synthetic biotechnology may bring, such as "biosecurity", "definition of life and ethics of creating life", "social justice and distribution of benefits", and so on.Especially about the definition of life and the ethics of life. Our students gave different ideas. Some of our students thought that on the earth, the survival of the fittest theorem proves that only the more adaptable species will survive , so gene editing can contribute to sustaining human life. The students of the Philosophy Club are more concerned about the "sanctity of life" and believe that life is inviolable. They argue that even if synthetic biology adheres to strict ethical norms in research, ethical principles and norms need to be deeply explored and established before experiments, and there should be strict and extensive supervision. Prof. Charles, Prof. Poppy, and Prof. Wu analyzed the complexity of synthetic biology at the ethical and social levels, and said that to promote the development of this field, there are many factors that need to be considered, and supervision is indispensable.

In addition, based on President Chen's suggestion, the students discussed the public acceptance of products made from waste in food and medicine, and offered suggestions on how to reduce public resistance to these products.

After the heated discussion, the students showed a strong interest in biological devices and technologies.Then we moved to the laboratory and introduced the instruments needed for the experiment, such as PCR instrument and agar gel electrophoresis. Then we introduced the structure and construction process of plasmid on the blackboard. The students praised the completeness of our introduction and expressed that through experimental instruments, principles, and introductions, they were able to better understand the complex field of synthetic biology. At the same time, four of them raised the following questions:

Q1: Why is this technology called PCR?

Q2: Why does PCR polymerase still work at 95 degrees Celsius?

Q3: Why do small pieces of DNA move faster in agarose gel electrophoresis?

Q4: What factors are related to the migration distance of PCR amplification products in agarose gel electrophoresis?

We explain it in detail. Through this exchange meeting, our team members felt that there is still more to learn and explore in synthetic biology. The student from the Philosophy Club said that she was very honored to have such an opportunity to think about biology issues at the philosophical level with biology students, which gave her an unprecedented ideological innovation. The participating teachers also asked if we could introduce more advanced experimental techniques in the next meeting. We are honored to be recognized by our classmates and teachers, and fully recognize the importance of popularizing synthetic biology.

3.2 Open Discussion: Applications of Synthetic Biology Across Various Fields

In order to satisfy the growing curiosity about synthetic biology, we organized a symposium on the applications and development of synthetic biology across various fields.

The students who came to participate included freshmen who had just entered high school and juniors who were about to enter university. With great interest, they discussed the applications of synthetic biology in medicine, envisioning a future where synthetic biology techniques could create more precise and effective drugs, bringing new hope for human health. In agriculture, they pondered how synthetic biology could be used to improve crop varieties, increase yield, and enhance resistance to pests and diseases, contributing to solving the global food problem. In the field of environmental protection, they imagined synthetic biology creating more efficient biodegradation methods to reduce pollution and protect our planet.

Regarding the future prospects of synthetic biology, they are filled with confidence. Some students believe that synthetic biology will become one of the core areas of future technology, leading humanity towards a better future. It will bring revolutionary changes to various fields such as medicine, agriculture, and energy, greatly improving the quality of human life. Other students see the immense potential of synthetic biology in addressing global issues like climate change and resource scarcity. They believe that through innovation in synthetic biology, humans can find more sustainable ways of development.

This discussion has been enlightening and thought-provoking for them and for us. We recognize the boundless power of science, and as a cutting-edge discipline, synthetic biology has tremendous potential for development. They also began to consider their future career choices; perhaps some will aspire to engage in research in synthetic biology and work hard to promote its development. At the same time, they realized the importance of interdisciplinary learning; the advancement of synthetic biology requires the integration of knowledge from different disciplines, and only with a broad knowledge base can one make a difference in this field.

This discussion was not only an exchange of knowledge but also a vision and commitment to the future. We believe that high school students can also inject new vitality into the development of synthetic biology with their wisdom and enthusiasm.

3.3 How to Effectively Build Sustainable Cities and Communities

Our club collaborated with the MUN club in the Ulink High School holding a meetup about the development of a sustainable city and community.

MUN is a club that organizes young students to play the role of diplomats from different countries. They represent different countries, presenting ideas, debating, voting, and making resolutions. The major topics of those small meetings they held were about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including the rights of women and global warming.

During this time, our club members had a discussion with the members of MUN about how to efficiently build a sustainable city and a community. Our team members talked about the importance of building a sustainable community from the perspective of recycling in daily life. Members of the MUN community discussed the specific community characteristics needed to build a sustainable city from a high-level perspective. In addition, the two sides also discussed how to establish an efficient, green, and humanistic shrimp and crab carapace recycling system and increase public acceptance of the product.

