Team:XJTU-China/Education
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XJTU-China
Public Education
Table of Contents
Overview
Since the start of the iGEM competition, we have been committed to make our project and synthetic biology known to more people.
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Questionnaire
We have collected 366 valid questionnaires,not only popularizing desertification control methods (afforestation technologies such as shelter forests, sand sealing and grass cultivation technologies like grass grids, microbial control technologies) and starting angles (national policies, capital investment, technological development, the participation of the whole people and so on), but we also got their views on the above two issues. More than 80% of people understand shelterbelts and grass grid technology, but their understanding of microbial sand control technology is significantly lower than that. More than 60% of people believe that all the above-mentioned aspects related to combating desertification are important.
For microbial control of desertification, more than 90% of people support our project and expect us to have the advantages of manpower, low economic costs, short periods and significant effects, a wide range of applicable natural conditions, and reliable biosafety.
Based on this, our publicity and education have achieved very good results, and we believe that our project has a bright future.
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MOOC
The spring of 2020 was supposed to be a busy back-to-school season, but people were stranded at home because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Most schools in China carry out colorful online teaching with the concept of “Suspension of school but non-suspension of classes”. Online teaching has changed the way people learn. It conveyed teaching through various ways, including live classes, MOOCs and online homework, and builds the connection between speakers and receivers through the network. Among them, MOOC is popular because it can be learned at any time, can be watched repeatedly, has a wide range of contents and a large scale.Our team has also produced a MOOC video about desertification and our project for more people to learn about.
MOOC shooting site
The title of the course is “Never stop exploring when the land is still being eroded by desertification”, implying that humans should not stop exploring and defending their beautiful homeland.The MOOC was introduced by Huang Xinghuai as the keynote speaker, and the content was mainly divided into four parts: the current situation of desertification, the harm of desertification, the methods of desertification control and our microbial desertification control project.
MOOC video
Through the investigation of the world and China’s desertification related statistical data, using the distribution map, comparison chart to introduce the status of desertification, we already have a more intuitive understanding of the status of the world’s land desertification.Then it analyzes the serious harm caused by land desertification through agricultural production, animal husbandry production, ecological environment, economic and social phenomena.In introducing the methods of desertification control, we collected some application examples to discuss mechanical engineering, chemical, agricultural and biological measures. Finally, we introduced our team’s microbial desertification program. Based on the properties and functions of EPS, we introduced how its special functional groups adsorbed clay, and then proposed the main method of windbreak and sand fixation for our project — Biological Soil Crusts(BSC).In the form of total score, we first introduced the overall idea of the project from the aspects of objectives, methods and functions, and then explained the basic experimental steps and processes of the project.Finally, picture display and introduction of the progress of each group of the project.
Through the MOOC video, we have spread and introduced the phenomenon of land desertification, a natural disaster, to more people. Through the introduction and analysis of the current situation and its hazards, we have made more people understand and pay attention to land desertification and understand the unresolved crisis of the world’s ecological environment.
In order to better promote and attract more people to watch the video, as well as increase the number of views, we have created a special WeChat tweet to introduce you to our MOOC content.
Lectures
Lecture for students majoring in biology
In order to give students majoring in biology a deep and systematic understanding of synthetic biology, we specially invited the leader of the XJTU-iGEM team in 2019—Senior Xu Mengmeng, brought us a humorous synthetic biology class for the students who interested in synthetic biology.
Xu started from the three key concepts of synthetic biology. She described the “engineering thought” of synthetic biology, which gave the audience a clearer understanding of the research ideas and purposes of synthetic biology. As an entry point, it introduces the basic elements of synthetic biology promoter, RBS, CDs and terminator, as well as illustrating the construction of gene circuit. Then, with a meticulous attitude, Senior Xu explained the most popular gene fragments connection methods-Gibson assembly, Golden Gate, MoClo, etc. After that, she shared their choice of connection methods and precautions in their iGEM project. Her in-depth and simple explanations helped us quickly establish the general framework of synthetic biology, which made us have a clearer and more detailed plan for the following project progress. Regarding the content of the explanation, many students raised their own doubts and ideas, and she also made corresponding explanations and suggestions, which benefited us a lot. At the end of the lecture, Senior Xu expressed her love and recognition of this year’s soil project, and encouraged us to do every step of the experiment carefully and win one more iGEM trophy for our university.
Senior XU is introduing the genetic circuits
Lecture for all students
Synthetic biology, as a frontier subject in the field of life science, has attracted more and more researchers to devote themselves to its related research. To better inform people about synthetic biology and iGEM, and to ensure the continuity of the iGEM team, we held an interesting synthetic biology lecture — Creating a World Of Artificial Biological Systems, with our team leader and a team member as the keynote speaker.
Starting from the origin of synthetic biology, they shared with students the birth and development of the subject. Then they explained biological elements and genetic circuits from a professional perspective, and demonstrated the magic and charm of synthetic biology with the examples of outstanding projects of iGEM in the past. Finally, they conclude with the development prospects of synthetic biology and the many challenges it faces in order to stimulate the interest and consideration of the audience. After the lecture, many students initiatively communicate with our team members about their understandings of synthetic biology and confusions, and there are also many non-biological major students said through the lecture they has a great interest on this subject, and be positive about the current principle and progress of our team, hoping they can join the iGEM team in the coming year. The effect of the lecture went far beyond our expectation.
Offline lecture
Online lecture for all groups
We hope to introduce synthetic biology to more people. Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, it is not convenient to select the appropriate activity site, so we choose the online meeting mode. Speakers Wang weizhe and Chen Yujie introduced the origin of synthetic biology, biological components and gene circuits, iGEM projects in previous years and future prospects. Participants actively exchanged questions. The lecture was highly praised by the participants. We feel sincerely happy to see more people understand synthetic biology and iGEM.
