EDUCATION

Our world, and the way we perceive it, is constantly evolving, and so too is the way we learn. Innovative learning can come from the most traditional ways of teaching, if you add a little bit of creativity.

Oriented and adapted to different ages and people with different interests, we have meticulously developed each workshop, talk, resource and experiment.

As experienced by one of our current team members, when something is out of the routine, it is when you really start to learn.

In her last year of high school, on the verge of university and deciding what path she wanted to follow academically and professionally, our instructors, at that time members of the iGEM UMA team with the StarchSTEM project, took the students out of the classroom and into a laboratory, where with simple experiments they managed to captivate her with the great opportunities offered by synthetic biology.

‘I hadn't heard anything about synthetic biology before. However, after they came and explained everything, I knew that I would try to be part of a team like theirs and discover some of the extensive use of synthetic biology. And here we are.’

-Lucía Aguilar, current member of the iGEM UMA-Málaga team.

We know the impact of learning new things in a different way, by extraordinary methods.These methods follow our five key points; what represents us.

However, we were not alone in this journey. You may have seen their faces before, but it’s time to introduce them formally. Let’s welcome the Mohocytes.

Do you want to see them in action? Watch the video!

Videogame

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Our goal was to create a game that goes beyond traditional lab work to encompass the full scope of synthetic biology, including Human Practices, Social Networks, and Wiki. This holistic approach ensures that our scientific efforts not only stay within the confines of the lab but also engage with the public and incorporate their feedback, which is essential for the growth and acceptance of synthetic biology in the broader community.

After days of brainstorming and inspired by our competition, we developed The Mohocytes: a synbio experience. Its name combines "moho," Spanish for mould, referencing our AflaxOFF project, with "-cyte," meaning cell, to connect it to synthetic biology. This game lets players join a synthetic biology research team, interact with members, and conduct experiments, showcasing real-life applications of the field.

If you want to play our game, click this link to download it!

The main reason why we decided to develop a video game is because children are exposed to a lot of stimuli everyday through technology, and, as a study revealed, they develop and increase cognitive abilities by playing video games (Chaarani et al., 2022).They create an interactive but independent environment, as well as a challenge when they need to overcome obstacles to pass a level. In other words, they are their own teachers, who adapt their learning time to their own needs, keeping them focused and immersed in the experience.

Furthermore, as a report by UNICEF affirms, video games help children with social struggles by reinforcing their social abilities and developing new ones.

We aimed for simple designs that radiate personality, creating a cosy, engaging experience. We chose a soft pastel colour palette and round shapes in both the assets and the used font to foster a comfortable environment, aligning with research on colour theory and mood (Nassar et al., 2024; Franklin Jr et al., 2019). These choices make players feel close to the characters and encourage interaction with the in-game world, keeping them invested in the game progression.

Moreover, we crafted specific personalities for both leaders and members, including the player’s character, to enhance empathy and information retention. Inspired by self-categorization theory (Turner & Reynolds, 2011), this strategy allows players to feel like part of the research team, making it easier for them to grasp and retain complex synthetic biology concepts. These personalities reflect real-life multidisciplinary teams in synthetic biology. Each of them manages adversity differently but remains collaborative, supportive, and dedicated to the learning process.

Dialogs & Minigames

The video game features dialogs and minigames designed to teach synthetic biology concepts across all areas, highlighting the field’s vast learning possibilities. The game is designed to be completed in about 40 minutes.

To clarify how these dialogs aid in understanding synthetic biology, we’ll break down their functionality into smaller parts; followed by their minigames.

Human Practices:

At this first part of the game, the player is introduced to synthetic biology through a conversation with the Human Practices team leader, who highlights the field’s multidisciplinary nature. Human practices team delves deeper into the social aspects as societal feedback and stakeholders influence and real-world implications. Additionally, the leader emphasises the importance of sharing knowledge and engaging with the public because synthetic biology extends beyond the laboratory. The minigame to reinforce these concepts immerses the player in the scenario of giving a talk while they must answer some questions.

Dry Lab:

In the Dry Lab section, players are gradually introduced to fundamental synthetic biology concepts, like the basics of DNA structure and its role in development, which lays the groundwork for understanding genetic manipulation; gene expression or transcription and translation. The Dry Lab team leader emphasises that synthetic biology integrates biology and engineering principles to create novel organisms or functions by designing new genetic constructs.

Additionally, the significance of predictive modelling, demonstrating how computational methods guide and refine lab experiments is emphasised. The minigame to reinforce these concepts challenges players to catch transcriptional unit components in the correct sequence in a fun and engaging way.

Wet Lab:

In the Wet Lab section, players explore the experimental aspects of synthetic biology by working with genetic constructs created in the Dry Lab. The game details essential concepts such as how restriction enzymes cut DNA at specific sites to assemble genetic constructs and introduces quorum sensing, a bacterial communication system that regulates group behaviours. As players progress, they encounter more complex procedures like DNA digestion or ligation, vital for creating new genetic sequences.

