Interest and mindset formation should start at young age for permanence and continuity. High school and university students are great audiences to be approached to break the blurred paradigm of synthetic biology, which term is rarely known by the general public.

With presentations and lab workshops to high school students, we introduced our project, iGEM, synthetic biology and genetic engineering in general. We presented how synthetic biology is useful for mankind and environment, and its current development in Hong Kong.

We extend our public outreach beyond Hong Kong to Macau. We got a chance to talk to two groups of Macau high school students who were visiting our university. The talk and lab workshop format are similar with the ones presented to Hong Kong high school students.

We investigated secondary school students’ familiarity for iGEM and synthetic biology.  As carcinogenic pollutants that we encounter in our daily life, we are figuring out their knowledge of Benzo[a]pyrene and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrcarbon that may risk their health.

Moreover, iGEM booth for freshmen was opened to build early awareness to synthetic biology and interest in the upcoming iGEM team. In this booth, mini comic and sticker with bacteria characters were distributed for wider spread of information yet still interesting to be read.

The surroundings affect an individual and vice versa. Religion is a sensitive case to be discussed with synthetic biology. In Hong Kong, around 50% of the population is irreligious. Parents’ familiarity for synthetic biology is in need to be investigated, to know how huge public outreach is that we have to do for the mature population.

Lastly, Hong Kong has a service-oriented economy and Macau’s economy relies heavily on tourism nowadays. In our survey, we asked Macau high school students which one they prefer, the current economy style or a knowledge-based economy. As for knowledge-based economy, we also investigated whether they think synthetic biology will be an important aspect of it or not.