Team:IISER-Pune-India/Education

Webinar

We conducted a joint webinar in collaboration with the Team IISER_Berhampur 2020, aimed at school children. We wanted to target this particular demographic because we felt that educating children was extremely necessary not only because they would hopefully carry what they’d learnt into adulthood, but because teaching children would have an impact on the community as a whole since they would relay what they’d learnt to their families and friends and would also be enthusiastic to actively participate in prevention efforts.

The webinar called, “Attack of Mosquitoes: Warriors Assemble”, was conducted on 16th August, with the aim of spreading awareness about the science and the prevalence of dengue and malaria and prevention strategies to combat them. We also talked about the biology of mosquitoes and conducted fun games and activities.

The webinar culminated with a contest, that asked the participants to send us before and after photos of their efforts to clean their surroundings and identify and eliminate possible breedings sites for mosquitoes, in a bid to give them practical, actionable ways to apply what they’d learnt in the webinar and the winners of the contest received Amazon vouchers.

The webinar was a resounding success, with 115 participants and over 20 contest entries.

We also conducted a survey before and after the webinar to gauge the pre-existing knowledge base of the participants and to assess how effective the webinar had been. The results of the survey have been summarised below.

Survey Results Before the Webinar

Most of the participants were aware of the vectors that carry dengue and malaria before the webinar.

However over 50% of the participants wrongly identified proven preventive strategies for both malaria and dengue. Over 90% of the participants were aware of the peak seasons for both the diseases.

Over 80% of the participants either underestimated or overestimated the number of deaths per day caused by mosquito-borne diseases.

Survey Results After the Webinar

This time around 40% of the participants wrongly identified proven preventive strategies for both malaria and dengue and over 98% of participants were aware of the peak seasons for both the diseases.

Around 50% of the participants either underestimated or overestimated the number of deaths per day caused by mosquito-borne diseases after the webinar.

Radio Show

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire country was under lockdown making large physical gatherings virtually impossible. We thus had to become creative with technology to spread awareness on a large scale and that’s how the idea for a radio show was born!

One of the main reasons we chose to do a radio show in a regional language (Hindi) was that it had a very wide reach that wasn’t restricted to mainly urban dwellers as with other forms of communication such as social media. Luckily one of our team members, Rupal Gehlot, happened to live near a popular radio station and they agreed to host her! She did a 10-minute show on the All India Radio Channel, which was broadcasted live in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.

She talked about the factors and the mechanism of transmission of malaria and gave tips on how to prevent incidences of the disease and protect oneself from contracting it. She also talked about important preventive measures against COVID-19, given the state of affairs at the time.

You can read the Transcript of the show here.

Joining us here is Rupal Gehlot, a third year student from IISER (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research) Pune. She is part of a student team from her college that is aiming to solve real world problems using biology. Her team is currently working on the development of an anti malarial drug by studying the proteins that are responsible for the disease. Rupal is here to shed some light on the current crisis and the role of hygiene in the spread of such diseases.

Hello. Thank you for having me here. As we all know, the lockdown has been easing out throughout the country and with that more and more people are stepping outside and beginning to return to normal life. Some people have been venturing outside without using protective masks as well. What could this mean for the spread of CoVID-19? What role does personal hygiene play in the spread of infectious diseases? For CoVID-19, a few things are clear. Using simple soap and water to wash our hands thoroughly can get rid of any virus that’s residing on our hands. Sanitisers containing alcohol also kill any virus present on our hands. CoVID-19 spreads through small droplets in the air that are released when infected people cough, talk or sneeze. That is where it remains important to maintain distance from people when venturing into public. Simple, easy to make cloth masks can prevent an infected person from spreading the disease and an uninfected person from contracting the disease. Many people actually already have the disease and don’t show symptoms. Such people may venture out of their houses as normal. If these people wear masks, they are less likely to spread the disease to others. The WHO recommends sneezing into your elbows or tissues and disposing of the tissues right after. This prevents the spread of these droplets.

