iGEM Mingdao
SYNBIO WORKSHOP (Mar. 6th)
Our team had the opportunity to co-host a synbio workshop with iGEM Mingdao this year. It allowed us to share different types of teamwork and ways of teammates' interaction with the third-year junior high school students. Through our collaboration with iGEM Mingdao, we introduced the basic knowledge of synthetic biology, the main idea of the wet lab, dry lab and human practice (HP) work, as well as the tools or apps we may use to facilitate our work efficiency to other high school students. We hoped that these experiences would help them have a better understanding of the core value of iGEM and strongly encourage junior high school students to become a part of iGEM team in the future.
See also: Science Communication
Group photo with iGEM Mingdao
Listening to the sharing of iGEM Mingdao
Our sharing with high school students-1
Our sharing with high school students-2
INSTRUMENTAL OPERATION GUIDANCE (July 21st)
This year, iGEM Mingdao focused on the pyruvate oxidase gene, the catalase gene and the aquaporin gene, hoping to reduce the amount of lactic acid and lower the risk of getting tooth decay. In their experiment, several kinds of the solution with different pH value are needed for the cultivating environment of the bacteria. It was their first time preparing the solution with a different pH value and they did not know how to utilize the pH meter to get the ideal solution. Our team introduced the basic principles of pH meter and taught them how to calibrate the device with hydrogen chloride (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) before the measurement. We also demonstrated the correct procedure on how to use the detecting probe and how to operate the device. Lastly, we also reminded them to be careful with the maintenance of the pH meter. It was our pleasure to mentor the high school team. We hope that with our assistance, their project will run smoothly.
Communicating with Mingdao student on
operating principles of the pH meter
Practical operation of the pH meter conducted
by Mingdao student
iGEM TUDelft
iGEM encourages all the participants to think and act creatively when it comes to promoting the importance and applications of synthetic biology. This year, iGEM TUDelft invited other iGEM 2020 teams all over the world to record a short clip to share what we have accomplished and how we are trying to improve our life quality to make the world better within the knowledge and the application of synbio. Numerous iGEM 2020 team videos were gathered, organized, processed, and published by iGEM TUDelft. We thought this video was fascinating; however, it only came with English subtitles, and thus we contacted iGEM TUDelft to see whether there were some ways to promote the video more effectively. After permission was granted from iGEM TUDelft, we added Traditional Chinese subtitles to the video. The video was posted on our social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. We wish to reach out to more people and have the work that iGEMers accomplished to be known. Most importantly, we want to educate the public about synbio and its potential of solving a wide range of problems in the world.
Video collaboration: The world of SynBio produced by iGEM TUDelft
See also: iGEM 2020 TUDelft
iGEM CCU_Taiwan
Seeing the world suffer from the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), we figured that we, as enthusiasts in the STEM field, have the responsibility to educate the public. With the same viewpoint in mind, iGEM CCU_Taiwan and our team decided to work collaboratively and focus on primary education. After several discussions with experts in child education, iGEM CCU_Taiwan plotted out an outline of a storybook and elaborated on the topic of viruses. Subsequently, in order to convey the messages to our target audiences, we illustrated the context by colorful drawings. The book covers topics of disease prevention, cause and effect, and so on. We hope our efforts can truly help kids have a clear understanding of viruses and learn about how to prevent themselves from getting sick.
All About Viruses storybook (English version)
All About Viruses storybook (Chinese version)
Taiwan iGEM Meetup Conference (Aug. 17th-18th)
The National Chung Hsing University hosted the 2020 Taiwan iGEM Meetup Conference this summer and united seven iGEM teams in Taiwan, including NCHU, CSMU, NCKU, CCU, NCTU, NTHU and MingDao high school. For the sake of exchanging efforts we put into synthetic biology and stimulating improvements in our individual projects, the conference was carried out in three main parts. It started off with Doctor Lance Chang's presentation which encouraged us to endeavor in scientific research. Subsequent to the presentation, every team got the chance to step on stage and shared their project achievements. We were all grateful to be pointed out our blindspots by the judges and other teams. Lastly, in the poster session, each team displayed their projects with posters, and we were free to stroll around the conference hall, submitting questions to topics we're interested in. By attending such a meaningful meetup conference, we got in touch with other teams and widened our views on the limitations of SynBio. Moreover, by providing new perspectives and troubleshooting, we mutually helped and improved each others' projects thanks to this event.
The event poster
and we preparing for the presentation
Giving out a presentation introducing our project
Interacting and exchanging ideas
with other iGEM teams from Taiwan
Judges and professors
at the SynBio Conference and us
See also: Science Communication
iGEM NCKU_Tainan
This year, we formed a solid partnership with iGEM NCKU_Tainan. We jointly held an event, I've gotta PhD, in the hope of raising public awareness regarding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also, we co-hosted a virtual panel discussion with other iGEM teams in Taiwan to look more into SDGs and strike up a deeper conversation with one another. Both the event and the discussion helped us establish collaborations with many iGEM teams from home and abroad. Most importantly, collaborations made these activities more integrated and comprehensive.
Take a closer look at Partnership and Sustainable for more detailed descriptions.
I've gotta PhD (Aug. to Oct.)
Collaborating teams: iGEM NCKU_Tainan, iGEM Rochester, iGEM BNU-China, iGEM ZJU-China, iGEM Montpellier, iGEM UCopenhagen, iGEM Patras, iGEM Thessaly, iGEM CCU_Taiwan, iGEM UPCH_Peru, iGEM NYMU_Taipei
I've gotta PhD is a Facebook social media platform that not only encourages every iGEM team to make great contributions for SDGs but also helps them promote what they consider to be a larger audience. Besides, iGEM NCKU_Tainan and our team formulated seven topics related to the third (Good Health and Well-Being) as well as the fourth (Quality Education) SDGs and elaborated on the meaning of each topic, which offered guidance for everyone in terms of creating their work. All the iGEM teams were invited to choose their desired topics. Teams were instructed to create a presentation using any format and submit the final work to us. The final projects were posted on I've gotta PhD Facebook page in the end and made Facebook users acquire useful and interesting knowledge on SDGs. With the powerful connection of social media as well as practical collaboration with other iGEM teams, we believed I've gotta PhD was able to provide more diverse and abundant information about SDGs and make an impact on people's decision-making and problem-solving when dealing with situations such as COVID-19.
Panel discussion (Sep. 29th)
Collaborating teams: iGEM NCKU_Tainan, iGEM CCU_Taiwan, iGEM NTHU_Taiwan, iGEM NCTU_Formosa
At the very beginning of the panel discussion, we were honored to have Professor Qiu who works at the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) to give us a brief lecture about the background of SDGs. We also discussed the outcome of some policies and campaigns in Taiwan. We provided some opinions about how we could do to improve the situation of local SDGs in Taiwan. Furthermore, we invited every participating team to prepare a brief introduction to the problem they wanted to target and list three crucial questions from the description. At the panel discussion, all the participating teams took turns sharing their presentation and other teams would provide feasible suggestions for improvement. In the end, every team should organize pieces of advice from other teams and summarize potential solutions. Every team got feedback from the specialist and each other during the panel discussion. Some ideas emerged during the conversation, which provided new prospects for each problem and stimulated all the participants to rethink the existing solutions and discover better ways to effectively solve their targeted problems.
A panel discussion with five iGEM teams
Professor Qiu's lecture about
how we could connect to SDGs
