These questions are probably asked by many, especially younger people. But even older age groups might find themselves in unprecedented circumstances when they are presented with terms such as enzyme, gene or plasmid. Keeping this in mind, we have made it our task to evoke some long overdue change in this respect. For this, we developed several projects that all contribute to a better understanding of synthetic biology (SynBio). Admittedly, science communication is not only a topic in SynBio, but of all other sciences as well, but we decided to lay our focus on what we know best.

We tried to reach the widest possible audience with our projects. In order to achieve this, first of all we had to gain an overview of the already existing knowledge in the minds of the broad masses which we managed to accomplish by an online survey with 292 participants. (click here) We have also taken up this issue in a livestream on social media which we carried out together with the iGEM Team Kaiserslautern, in order to publicly provide further information about topics of synthetic biology for those interested. (click here)

We also created a podcast called "Genomenal" which is aimed at people of all ages who would like to learn more about biotechnology and iGEM. “Genomenal” can be found on Spotify, our university website and on our wiki (click here). We have also thought of something for the younger part of society. Together with Aleksa Zecevic (click here), we have developed a mini-game called “The Genomenal Adventures of Dr. W”, which introduces biological practices in a playful and amusing way. (click here)

Last but not least, we also wanted to explicitly address students in the upper grades who might be thinking about a future career pathway in biology. For this, we have worked together with the Kurt-Schumacher-Schule in Karben. For this school, we hosted a zoom call in which we introduced the topic of iGEM to an advanced course for biology. We reported about our experiences and gave tips regarding our studies of biology and chemistry with the hope to enthuse them for scientifical studies. (click here)

What comes to your mind when you hear “Synthetic Biology” or “GMO”? You probably think of all the promising iGEM projects you know or all the great possibilities this field offers for the future. But this is not the fact for everyone yet. Many people are not feeling comfortable when they hear these terms. When you go to a grocery store in Germany, there is a sign which says “without genetic engineering” on a lot of products. We wanted to find out the reasons for these reservations, because we think that many of these concerns are based on lacking knowledge. Therefore, we created a survey and reached almost 300 people. What does the public know about synthetic biology? Do they have a clue what is behind this term? What advantages and, more importantly, what risks do they think of when they hear this term?

Besides that, we were curious how the public estimates the problem of micropollutants in our waters and what they think of our solution. By doing this survey we also tried to reach awareness for these topics into people’s daily lives.

While about 80 percent can imagine what a genetically modified organism is, only 53 percent have an idea what synthetic biology could be. When asked if they have ever been in contact with a GMO before, almost one quarter answered that they don’t know. We specified the question by asking if they had ever consumed something that was produced by using GMOs. The number of participants who were not sure about that was not much lower. As these numbers are quite high and regarding that the 292 people we reached are no perfectly representative sample, there is a task we can get from our survey. One part of our project involved doing science communication. We aimed to reach more people not related to our university or scientific work. Since the COVID-19 pandemic made it really difficult to address people on the street, for example, we decided to focus on other projects like our podcast "Genomenal" and a minigame.

At least 90 percent of all participants told us that they definitely see a threat in the wastewater pollution by pharmaceutical residues. By asking if they think it’s alright to bring a GMO into a wastewater treatment plant, we found that about 70 percent have concerns regarding this idea or at least would not agree completely. Following this question, we asked these participants the same question but under the condition that our GMO will leave the waste water treatment plant under no circumstances. By this addition we were able to lower the disagreement. Only 45 percent of the interviewees still had concerns.

In the end of our survey we asked them about advantages they see in synthetic biology. About 80 percent of the participants told us that they see future applications especially in environmental protection and medicine. Since there was also the option ‘in none of these areas’ this result leaves us in a positive mood!

Everyone loves video games. This also applies to us, so we were pretty excited when we found someone who could program us a little game. Our goal was to explain and illustrate methods used in a biology laboratory within this minigame, so everyone can learn something new, while playing our game.

Due to the limited time and capacity of our team we had to keep the game simple. We decided on doing a side-scroller known from games like “Super Mario”. Our main character should of course be a motivated biotechnologist, who needs to complete several tasks in different levels. After many hours of designing levels and pictograms "The Genomenal Adventures of Dr. W” was born.

„The Genomal Adventures of Dr. W” tells the tale of the scientist Dr. W. He walks through various levels trying to solve a mission. Each level represents a biological lab procedure, such as gel electrophoresis, Gibson Assembly and – last but not least – one level representing our project idea.

The game starts with a basic level in which the player needs to collect his equipment, pipettes and tubes, among a few other things. The more levels you play through, the more things you have to gather and the more dangers you encounter. Danger itself is presented in many ways - as fire, a pit in the ground, a poisonous cloud or a puddle which the player needs to overcome. This way, we convey all the difficulties one might face in the lab. Your work does not always pan out as planned. One does not always know which path to choose and this is what this game stands for. Not only does it represent the steps our iGEM team has taken whilst the development of our project idea but should also enthuse others for the field of science in a fun and amusing way.

If you are interested in giving it a try, click here to download the game.

During our efforts in Human Practices and especially science communication, we have networked with other iGEM teams. When we found out that the also tries to filter pollutants from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) by using laccases, we saw a direct opportunity for cooperation. Having two projects dealing with the same problem, exchanging scientific knowledge with each other was a great opportunity for both teams. Our goal in this year's HP also includes something else that is very important: Communicating the world of synthetic biology as well as our projects to the public. An important question arose: How can this be done in times of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Kaiserslautern found a perfect alternative: If we can't present our project on site, then we'll just do it online! At this point, the iGEM Team Kaiserslautern had already made several live streams on the video streaming platform Twitch. We were very enthusiastic when Emily and Linda from the TU Kaiserslautern made us the wonderful offer that we should make a joint stream. On the 31th of July we went live on Twitch with Kaiserslautern and drew some attention to the promising world of synthetic biology.

We presented our project ideas and explained our different approaches, as well as our motivation. In the video which you can find below this text, we educated about general safety concepts and introduced our kill switch. These concepts are crucial to make sure our genetically modified organism (GMO) will not leave the WWTP.

We did also talk about our survey (click here) and interacted with the viewers. Especially in the end, when we played a little game about the different dialects of our home federal states, they actively participated. As it turned out, our dialects are not too different, but Kaiserslautern clearly won our little competition. We reached over 20 active viewers and were able to make synthetic biology a little bit more tangible. Most of the viewers were generally interested in synthetic biology, but did not have deeper knowledge. One told us, that he “thought, wastewater treatment plants filter out everything”. It was completely new to him, that micropollutants usually do not get reduced at all and need to be treated differently.

In conclusion, the livestream was a lot of fun and really helped raise awareness for the field of synthetic biology and of the dangers micropollutants pose. In addition, it was a good opportunity to share our project idea with interested people from various backgrounds.