Alcohol based sanitisers and soap work to kill viruses present on surfaces because viruses such as CoVID-19 have a layer of lipids on their surfaces. Lipids are similar to oils and waxes, and similar to how soap removes oil and dirt on our hands, it can break apart the lipid layer around the virus, killing it.

But Viruses aren’t the only creatures/ microbes that can cause diseases. There are many different kinds of microorganisms that can cause diseases.Viruses are actually the simplest in structure. Bacteria and Protozoa are other kinds of microorganisms. So how do we stay safe from other diseases?

You should note that all microorganisms are not necessarily bad for us; many exist in our digestive tract. Fermented foods such as curd and idli contain them, and that’s why they’re good for our health! Some kinds, however, can cause life-threatening diseases. One such disease is malaria which is caused by a kind of microorganism called a protozoan and is transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is a very common disease in sub- Saharan Africa and regions of South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Western Pacific, and the Americas are also at risk.

But you must be thinking that malaria has been prevalent in society for decades and we have a cure available for it, then why is it still a huge problem and why am I still talking about it?

But you see there are often more cases of malaria in rural regions. In these places malaria is so common that people treat it the way we treat common cold. So, they don’t pay much attention to it and are not willing to consult a doctor. This in turn leads to spreading of the disease. One more important factor for it’s transmission is the breeding of the mosquitoes that act as vectors for this protozoan. Anopheles mosquitoes lay their eggs in open water, and these soon grow to adults. The female mosquitoes seek a blood meal to nurture their eggs. Each species of Anopheles mosquito has its own preferred aquatic habitat; for example, some prefer small, shallow collections of fresh water, such as puddles and hoof prints, which are abundant during the rainy season in tropical countries.

So, for example when we go outside to bring water and leave footprints behind us in the soft mud outside our house? When it rains, water can get accumulated in it and this can also act as a breeding ground for these mosquitoes!

So how do we prevent it? Vector control is the main way to reduce and prevent the transmission of malaria. We can achieve this by keeping our surroundings clean especially during the rainy season i.e prevent the accumulation of dirty water in small puddles in soil, in unwashed utensils that we leave outside or some rusted cooler or motorbike that is kept near our house. These small small things that we usually neglect can lead to spreading of a life-threatening disease such as malaria which causes 1,100 deaths in the world annually.

Human immunity is another important factor, especially among adults in areas of moderate or intense transmission conditions. Over the years, as children become exposed to malaria around them, their immunity to it increases and this makes them less likely to get the disease. For this reason, most malaria deaths in Africa occur in young children, whereas in areas with less exposure to malaria and thus low immunity, all age groups are at risk. You might have heard the word immunity in relation to Covid too. Immunity means the ability of your body to resist an infection.We build up our immunity as we grow and then again as we get to old age our immunity starts to decrease. Older people and kids usually have less immunity to diseases, which is why the government is encouraging them to stay indoors and stay safe more than other age groups.

As you get older, your risk for severe illness from COVID-19 increases. The greatest risk for severe illness from COVID-19 is among those aged 85 or older. There are also other factors that can increase your risk for severe illness, such as having underlying medical conditions such as diabetes and asthma. So, as a takeaway, being clean and hygienic, both personally and for the surroundings can stop the spread of scary diseases like COVID-19 and Malaria. Remember to stay safe by wearing masks and washing your hands

हमारे साथ IISER (इंडियन इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ साइंस एजुकेशन एंड रिसर्च) पुणे से तृतीय वर्ष की छात्रा रूपल गहलोत उपस्थित है। वह अपने कॉलेज की एक छात्र टीम का हिस्सा हैं जो जीव विज्ञान का उपयोग करके वास्तविक दुनिया की समस्याओं को हल करने का लक्ष्य रखती है। उनकी टीम वर्तमान में उन प्रोटीनों का अध्ययन करके मलेरिया-रोधी दवा के विकास पर काम कर रही है जो इस बीमारी के लिए जिम्मेदार हैं। रूपल वर्तमान संकट और इस तरह के रोगों के प्रसार में स्वच्छता की भूमिका पर कुछ प्रकाश डालना चाहती हैं।

