Outreach Activities

Synthetic biology is converting into reality the most abstract concept and ideas in the human mind with each passing day. However, the mindset of general public is still skeptical towards this particular field and its exemplary achievements. We, through our outreach program aimed to remove this fear and doubts from the mind of the students and tried to invoke in them the enthralling world of synthetic biology and the perks of it. Our promotion therefore involved several public lectures at various schools aimed at introducing prospective scientists to this exciting field in general and our topic in particular.

School Lectures

To bring our project and the idea of synthetic biology closer to the coming generations of young scientists, we conducted several lectures across various parts of Maharashtra, a state in India. Gist of the lectures is mentioned below:

Dnyanaprakash Vidyalaya

First outreach activity of the team started with addressing 9th standard students of Dyanaprakash Vidyalaya. The children had basic knowledge about cell and its structure with minute insights into genetics and DNA. However, they were largely unaware about the upcoming field of synthetic biology and genetic engineering. Hence, the talks were focused on introducing them to the field of genetic engineering and synthetic biology through our project and generating interest in those young minds. As an exercise, team asked students what applications of Genetic Engineering could they think of? Out of the many answers, we got applications that are indeed being researched upon currently like - “Modifying bacteria to consume the pollutants present in Air”, “Modifying bacteria so as to be able to control it and make it do whatever you want - essentially having a bacteria Robot”. Thus, the school talk was a success in creating awareness amongst the children and generating interest about the field.

Healthy Recipe: iGEM HAFS

Team HAFS is working towards finding optimal solution to diabetes. As a collaboration activity, they expected to collect healthy recipes from all around the world. ICT-Mumbai participated in this activity. We shared the recipe of Beetroot Raita, which is very commonly prepared in Maharashtrian households. The main ingredient, Beetroot, has been found to have many health benefits such as lowering blood sugar, detoxification to name a few. This very easy to make, and very tasty at the same time, recipe was an excellent contribution to the healthy recipe initiative of iGEM team HAFS.

Human Practices: iGEM WashU

Team WashU is working towards engineering yeast to produce a wheat rust resistance protein. As a collaboration activity, they expected to collect responses from variety of wheat farmers across the world. We helped them with relevant data from India. During one of our IHP visits, our team interacted with wheat farmers and collected responses to the specific questions sent by the WashU team. Team also provided the contacts of some farmers in India as part of the collaboration activity, thus helping them to improve their network of farmers and gain information about specifics of damage caused by wheat rust and their preventive measures.