Human Practices: Education and Public Engagement Special Prize

Synthetic biology is an important tool for the future, and our project is only one of many opportunities that synthetic biology provides. It is therefore of great significance to create awareness about this field. We focused on showing synthetic biology in an understandable setting for youth by participating at the events Researcher’s Night and Forskningstorget (Science Faire). We showed a visual explanation of biofilm, bacteria and DNA through a poster during these events. Another goal for us was to create general public awareness about iGEM and our project through social media and by doing interviews in a couple of newspapers.

The Science Fair

The Science Fair (Forskningstorget) is an annual event arranged at the NTNU museum of Science, this year 21-22.September. The Science Fair is about science and research, and this is shown by a variety of stand activities. Everyone has free admission to the fair, but the event is especially arranged for children from elementary schools in Trøndelag. Every year there is approximately 7000 kids that visit the Science Fair. We had a lot of fun talking to all the people visiting our stand, speaking about our project and doing some experiments. One of the activities at our stand was extraction of DNA from fruit, using items everyone has in their kitchen. Both kids and grown-ups seemed to enjoy playing with DNA with us, and we sure enjoyed the event!

Byavisa Drammen

Hege Hetland Pedersen was interviewed by Byavisa Drammen (the local newspaper in Drammen) in June. The article presented NTNU iGEM as a team, our project and iGEM in general. Every wednesday, all households and many businesses in Drammen receive Byavisa Drammen.

The article can be read in norwegian (p.13):