नमस्कार । मुझे यह अवसर देने के लिए धन्यवाद। जैसा कि हम सभी जानते हैं, देश भर में तालाबंदी की प्रक्रिया आसान हो गई है और इसके साथ ही अधिक से अधिक लोग बाहर कदम रख रहे हैं और सामान्य जीवन की ओर लौटने लगे हैं। कुछ लोग सुरक्षात्मक मास्क का उपयोग किए बिना भी बाहर घूम रहे हैं। CoVID-19 के प्रसार के लिए इसका क्या अर्थ हो सकता है? संक्रामक रोगों के प्रसार में व्यक्तिगत स्वच्छता की क्या भूमिका है? CoVID-19 के लिए, कुछ चीजें स्पष्ट हैं। हमारे हाथ धोने के लिए साधारण साबुन और पानी का उपयोग करने से हमारे हाथों पर रहने वाले CoVID-19 के वायरस से छुटकारा मिल सकता है, और अल्कोहल युक्त सेनिटाइज़र हमारे हाथों पर मौजूद किसी भी वायरस को मार देते हैं।

CoVID -19 हवा में छोटी बूंदों से फैलता है जो संक्रमित लोगों से खांसी, बात या छींकने पर निकलते हैं। यह वह समय है जब घर से बहार निकलने पर लोगों से दूरी बनाए रखना महत्वपूर्ण है। आसानी से बनने वाला क्लॉथ मास्क एक संक्रमित व्यक्ति को बीमारी फ़ैलाने से रोक सकता है और एक असंक्रमित व्यक्ति को बीमार होने से रोक सकता है। कई लोगों को बीमारी होने पर भी लक्षण दिखाई नहीं देते। ऐसे लोग अपने घर से बहार सामान्य रूप से निकल जाते ह क्युकी उन्हें पता नहीं ह की वे बीमार हैं। यदि ये लोग मास्क पहनते हैं, तो वे दूसरों को बीमारी फैलाने की संभावना कम कर देते हैं। डब्लूएचओ अपनी कोहनी या किसी कपड़े के टुकड़े में छींकने की सलाह देते और छींकने के तुरंत बाद हमे उस कपड़े को एक डस्टबिन में फैक देना चाहिए। यह इन बूंदों के प्रसार को रोकता है। अल्कोहल आधारित सैनिटाइज़र और साबुन सतहों पर मौजूद वायरस को मारने का काम करते हैं क्योंकि CoVID-19 जैसे वायरस की सतहों पर लिपिड की एक परत होती है। लिपिड तेल और मोम के समान होते हैं, और इसी तरह कि साबुन हमारे हाथों पर तेल और गंदगी को कैसे हटाता है, यह वायरस के चारों ओर लिपिड परत को तोड़ सकता है, जिससे यह मर सकता है।

लेकिन वायरस केवल ऐसे प्राणी या रोगाणु नहीं हैं जो बीमारियों का कारण बन सकते हैं। सूक्ष्मजीवों के कई अलग-अलग प्रकार हैं जो बीमारियों का कारण बन सकते हैं। वायरस वास्तव में संरचना में सबसे सरल हैं। बैक्टीरिया और प्रोटोजोआ अन्य प्रकार के सूक्ष्मजीव हैं। तो हम अन्य बीमारियों से कैसे सुरक्षित रहें?