Concept and Practice of green urbanization

The concept of green city was put forward by the French on the basis of the concept of sustainable city. Since the beginning of the 21st century, green urbanization and sustainable development have become one of the most important global issues. "Putting people first" and promoting biodiversity are the soul of the French concept of green urbanization. Green urbanization is not only reflected in the harmonious development of man and nature through the construction of green ecological cities, but also embodied in the sustainability of social governance and civil society participation in the construction of green ecological cities, and the sustainable development of society and culture and harmonious development among people through the construction of green urban society. Therefore, "green" applies to anything related to nature, science and technology, humanity and the social and environmental crisis: from organic food to setting the limits of development, from the green integration of private and public Spaces to the integration of people and culture in communities, from a human-centered planning model to a green and sustainably centered planning model.

Promotional Activities outside of School

1. "Turning Waste into Treasure" Going into the Community

Working with the NJTech-China-A team and the Nanjing-BioX team, we went into a community where the elderly often participate in various activities and have a certain concern for the construction of the community.

We communicated with them in the form of discussion groups, telling them that every summer and autumn, a large number of waste shells of shrimp and crabs can be recycled and disposed of in an environmentally friendly and efficient way, and eventually they will get high-value products that can be used in various fields such as medicine and video. As expected, they said that the awareness of the classification of kitchen waste and other garbage has not yet been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and they have never heard of the re-classification of kitchen waste. However, some of them believe that reusing waste is an environmentally friendly act in itself, and expressed support for young people and innovative projects, as well as willingness to cooperate with the government to build a cleaner and cleaner community. In addition, the price and safety of the product are also key issues for them.

2. Interest in Synthetic Biology is Cultivated for Children

At the children's summer care center, we introduced this fun program to children around 8 years old, and the children found it amazing. Inspired to begin a review of their knowledge of garbage sorting. We led them to compare the environmental impact of traditional and biological methods on the treatment of waste shrimp and crab shells, so as to deepen their awareness of recycling waste.

After that, we and other team members led the children to play games, in order to let the children know "chito-oligosaccharide" more intuitively, we led them to use "lollipops" made of clay to compare chito-oligosaccharides (their Chinese names contain the word "sugar", which is easier for children to understand), and then realize that chito-oligosaccharides are a product with certain value and can be used in many fields. After the event, a few children came to ask about our project and had a deeper understanding. They were eager to know when the recycling of waste shells would start, when the valuable chito-oligosaccharide would be produced, and encouraged us to do research. We were very surprised and happy by the children's encouragement, and it can be seen from their attitude that they are full of interest in synthetic biology.

3. Transformation of Shrimp and Crab Shells

In modern society, garbage classification is not only an important part of environmental protection, but also the key to resource recycling. Shrimp and crab shells, these seemingly insignificant wastes, actually contain great value. In order to raise public awareness of this fact, we took President Chan's suggestion and decided to distribute the elaborate manga brochure to the staff of the garbage collection site and to the residents who came to drop off their garbage.

In the form of a lively and entertaining comic book with a light-hearted and witty storyline, this handbook shows readers the potential of shrimp and crab shells as a high-value ingredient, and hopes to convey the message to every reader that shrimp and crab shells are not just remnants on the table, they can be transformed into valuable resources and contribute to environmental protection and resource reuse.

We hope that this handbook will stimulate the interest and enthusiasm of residents in waste recycling, and encourage them to participate in the action of waste sorting and resource recycling. Each cartoon is a rediscovery of the value of shrimp and crab shells, and every reading is a deep understanding of the concept of environmental protection.

We believe that through this kind of education and publicity, we will not only be able to raise awareness of environmental protection among residents, but also make more people aware of the technology of synthetic biology and realize the great potential of this technology.

4. “What the Owner of the Lobster Restaurant Said”

Wider Publicity Online

1. “Biosynthesis of Novel Sugars”

In exploring the practical applications of synthetic biology and promoting environmental awareness, our team took a direct and effective approach: on-the-ground interviews at street-side lobster restaurants. We chose a street where lobster restaurants gather, aiming to understand the amount of shrimp shells they process every day and their awareness of shrimp shell recycling through conversations with restaurateurs.

During the interview, we not only asked about the day-to-day operations of the restaurant, but also gave the restaurateur a detailed description of our project. Our goal is to raise awareness that shrimp and crab shells are not just waste, they actually contain great potential value. It is hoped that through such exchanges, public awareness of synthetic biotechnology and the great potential of this technology in resource recovery and environmental protection can be raised.

It is believed that through such on-site interviews and education and promotion, more people's interest in synthetic biology can be stimulated, and at the same time, the society's attention to waste reuse can be promoted. We look forward to contributing to the popularization of synthetic biology and the development of environmental conservation through these efforts.

2. Self-Media

We have created a WeChat public account to publish articles on synthetic biology related applications, hoping to arouse the interest of people who pay attention to synthetic biology. In addition, we have also produced some instructional videos of the basic instruments of the molecular laboratory, which intuitively present the complex experimental techniques to the audience by demonstrating the operation steps, hoping to lower the entry threshold in the field of synthetic biology and encourage more people to participate in this scientific exploration.