Online lecture
Debate
We conducted a debate on the advantages and disadvantages of synthetic biology development. As we have seen, the field of synthetic biology has received an extensive attention in recent years, and its development prospects and potential have attracted more and more people to participate in it. But at the same time, the development of synthetic biology also certainly brings safety risks. So, does the development of synthetic biology bring more advantages than disadvantages, or do the disadvantages outweigh the advantages? Based on this topic, we launched a debate.
The Affirmative Side in the Debate
Synthetic biology is a new field of biological research in the early 21st century. It is based on clarifying and simulating the basic laws of biosynthesis, achieving artificial design and constructing new biological systems with specific physiological functions, thereby establishing drugs, functional materials or biological manufacturing methods such as energy substitutes. At present, it has already been able to synthesize the products we need, and have unexpected effects with various disciplines mixed. Shortly, we can even use synthetic biology to edit human genes to fundamentally change our lives. Therefore, although the development of synthetic biology is accompanied by various issues from ethics and safety, these are all acceptable costs for scientific development.
The first debater of the affirmative side is stating his opinion
The Negative Side in the Debate
While synthetic biology has broad prospects for development, we must consider the safety issues it brings. First of all, compared with traditional engineering systems, biological systems are more difficult to control. If we want to give bacteria a brand new pathway to produce drugs, the metabolic pathway may not work stably for a long time in the cell, and due to evolutionary pressure, the genetic material of the virus is likely to undergo unexpected changes. If it is a pathogenic bacteria or virus, it is also possible to screen out more pathogenic strains. This is undoubtedly disastrous for mankind. Secondly, if the experimenter does not operate properly, Secondly, if the laboratory personnel do not operate properly, it is likely to cause the leakage of engineering bacteria, which will cause hidden danger to the environment. Moreover, synthetic biology makes it possible to develop genocidal biological and chemical weapons. Once they are used by terrorists, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, the emergence of synthetic biology is likely to do more harm than good in the long run.
Summary
The wave of synthetic biology is unstoppable. Therefore, we can only make good use of this double-edged sword. We need to use it in a favorable direction for human and natural development, and minimize its possible harm. After all, the development of science is always accompanied by a variety of problems, only without fear of challenges can mankind touch a greater world of science.
Online education
WeChat Tweets
As early as November 2019, the XJTU-iGEM team began to work on the deployment plan for the next year just after the last iGEM competition concluded. Using the WeChat official platform as the media, we released the recruitment tweets for the 2020 iGEM team, attracting a large number of students who love synthetic biology to join us, and the prototype of the 2020 XJTU-iGEM team emerged. Subsequently, in order to better carry out this year’s project, we successively published nearly ten posts on WeChat official platform to introduce the relevant knowledge of synthetic biology and share the progress of this year’s soil crust project.
Because of the epidemic, it’s been difficult for us to carry out too many offline activities this year. Therefore, WeChat has become a great way for our team to communicate with people. We shared the progress of our project and educated the public about biology in humorous and straightforward language. It is like a popular biology class, you can learn about PCR technology, biological soil crust, the general idea of our project and other related content. WeChat is not only a bridge between us and the public, but also a tree hole for sharing fun and roast in the team. Compared with the rigorous and serious work in the laboratory, the content in the tweets is very interesting and funny. The joy at the success of the experiment, the self-mockery at the failure of the experiment, and the little game waiting for the result are all the sources of the material in the tweets. Through WeChat, we not only want to share the relevant knowledge of synthetic biology and our project, but also want to attract more students to join us, join iGEM team and enjoy the infinite charm of synthetic biology together.
Wechat Tweets we have made
At present, the number of our followers and tweets shows an increasing trend. We will pass this account on to the next XJTU-iGEM team to create an interesting and useful media where people can not only browse and learn about synthetic biology, but also understand the content and progress of iGEM projects in our school over the years. We welcome you to follow our WeChat official account, and build an excellent learning and communication platform with us.
Bilibili
Based on the advantages of the Internet, Our team use the bilibili APP to popularize science and expand the impact of the project.
For team members, we uploaded the modeling training video to improve the ability of our teammates. Nevertheless, we also attach great importance to the popularity of the project and the participation of the public. Through animated video and mooc video, we popularize the present situation of desertification and traditional sand control methods, and vividly explain the sand control project of the igem team of Xi’an Jiaotong University.
Ultimately, our efforts are effective, not only to enable the teammates to improve modeling, lecture, painting and other skills, but also to make synthetic biology knowledge vividly popularized and expanding the impact of the project.
Website：https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1RK4y177JX?from=search&seid=13713331827274304048
Our bilibili Account：XJTU-iGEM Welcome to subscribe!
Laboratory science training
One-to-one teaching
In order to raise the public awareness of biological laboratories, we have organized scientific training on laboratory topics.
XJTU-iGEMers explained the knowledge of the laboratory for the younger students. We described the content and development process of synthetic biology from the history of synthetic biology, and introduced our project to them. When talking about the relevant content of the project experiment, we also explained the laboratory’s rules and precautions, and emphasized that all personnel in the laboratory must wear laboratory clothes, and food and beverages must not be brought into the laboratory. More importantly, the experimental equipment should be operated in a standardized manner, and the used items should be returned to the original place after the experiment. After giving them a series of precautions, XJTU-iGEMers led them to do some simple experiments, such as drawing a plate, extracting plasmids from bacteria, running DNA electrophoresis and so on. In order to ensure their safety, we used one-to-one help and explanations. They said that they have gained a lot of experimental skills, and everyone has dealed with experiments very seriously. Since they all showed great expectations for biological experiments, we knew our responsibility of disseminating synthetic biology and have already prepared to do it!