आपको ध्यान देना चाहिए कि सभी सूक्ष्म जीव हमारे लिए आवश्यक रूप से बुरे नहीं हैं; हमारे पाचन तंत्र में कई मौजूद हैं। कुछ खाद्य पदार्थ जैसे दही और इडली उनमें शामिल हैं, और यही कारण है कि वे हमारे स्वास्थ्य के लिए अच्छे हैं! हालांकि, कुछ प्रकार के सुक्ष्मजीव जीवन के लिए खतरा पैदा कर सकते हैं। ऐसी ही एक बीमारी है मलेरिया, जो एक तरह के सूक्ष्म जीव के कारण होता है जिसे प्रोटोजोअन कहा जाता है और संक्रमित मादा एनोफिलीज मच्छरों के काटने से यह लोगों में फैलता है। यह उप-सहारा अफ्रीका और दक्षिण-पूर्व एशिया, पूर्वी भूमध्यसागरीय, पश्चिमी प्रशांत क्षेत्र और अमेरिका के क्षेत्रों में एक बहुत ही आम बीमारी है।

लेकिन आप सोच रहे होंगे कि मलेरिया समाज में दशकों से प्रचलित है और हमारे पास इसका इलाज उपलब्ध है, फिर भी यह एक बहुत बड़ी समस्या क्यों है और मैं अभी भी इसके बारे में बात क्यों कर रही हूं?

लेकिन आप देखते हैं कि ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में मलेरिया के अधिक मामले हैं। इन जगहों पर मलेरिया इतना आम है कि लोग उसे इस तरह नज़रअंदाज़ करते हैं जिस तरह हम आम सर्दी को नज़रअंदाज़ कर देते हैं । इसलिए, वे इस पर अधिक ध्यान नहीं देते हैं और डॉक्टर से परामर्श करने के लिए तैयार नहीं होते । इससे बीमारी फैलने लगती है। इसके फैलने की एक और वजह मच्छरों का प्रजनन है जो इस प्रोटोजोआ के लिए वैक्टर के रूप में कार्य करता है। एनोफेलीज मच्छर खुले पानी में अपने अंडे देते हैं, और ये जल्द ही विकसित हो जाते हैं। मादा मच्छर अपने अंडों को पोषण देने के लिए रक्त का भोजन करती हैं। एनोफेलीज मच्छर की प्रत्येक प्रजाति का अपना पसंदीदा जलीय निवास स्थान है; उदाहरण के लिए, कुछ ताजे पानी के छोटे, उथले संग्रह पसंद करते हैं, जैसे कि पोखर और खुर के प्रिंट, जो बारिश के मौसम के दौरान अधिक मात्रा में होते हैं। इसलिए, उदाहरण के लिए जब हम पानी लाने के लिए बाहर जाते हैं और अपने घर के बाहर नरम मिट्टी में हमारे पीछे पदचिह्न छोड़ते हैं? जब बारिश होती है, तो इसमें पानी जमा हो सकता है और यह इन मच्छरों के लिए प्रजनन भूमि के रूप में भी काम कर सकता है!

तो हम इसे कैसे रोके? वेक्टर नियंत्रण मलेरिया के संचरण को कम करने और रोकने का मुख्य तरीका है। हम बारिश के मौसम के दौरान विशेष रूप से अपने आस पास को साफ रखकर इसे प्राप्त कर सकते हैं अर्थात् मिट्टी में छोटे पोखरों में गंदे पानी के जमाव को रोके, अनचाहे बर्तनों में जिन्हें हम बाहर छोड़ देते हैं या कुछ जंग लगा हुआ कूलर या मोटरबाइक जो हमारे घर के पास पड़ा होता हैं। ये छोटी छोटी चीजें जिन्हें हम आमतौर पर नज़रअंदाज़ कर देते हैं, जिससे मलेरिया जैसी जानलेवा बीमारी फैल सकती है, जिसके कारण दुनिया भर में सालाना 1,100 मौतें होती हैं।

मानव प्रतिरक्षा एक और महत्वपूर्ण कारक है, विशेष रूप से उस जगह के युवाओं में जहाँ मलेरिया से ज्यादा लोग संक्रमित हैं । वर्षों से, जैसे-जैसे बच्चे अपने आसपास मलेरिया के संपर्क में आते जाते हैं, उनकी रोग प्रतिरोधक क्षमता बढ़ती जाती है और इससे उन्हें बीमारी होने की संभावना कम हो जाती है। इस कारण से, अफ्रीका में मलेरिया से होने वाली अधिकांश मौतें छोटे बच्चों में होती हैं, जबकि मलेरिया के कम जोखिम और इस तरह कम प्रतिरक्षा वाले क्षेत्रों में, सभी आयु समूहों के लिए खतरा होता है।