The minigame simulates the cloning protocol, guiding players through each step and the use of laboratory devices. It helps players grasp the cloning process, visualise practical outcomes like bacterial growth, and interpret lab results effectively.

Social Networks:

In this scenario, the player works with the Social Media team to understand the role of communication and outreach in synthetic biology. The game shows how effectively using platforms like social media can enhance public support and understanding of the field. Players learn to engage diverse audiences and use modern communication methods.

A minigame challenges players to recall and apply synthetic biology information interactively, improving their memory and understanding of scientific communication and outreach.

Wiki:

In the final room, the player learns how the Wiki team uses a wiki format to manage and present project documentation online. This approach emphasises the importance of structuring and linking synthetic biology information to make it accessible to both experts and the general public. Additionally, players gain technical skills in HTML and CSS, crucial for formatting and organising scientific data in a visually appealing and user-friendly manner.

A minigame immerses the player in the task of building a wiki based on specific content and format requirements, while racing against the clock as new line-ups, adding an exciting challenge to manage both speed and accuracy.

After presenting our video game in several classrooms and conducting surveys, we have come to the conclusion that it allows students to understand what synthetic biology is and teaches them new concepts such as restriction enzymes and quorum sensing. If you want to know the origin of these data, you can click here to see the tables that compile them.

Book: What is synthetic biology in our team

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Now that you have learnt how The Mohocytes team work, why don't we let the younger ones discover it?

Click to download the Spanish version!

We wrote, designed and created our book not just because we wanted to have something creative, artistic, along with all the experimental and scientific work, but because we knew that if we wanted children to understand and explore synthetic biology we should make it easy and enjoyable. It is proven that books are essential for children as they help developing language skills or learning new concepts or words they are not usually exposed to, as a study by the Child Mind Institute showed. Furthermore, they represent different situations that a child can feel represented by; even a situation that symbolises a problem and helps them learn how to solve it.

Colours, characters and even the font size were meticulously chosen. As, for example, children tend to associate positive feelings with bright colours, like happiness or excitement (Boyatzis & Varghese, 1994). We wanted to create an immersive experience, something that caught children’s attention.

As you can see below, characters were adapted into a manual version of themselves. This helped us by giving the book a more handmake look to create proximity with children’s artistic interests.

Naturally, we had to bring our initiative into the classroom.

As we wanted everything to be flawless, we turned to the people who could best help us making it possible; the teachers. They were asked to read the book along with their students and, through us, to answer any questions they might have. This is when the concept of ‘literary critics’ was born, where the students wrote notes and critiques on what they thought of every aspect of the story, from the drawings to the title.

Through this book, we tried to emphasise the importance of accessible, free and easy learning.

After a small survey before and after the reading of the book, results were analysed. All results are significant, meaning that the average score after reading the book is higher than before reading the book.

In other words, they showed that our book indeed helped children understand what synthetic biology is and how all working areas are involved in the team.

Talks and Workshops

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Before being able to develop the video game or the book, our objective was to bring synthetic biology closer to society. For this reason, we held various talks and workshops adapted to the concerns of the public, depending on their age.

High schools

Our aim is for young people to discover and become interested in science, beyond what they can learn in a classroom.

For this purpose, slides were used to allow the students to better understand each concept, which afterwards, they would put into practice by developing some experiments. The order in which these slides were presented explained the different phases of carrying out a scientific project by using synthetic biology.

Regarding the experiments that followed, we must confess not everything always went as planned, but we managed to keep things under control, which ended up being the most fun and memorable experiences.

All of them were picked to represent a simple but essential concept to understand synthetic biology and our project.

Spinach that changes colour from green to red when its chlorophyll is excited by energy-rich light. It represents light and colour, concepts such as fluorescence, which ends up being the easiest explanation to how our sensor is visible.

A mixture of something acidic, such as vinegar, and something basic, such as bicarbonate, which when mixed together produces a neutralisation reaction. This aims to explain the pH, which is related to the digestive tract and how our microorganism can survive in such acidic conditions.

Culture plates where they put their fingers to see the microbial life on them. They helped us introduce microorganisms, as a fundamental part of our project and some of the models used in synthetic biology.

Or, perhaps, solutions which, when mixed together, change their pH and thus their colour.

The feedback we received from these talks and workshops was analysed to evaluate the impact they had on middle and high school students.

Methodology and Results

To sum up, a survey was taken before and after the workshops in order to measure the change in the knowledge and perception of the attendees, 86 people between 15 and 18 years of age, in the third and fourth years of compulsory secondary education and in the first and second years of high school. The courses selected were those whose study itinerary was in science, so we presupposed a certain theoretical basis in biology.

The survey consisted of the following questions:

1. Do you think bacteria can help people (Yes/No).
2. Do you know what synthetic biology is (Yes/No).
3. How important do you think the aflatoxin problem is (Likert 1-5).

In conclusion, the results of the study indicate that the students already possessed prior knowledge about the benefits of bacteria for human health, suggesting that the lecture did not have a significant impact on this aspect. This observation may be related to the level of schooling of the participants. On the other hand, a significant increase in knowledge about synthetic biology and a significant increase in awareness of the importance of the aflatoxin problem were observed, showing that the lecture was effective in the latter two aspects.

