Team:Korea U Seoul/Human Practice/Outreach

Sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, our team participated in the Seoul 2013 Nolto EXPO (amazing Saturday in Seoul EXPO) in June 22, 2013
The main goals of this EXPO are for children to take interests in assorted things and to make their own dreams from these activities for experience in EXPO.
We presented experiments that aligned at eye level of young people, using liquid nitrogen for cake icing, beads- ice cream since liquid nitrogen is very important material for not only synthetic biology but also any other science. For this reason, we want for Korean children to think that doing experience with science material is fun and not alarming, by extension, to make them feel a sense of friendliness.
Furthermore, we announced I-Gem competition which exchanges research results: the use of registered bio-bricks how new applications and new features to try to develop parts. We make some posters for announcing l-Gem and explaining Synthetic biology and explain about them to children. We felt great seeing their eyes twinkle when they listened to our explanation. In addition, we explained the method that producing pearl protein, consuming carbon dioxide; reducing green house gas and obtaining jewelry precursor.

‘Korea_U_Seoul’ team decides to form an academic society of synthetic biology: Korea University Association of Synthetic Biology (KUAS). Main goal of KUAS is not only searching synthetic biology but also announcing definition, infinite possibility and importance synthetic biology. For this reason, we saw the necessity of webpage for our goal. We have been making KUAS homepage in progress: www.kuaskorea.com

Creative Challenger Program(CCP) is a Korea University's program which encourages undergraduate students to voluntarily organize a team of a common interest, and to research about their concerned field. This program receives Korea government grants in aid of Korea government enterprise which is discovering talented scientist. For the purpose of nurturing students with talent and creativity, Center for Teaching and learning(CTL), a sponsoring body, carefully examines and assesses each and every team with their project, process, and outcome. There are many fields of study students can participate, including engineering/information and communication, economy/business, culture/art/sport, humanities/society, and nature science. Because CCP covers a wide range of area, teams are encouraged to exchange ideas and communicate with others. Korea_U_Seoul has been participating in CCP since 2010, sharing knowledge about iGEM and synthetic biology for years. In 2012, Korea_U_Seoul was designated as one of the most competent teams of all, getting an opportunity to let people know about iGEM and synthetic biology by posters and videos. Researching for better results and informing synthetic biology will be continued even after iGEM is over.

In August, our team member, Hye young Choi, worked medical volunteering in the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire as club president of Uhai, which is the group of Good News Medical Volunteers. In order to interact with local students, not only work in the medical field, she visited the University of Bouaké. About 400 college students were in the auditorium. She briefly introduced Korea, and announced Life Science with I-Gem competition: the use of registered bio-bricks how new applications and new features to try to develop parts.