आपने COVID के संबंध में भी प्रतिरक्षा शब्द सुना होगा। प्रतिरक्षा का मतलब है कि आपके शरीर में संक्रमण का विरोध करने की क्षमता । हम बड़े होने के साथ अपनी प्रतिरक्षा का निर्माण करते हैं और फिर जैसे ही हम बुढ़ापे की ओर बढ़ते हैं हमारी प्रतिरक्षा कम होने लगती है। वृद्ध लोगों और बच्चों में आमतौर पर बीमारियों की प्रतिरोधक क्षमता कम होती है, यही वजह है कि सरकार उन्हें घर के अंदर रहने और अन्य आयु समूहों की तुलना में अधिक सुरक्षित रहने के लिए प्रोत्साहित कर रही है। COVID-19 जैसी गंभीर बीमारी का सबसे बड़ा जोखिम 85 वर्ष या उससे अधिक आयु वालों में है।

ऐसे अन्य और भी कारक हैं जो गंभीर बीमारी के लिए आपके जोखिम को और बढ़ा सकते हैं, जैसे कि अंतर्निहित चिकित्सा स्थितियाँ जैसे मधुमेह और अस्थमा। इसलिए, एक सारांश के रूप में, व्यक्तिगत एवं आस पास की स्वछता बनाये रखने से कोविद और मलेरिया जैसी भयानक बिमारियों से बचा जा सकता हैं, मास्क पहन कर और हाथ धो कर सुरक्षित रहना याद रखें।

And you can also listen to the recording of the show here.

Listen to the Recording:

Tangrams

Plenty of students at IISER Pune have been passionate about working towards the betterment of the world around them. As a result, Disha, the social outreach club at IISER Pune, was born over 10 years ago. They run multiple programs throughout the year aimed at educating children from underprivileged communities. One such program is Spread the Smile (STS), where volunteers from IISER spend three weekends in nearby villages interacting with young children, demonstrating science experiments, doing fun activities and answering the kids’ questions!

As part of STS 2020, we decided to create a small module that would explain a basic aspect to the children of synthetic biology - genetic engineering - as simply as possible to the kids. Our team worked together to brainstorm activities that would be simple but effective in helping kids understand how the engineering of genes from one organism into another organism is an immensely useful tool in biology - it not only helps us study organisms better, but can be incredibly useful in many industries, be it food production or pharmaceuticals.

We decided to use tangrams to explain this! Tangrams are wonderful mathematical puzzles where 7 basic shapes can be put together into thousands of different complex shapes. The solution for how to put together a particular complex shape was like a manual, or a ‘gene’. Different cells had different manuals, so each cell could only make what the manual had instructions for. We divided the kids into groups, and each group was given a tangram set and a set of manuals. The kids then learnt that if they shared a copy of their ‘manual’ with another ‘cell’, the new cell could now make a new complex shape that it couldn’t before!

Volunteers from IISER explained to the kids briefly what cells were before the start of the activity, and how cells were mini factories that relied on these ‘manuals’ in order to produce materials required by the cell. A link to the document that was circulated to volunteers explaining the entire module can be found here.

What is a cell?

All living things are made up of small things called cells. Plants, Animals and even humans. They are like small factories that make everything the body needs!

What's the size of the cell?

Around 10,000 cells can fit on the head of a pin! (Prop needed - pin) In TV advertisements, we often hear of germs (Kitanu). Each Kitanu is a small cell that can cause an infection in your body.

How are cells mini-factories?

Each cell has a secret instruction manual. Every human cell in your body has the same instruction manual in each cell. A tiger has the same instruction manual throughout all its cells. A mango tree has the same instruction manuals throughout all its cells. But the tiger, mango tree and you don't have the same manual! This manual helps the cell to make what it needs.