Superior studies

Education is not just for children. We keep learning every day, gaining experience.

Let's make this about experiences.

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”

- Peter Drucker

Some people believe they learn everything inside a classroom, throughout an uncountable number of lessons, but we know, as we have experienced, they could not be more wrong. We had the opportunity to interfere in that though by teaching not as teachers, but as students.

Congresses

In our region, Andalusia, a student science congress is held in the city of Granada every year. Fortunately, some of us had the opportunity to attend, and, once again, luckily, to participate. It is called the State Congress of Bioscience Students (CEEBI). Science students from all over Spain meetup at Granada to enjoy some days of learning, discovering and meeting new people.

Even though the complete congress lasted three whole days, we actively participated on the last day. We held a “pechakucha”, which is more of a presentation, followed by some slides that summarise our work and which helped us introduce synthetic biology to the students. In addition, we took part in a business forum, where we had a stand to help us tell everyone about iGEM and how it works in our university, as well as explaining our project and its entrepreneur character. Finally, we created a workshop which was more like a gymkhana, where students were told a more detailed presentation about AflaxOFF as they participated in different activities and challenges.

Workshops

In the Faculty of Science, specifically in the degrees of Biochemistry and Biology, a series of conferences called ‘Metabolism Regulation’ were organised by the teachers, which sought to inform about the biochemistry of our metabolism, but through topics that were not discussed in class. They gave us the opportunity to attend and present our project to the students.

The project could be explained with enough technicalities to be fully understood, as the target audience already had a background in genetics or microbiology and some basic knowledge of genetic engineering.

Unfortunately, we could not accompany our speeches with experiments, even though we had some illustrated slides, that exemplified what we were dealing with, as space and time were limited, but there was no shortage of good times, the odd biochemical joke and the satisfied faces of the students when they understood the subject.

It was a great chance to show other career options and opportunities inside our university, as we showed them something they had not heard before, synthetic biology.

To summarise, once the surveys had been carried out before and after the workshop, and after analysing the results, we can see that the students did acquire knowledge about synthetic biology, aflatoxins and the real incidence of the problem they cause.

General Public

Not everyone that is interested in science has studied science, but, those who want to keep learning about it, need others to contribute in that process.

As we said before many times, it is fundamental for us that our knowledge, our work and our results are open and free for everyone to see, that is why we dedicated our efforts into including people from different backgrounds into learning about synthetic biology.

We conducted a survey that was distributed to the general public and the results showed that despite our efforts to publicise the serious problem of aflatoxin, a large part of the Spanish population was not aware of the problem, or even had an idea of what it was. The same was true of synthetic biology and its uses.

For these reasons, we decided to dedicate time to educate a part of the population who are not necessarily formal students, but who show interest in continuing to learn.

European Researchers’ Night

This event takes place once a year in different European cities, where researchers present their work to a very diverse audience. We are lucky that this event takes place in Malaga, which gives us the opportunity to participate hand in hand with our university.

There, we gave a talk in which we presented our project and how research is carried out using the tools of synthetic biology. In addition, we ended the afternoon with our video game, where attendees could hang out and enjoy learning.

Getting in the Social Net

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It is no secret that we live in the Internet era. The variety of social tools and platforms is continuously growing, not only for entertainment, but also to organise us in our daily lives. New generations grow up immersed in digital technology from an early age and messaging apps, social networks and time management platforms have become indispensable to stay connected and be productive.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have experienced a number of changes in their routines, many of them integrating social networks. These changes are here to stay: online classes, digital resources and discussion forums have opened up a world of possibilities, allowing learning to transcend geographical barriers (Sengupta & Vaish, 2024). In addition, the medical emergency and the impatience of the population for news about scientific advances in the development of a vaccine created the need for dissemination and disclosure of such projects.

The digital era has not only expanded access to knowledge, but has also reconfigured the way we interact with it, posing new challenges and opportunities for all of us. The combined action of the phenomena described above created a new need in the way we educate (Sasikala et al., 2021). Thus, the dissemination of scientific projects and outreach through social networks has triumphed, a movement to which more and more educators, disseminators and companies are joining. AflaxOFF could not be less!

We are committed to creating scientific content on Instagram, one of the most popular social networks among young people. Through this platform, we explain basic concepts in an entertaining and quick way, allowing curious minds to learn about general biology and synthetic biology at any time of the day. In addition, Instagram offers the possibility to save and share content for future reference.

To this end, we have published on our profile (@igem.uma) a series of posts and reels that not only show the workings of a multidisciplinary team in synthetic biology, but also explain complex concepts in an accessible and informative way. This series of posts, called “Translating synthetic biology”, is designed to be understandable for all audiences. In addition, we show how we bring knowledge to underprivileged sectors of society.

We strongly believe that knowledge should be inclusive and accessible, and we are committed to inspiring a new generation of scientists and critical citizens. Together, we not only share our passion for synthetic biology, but also build a bridge to a more informed and collaborative future, where everyone can feel part of this exciting scientific adventure.