Team:Montpellier/Public Engagement
Events
During our project we participated in different events with the goal of popularizing synthetic biology and presenting our project to the public. In this section, we elaborate on the different events and how we used them to promote learning and engagement in the community.
Presentation to our scientific peers: Feedback from the community
Before and after the bulk of our wet lab research during the summer, we presented our project to our colleagues at our host institution, the Centre de Biochimie Structurale (Center for Structural Biology) in Montpellier, for feedback. Additionally, we presented at the end of the summer to the DGIMI lab (Diversity Genomes & Insect Microorganisms Interactions, INRA) to further refine our scientific presentation skills and to obtain additional feedback from scientists in a broad range of sub-disciplines.
Fête de la Science
On October 5th and 6th, we participated in the ‘Fête de la science’ at the Faculty of Education at the University of Montpellier, a large, annual nationwide event to promote interaction between the public and the scientific community. There, we taught 10-15 year old students and their parents about DNA, bacteria, and genetically modified organisms.
We brought several teaching aids with us, including a model of a DNA double helix, posters explaining synthetic biology (Figure 1), and a small game where the children would need to arrange promoters, ribosome binding sites, genes, and terminators to construct a complete ‘sentence’.
Additionally, to spark visual interest and foster interaction, we brought several Petri dishes with bacteria. Some were without antibiotics and contained swabs from different parts of the body to visually illustrate the microbiome; others contained works of bacteriART (Figure 2), drawings using E. coli expressing either mKate2 or super-folder GFP to draw in passersby with their bright colors. While we enjoyed explaining our project and synthetic biology to the community (Figure 3), we were incredibly impressed the number of thoughtful questions we received and the depth of curiosity people showed about synthetic biology. Even the parents were interested in learning more about our Vagineering project!
Organizing High School-Level Lecture and Lab Practical
In collaboration with the iGEM team from the Sorbonne University, we also organized and participated in two lectures for a high school class, with a corresponding lab practical. In the first class, we presented an overview lecture about DNA and mutations with a hands-on practical lab component (Figure 4). During the lecture, we explained how DNA is copied and transferred between generations and how subsequent interference can lead to mutations. This was coupled with experiments where yeast were exposed to UV rays for different durations. This showed them the changing of color of some colonies (we used Ade2 mutant that were originally red and got back to a white color) and the difference of number of colonies During the second class the following week, we analyzed the results of the experiment with the students, followed by an introductory lecture on synthetic biology and our iGEM project. We hope to have kindled some interest in their young minds to join the next generation of iGEMers.
Synthetic Biology Workshop, a feedback from students
On October 10th, we presented a lecture on the principles of synthetic biology our Vagineering project to two classes of master’s degree students: one studying Health Biology/Bioproduction and the other Host Microorganism interactions (Figure 5).
Over 90 minutes, we covered an overview of synthetic biology, techniques used in both wet lab and modeling, and an account of our Vagineering project and the iGEM competition in general.
As many of these students could be future iGEMers as early as next year, we sought to spark their interest in not only the opportunity to conceive of and pursue a research project but also our efforts to popularize our project and interact with the community at large.
Press Coverage
Smile, you're on camera! The promotion of our iGEM project is important for fostering awareness of our project. As the first iGEM team to come from Montpellier, we were fortunate to be interviewed by several publications of the print and news media.
June 6, 2018: EUSynbioBeta
IGEM MONTPELLIER 2018 : A NEW NON-HORMONAL CONTRACEPTION
June 29, 2018: MadmoiZelle
Vagineering, pour qu’une bactérie devienne un moyen de contraception
July 28, 2018: Inspira Biotech
IGEM Montpelier presents Vagineering, the proposal of a probiotic contraceptive
August 3, 2018: ChEEk MAGAZINE
Vagineering: Ils veulent faire d’une bactérie un moyen de contraception non hormonal
September 10, 2018: Midi Libre
Contraception : l’idée géniale des étudiants montpelliérains
September 12, 2018: France 3
Montpellier : 9 étudiants travaillent sur une bactérie révolutionnaire pour la contraception féminine
October 14, 2018: Blasting Pop
France : Une piste de contraception non-hormonale explorée par 9 étudiants montpelliérains
Art
As our project concerns an important aspect of society that, nevertheless, is considered taboo in certain cultures and communities, we wanted to use the humanizing power of several artistic endeavors to further cultivate a collective conversation about our project. We deliberately sought out non-scientific artists in the community to help us with so that they might provide a unique perspective to help us bridge the gap between ourselves and members of the community. The aim of this work is to educate members of the community to the existence of the vaginal microbiota/flora and the vulva through visual media with non-scientific artists.
Social media
Artists from different backgrounds produced artwork about their ‘vision of the vulva’, the vagina, and their microbiota.
We gave prompts to the artists and let them express their creativity starting from that.
For exemple, to the question: What is your vision of a vaginal flora?
Barzoii “artistic” answer : It’s a forest inside a vulva.
The artistic visuals produced by the artists will be the bridge between the public and the scientific knowledge.
Here are some examples.
Knowledge: Vulva Anatomy
What is your vision of a vulva?
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Knowledge: The Vaginal Microbiota
What is a vaginal “flora”?
Knowledge: Bacteria, Microbiota
What is living inside of the vagina?
“Spotlight”: A local popularization event
In collaboration with our Art in Education series, we organized an event with a local art association called “Weven”.
The event will invite eight different artists, including photographers, sketch artists, and painters. The "Night" will be an exhibition with light and music, and the aim of this event is (As “Art In Education”). Moreover, people will be able to discuss with the artists, and with us.
The aim of this event is to popularize synthetic biology and our project through the vision of non-scientific artist.
Artists picked one of more of the following prompts and are creating a piece. They presented their artwork during the event which took place in November 2018.
About Synthetic Biology
Gene
In your point of view, what is a Gene?
What Is a Biobrick?
How does gene synthesis look like?
Parts
We asked the artist to make an artistic version of the Synthetic Biology parts and give their idea of what it is.
Genetically Engineered Machines
What is a Genetically Engineered Machine?
How will be our future by using the G.E.M?
About our subject
Vulva Anatomy
What is your vision of a vulva?
Vaginal Microbiota/Flora
What is a vaginal “flora”?
What is a bacterium?
Balance
How sensitive is a vagina?
How sensitive is a vulva?
How does a genital disease look like?
Contraception
What is your point of view?
Whats is a spermicidal molecule?
Taking the birth control pill, how does it feels?
Menstruations
What do people think about menstruations?
How do you feel when you have your periods?
What do you think one can feel when they have their periods?
Comic Book: Synthetic Biology & the Vaginal Microbiota
With the help of the artist Minskiga (@Minskiga on Instagram), we created a comic book with two objectives in mind:
- To educate the community about contraceptives and how synthetic biology can be applied to them, and
- To provide a bridge between complex scientific information and those unfamiliar with the subjects through striking visuals and a compelling story.
Minskiga is an art school student without any formal education in biology, and therefore will have her own reactions to and perception of scientific ideas, which is precisely the perspective we were looking for. She uses her art skills to describe something that is difficult to do to people unversed in scientific vocabulary.
For example, we worked with Minskiga to provide a definition of synthetic biology (Figure 10).
This page is the result of fruitful discussions with the artist, with the aim of entertaining the public and educating them in the fundamentals of synthetic biology.
Additionally, through social networks and our survey, we received many questions from an interested public and this comic book provided an outlet to answer those questions in the form of a vibrant storyline.
This comic book is the result of more than three months of work, but will soon be finished and disseminated into the community. You can find out much more about the comic book in our Integrated Human Practices page!