What is genetic engineering? Why genetic engineering?

We copy a manual or part of it from one cell and added it in another. Why would this be helpful?
Example (insulin, flood-resistant paddy)

Demonstration

Two volunteers A and B stand with an A4-sized sheet of paper. Each paper has a different set of five phone numbers written on it. B then says that they want a phone number that the A has. B goes and copies the number from A. He can now phone call six people! Copying part of the manual has helped him.

(Phone number is analogous to part of manual).

Activity

Divide the class into 4 or 6 groups (even number). Each group should contain 8-10 kids.

Then pair up the groups. Each pair has a group A and a group B. Groups A are given 2 tangram sets each and the solution to a particular shape (duck) they can make with it. Groups B are given 2 tangram sets each and the solution to a different shape (dog) that they can make with it. One person from group B then goes over to group A and gets a copy of group A's solution (duck) from a volunteer.

Students from group A can only make one shape from their 2 tangram sets, but students from group B can make two different shapes! This shows how using another cell's manual can help a cell make more with its available resources.

Overall, members from the iGEM team had plenty of fun making the activity, and the kids seemed to enjoy and learn too!

Malaria Song

We wanted to come up with a fun way to spread awareness about malaria prevention since there already existed a number of informative resources on the subject all over the internet. We were inspired to create a Malaria song by the countless variants we’d seen of the “Handwashing Song”, which resurfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Or alternatively, here's just the audio with the lyrics:

The Malaria Song

Lyrics

Monsoon rains now that’s our call
Prepare yourselves for a mosquito fall
Disease and death we’ll bring along
Save yourselves with the malaria song!

You better run and hide, it's malaria time
Repellents and nets they'll keep you fine
Pools of water they're our goldmines
Eliminate them and we'll decline

Fever, sweat, fatigue and chills
That's how you know it's time for pills
Visit your doctor, pay your bills
Don't wait too long, malaria kills

You better run and hide, it's malaria time
Repellents and nets they'll keep you fine
Pools of water they're our goldmines
Eliminate them and we'll decline

Don’t get fooled by baseless cures
Homoeopathy, vitamins won’t save you for sure
If you wanna fight us, make the right call
How to stay safe? Let’s recall!

You better run and hide, it's malaria time
Repellents and nets they'll keep you fine
Pools of water they're our goldmines
Eliminate them and we'll decline

Journals

Through the collaboration with Team MSP-Maastricht 2020 we could publish a part of our research work in the two unofficial iGEM journals, 'iGEM Vector' and 'iGEM Muggle Journal'. iGEM Vector is a scientific journal that contains the 42 peer reviewed articles collected from and reviewed by 32 iGEM teams from all over the world. We also could publish our work: ‘In-silico designing and analysis of peptide inhibitors against P. falciparum malaria’ in the journal. It targets the scientific community and mainly our fellow iGEMers

The iGEM Muggle journal is a scientifically simplified version of the proceedings journal mainly targeting the general public who are interested in science but have less experience reading research articles. To quote directly from the journal; ‘If you don’t communicate the science, you may as well never have done it. In today’s world, it’s not only pursuing science, but communicating about it effectively that’s important. Science often has the problem that it stays in its own ‘bubble’ and the improvements, inventions and discoveries stay out of grasp for the general public. This is a large problem in this day and age as science is one of the most integral parts of society, at the same time scientific progress advances so fast that the general always lags behind’. A scientifically simplified version of our proceedings journal article was published in the journal. By publicising our works through the two journals, especially the Muggle journal, we believe that we could effectively communicate a part of our scientific works to a more wider audience.

iGEM Vector

Muggle Journal

The front cover of the iGEM Muggle Journal

The first page of our article in the journal

In the Media

Social Media

A large chunk of our public engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic induced quarantine, was through our social media handles. We put up posters, infographics, surveys, outreach activities and engaged with and educated the general public digitally. You can find some of our infographics below!