Team:RUM-UPRM/SynBio101
SynBio101: Summer Camp
Overview
SynBio101: Summer Camp was a week-long summer short course aimed at teaching high school students fundamental concepts in developmental and synthetic biology in a small class setting with close instructor-student mentorship. Throughout the week students attend interactive lectures, hands-on lab sections, and professional development workshops. As everything shifted when SARS-CoV-2 spread out and caused the renown pandemic, this year, SynBio101 was celebrated virtually.
The objectives for the SynBio101: Summer Camp were:
- Increased understanding of concepts of general biology
- Explain what is synthetic biology and demonstrate the differents ways Synthetic Biology can be use
- Stimulate their curiosity by giving them the tools to create a new prototype and present it
- Giving them the opportunity to integrated their knowledge into our developing project
Preparation and Logistics
An application process was conducted in which over 120 high school students presented their interest in the camp and their future aspirations. The original plan was to host 50 students, but since there were no physical limitations like last year due to it being virtual, we were able to host 80 students. This way, we were able to reach and impact more students from different backgrounds and parts of the Island.
As part of the objectives, we wanted to make the experiences as interactive as possible, packages were given that included the materials necessary for various hands-on activities. To deliver these, the iGEM RUM-UPRM team members met with the students in municipalities across the Island taking into consideration safety measures due to the pandemic.
The activities during the week were hosted through the platform Zoom, which allowed us to record the sessions and make these available in Google Classroom for easy access in case a student wanted to rewatch or had technical problems. Supplementary material was also uploaded to the platform for the students’ use, including the Camp’s Synthetic Biology Manual.
Week Activities
The different activities and lectures presented throughout the week were prepared in a logical sequence to give the students the best tools to design and present their original prototypes at the end of the week.
Monday
The students were introduced, by Dr. Carlos Ríos Velázquez, what Synthetic Biology is, and its different applications, giving them the basic biology knowledge they required for the rest of the week. The campers were divided into groups and participated in icebreaker activities to get comfortable and meet their teammates.
Tuesday
The focus this day was to present the students with the different components of genetic circuits, including SBOL, and how to design a prototype with the instructions for the presentation at end of the week. In the afternoon they were introduced to bioethics and participated in a virtual scavenger hunt to obtain parts to use in the creation of their prototype.
Wednesday
The students were presented with bioinformatic techniques and uses, and lab safety. Later in the day, Dr. Patricia Ortiz Bermúdez introduced the students to DNA extraction and helped them conduct the strawberry DNA extraction. The students were able to do this with the materials provided to them beforehand.
Thursday
The agronomist Sol Rosado Arroyo presented applications of synthetic biology and agricultural biotechnology in the work environment in Puerto Rico. Later, lectures about media culture and cloning were given.
Friday
To end the week, different Latin American iGEM teams were invited to present the students the projects they are developing. The teams that participated were iGEM UNAL-Mex, iGEM Tec CEM-Mex, iGEM Bolivia, and iGEM Ecuador. The Latin American Ambassador Daniel Domínguez Gómez explained iGEM as an organization. Our team members presented our project and allowed the students to give us feedback.
Saturday
To end the week on a high note, the students presented their prototypes in front of their parents who were also invited. Here the students showed the different skills and knowledge they learned throughout the week.
Outcomes
A New iGEM Team
Students that participated in the camp decided to form a high school iGEM team from across Puerto Rico. We are still in contact with them and mentoring them through the process of building and creating their own team.
Original Prototypes
The participants of SynBio101 acquired the knowledge and skills they needed to present their original prototypes. This activity took place on Saturday, and the students exposed all the hard work and effort they put throughout the week in front of different guest attendees like parents, professors, teachers, university authorities, among others.