Team:UANL Mty-Mexico/Synthetic CIDEB

SynBio Tunnel at CIDEB Back

As member of the 2013 IGEM UANL team, we could notice that the diffusion of information about synthetic biology and iGEM in general is very important for people to understand, that including the work we participants do in this contest.

The basic idea of this activity was to show and explain the Syn Bio Tunnel to the students of CIDEB so they could understand as much as possible from the information presented to them; which consists of 10 modules all making reference to different areas of the project we are working on, for example DNA, Biobricks and security inside the laboratories. At the Saturday courses there were 20 groups with approximately 30 people each, all with students of different ages, starting at 5 years old up to 18 years old. The principle organized a schedule for us, in which she gave us specific time and date for each group to have the tour to the tunnel. We gave the tour to all the groups in 4 Saturdays.

After all the expositions where done, we realized we had received positive feedback from the students that visited the tunnel. During the expositions, a big number of students were really paying attention and were really interested in the topics we talked about. They actively participated by asking questions of things they found themselves curious about and gave ideas they came up with at the time. They also mentioned that the explanations were very simple and easy to understand. This also includes the activity we did after every explanation, which tries to settle the ideas and make them easier for the students to remember.

At the end, the activity results in a bigger interest of the visitors in synthetic biology and in the iGEM contest. Students show a good response to the idea of joining to the next-year team. Even the teachers who accompanied the groups were very interested in the information given.

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!