Team:UANL Mty-Mexico/Synthetic Tunnel Planning

Plannig the Synthetic Biology Tunnel [ Back]

Planning this important event involved a lot of important aspects but the most important was the purpouse which was to spread the meaning of synthetic biology to the public in general with this reaching, teenagers, adults, and even kids and old men.

For the constrution the team worked for 4 large months with 2 official frequencies per week being these ones the Fridays and Sundays. The staff were constructing the exposition 5 hours per day and it was really hard. Som days with cold, other ones with rain but always being a good experience for each one of them.

Para la edición especial de la exposición realizada en cuatro ciénagas, se realizó una adaptación de cada uno de los módulos del túnel a las aplicaciones que exclusivamente se le pude dar a la biología sintética en esa zona especial. Para eso se realizaron letreros especiales que dependiendo del módulo, se realizaba una descripción como se muestra a continuación:

1: DNA

Topics: -DNA as the information storage molecule in all living things. -Organization of DNA within cells. -Molecular structure of DNA -DNA structure model. Activity: Puzzle board game to learn how DNA is copied.

2: Genes

Topics: -Genes as functional units of DNA -Organization and parts of a genes -How do the genes work? -Central dogma of molecular biology.  Activity: Puzzle with multiple options to explain gene function through the central Dogma. -Use of common examples.

3: Proteins

Topics: -Proteins as carriers of most biological processes -Types of proteins -Examples of  common proteins -The genetic code  Activity: Build a protein from DNA code (translation), Protein models.

4: Genetic Engineering

Topics: -Recombinant DNA technology -Restriction enzymes, ligase and vectors -Examples.  Activity: Build a recombinant DNA molecule with colored cables  and transform a cell.

5: Synthetic Biology

Topics: -Universality, modularity and abstraction of bioparts -Synbio as the application of engineering concepts to biology -Advancements in DNA synthesis and sequencing technologies. Activity:  Construct a genetic circuit on a board and estimate time and costs to build it.

6: Biobricks

Topics: -BioBricks as standard DNA parts - Parts of a BioBrick - Types of BioBricks. -Biobrick assembly -The Registry of Standard Biological Parts Activity: Put compatible bricks together.

7: Biological machine

Topics: -Imagine the possibilities -Addressing high impact problems through biomachines. -Metabolic load -Advantages of biomachines over robots. Activity: "Labyrinth of metabolism" so that the visitor knows that "parts" must be manipulated to make a organism perform certain function.

8: Applications of SynBio

Topics: -Impact of SynBio in a wide variety of areas - Examples of issues solved through SynBio (How do these projects work?)  Activity: The visitor must correlate a specific genetic circuit to its application area.

9: iGEM

Topics: iGEM as the biggest synthetic biology competition, rules, motivation, scope. - iGEM UANL 2011 and 2012 -CIDEB-UANL 2012  Activity: -Explain our 2011 project -Exhibition of the light-machine used in our project -Explain CIDEB's 2012 project

10: Ethics and Biosafety

Topics: -Ethics definition -Human quality of life -Good and ugly -Impact awareness -Acceptance of SynBio -Potential problems -Precautions taken to prevent them -Biosafety levels Activity: Dress with biosafety equipment  (lab coat, glasses, gloves…) as fast as possible!

Yellow station " Genomic Biotechnology "

Topics: - Biotechnology and its applications ( colors ) - The genomic within biotechnology -Manipulation of genes for process improvement Activity: Demonstration of an extraction of a banana’s DNA and simulation of genome sequencing.

Blue Station "Marine Biotechnology"

Topics: - Algae biofuel -Use of marine organisms for applications in agriculture, industry , health and energy . Activity: Descriptive cards of several marine organisms and their characteristics , so that they can relate to the application area on a board.

Grey Station "Environ. Biotechnology "

Topics: - Bioremediation - Biosensors - Optimization of industrial processes to avoid contamination. Activity: Simulating a ground bioremediation system using a plastic plant with small magnets on the root, is intended to make a collection of contaminants in the ground.

Black Station "Industrial Biotechnology "

Topics: -Production of recombinant proteins - Production of products using microorganisms Activity: A transparent container simulating a fermenter, a small fan raises a number of papers and Styrofoam balls to simulate products and bacteria , that simulates the production of proteins in bioreactors .

Red Station "Medical Biotechnology”

Topics: -Pharmacogenomics - Application for gene therapy - The clinical diagnosis and prognosis with bio-markers - The site manipulation or attack targets malignant cells. Activity:  Using cards in which participants must associate the diseases caused by mutations in a gene on the organ where the disease is generated.

Green Station "Agricultural Biotechnology"

Topics: Topics: - Transgenic organisms -Genetic manipulation of plants - Bacteria that help plants -Edible Vaccines Activity: Simulate cells of three different plants for making them transgenic , the participant will create plasmids with pipe cleaners and will launch them to cells for transforming them.

Finally, we thought for being a good scientist is really necessary to know about arts and design too for this kind of situations, and of course to know how to coordinate a lot of people for making things like this possible.

Retrieved from "http://2013.igem.org/Team:UANL_Mty-Mexico/Synthetic_Tunnel_Planning"