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Bed bugs infestations are increasing each and every year in Marseille and all over the world. The grounds of our breaking bugs project was that heavy increase. We wanted to help our local community as well as the whole world. We engaged in our society by going to as many fairs and gatherings as possible, with three main messages to deliver:

What is iGEM?
What are bed bugs and how to prevent infestations?
Engaging the public in the breaking bugs project.

Science market

Created in 2003, the science market is a place to exchange ideas and popularize science using interactive, accessible, and fun activities. The aim is to sharpen the scientific knowledge of the general public. At the market, we had two main products to sell to the public: synthetic biology and the current challenges, and the breaking bugs project.

We delivered our ideas through three interactive activities. Firstly, we used a dollhouse to simulate a household. The game is as follows: they have to find 12 bed bugs (Stickers). Thus, they learned where bed bugs could be possibly hiding in their homes. Secondly, we have brought materials to make the banana experiment, so we could teach them that all living things, bananas and people included, pass on information from one generation to the next using the same basic material, DNA. Thirdly, we have created small sketches to simulate and explain to the public the basics about the breaking bugs project. Among other things, our remarkable mascot Heisenbug was on board to lighten up the mood and attract the younger ones with their parents.

We met kids and adults, succeeded in delivering our ideas and got multiple feedbacks on the project. Furthermore, we met with researchers with whom we discussed the bioethics challenges surrounding our plan.

Science festival

The fête de la science or science festival is a national event that promotes scientific culture and, in a festive setting, exchanges between science and society! Led for 27 years by the French ministry of higher education, research, and innovation, it is a meeting point between the general public and the actors of science who through experimentation, debate, and exchange, offer the opportunity to build new knowledge and to form opinions about the issues facing our society.

To cover the most cities possible, science villages are set up where universities, research institutes, associations, and companies occupy stands, each of them bringing several interactive experiments. It is this diversity that contributes to the wealth and success of the festival.This year we had a stand on 12th, 13th and 14th October in the departmental archive of Marseille.

The first day was dedicated to the scholar, so we had to hoc their attention in a fun way. For this event we decided to make them aware about fake news, so we did a “jungle speed” abou fake news about GMOs with a quiz that we prepared based on articles. We also discussed biology with them, and our project. It was interesting because a lot of pupils were scared about GMOs without knowing what they are. We want to spark their curiosity and a lot of knowledge beyond this game. We hope that this intervention bridging a little the gap between biology and society.

The second and third days was open to the general public, so we continued the game for children and we presented our project to the others. With a poster we explained the “breaking bugs” project. A lot of people were enthusiastic about it, and some of them were victims of bed bugs, so they shared their stories with us. We had testimony of people who spent thousands to get rid of bed bugs. We discussed current solutions and the advantage of our solution. With others we debated GMOs and Synthétic biology. These exchanges were rewarding for us and our project. We were directly confronted with the general public and we could see how society welcomed our project.

Social housing union convention

The social housing union is a confederation which gathers all the French social landlords ie about 730 organisms managing 4.5 millions of housing. The sector, like many others, is confronted to bed bugs infestations. The union organized its national congress in Marseille on the 9th, 10th and 11th of October, bringing together around 22,000 people over 3 days and 10,000 social housing professionals. The congress was covered by about 90 journalists. Following our nationwide advertisement campaign, we got invited to the convention to present the breaking bugs project as an innovative solution to develop, for bed bugs infestations treatment, that can directly impact the inhabitants.

Biotechnology forum

In collaboration with Polytech Marseille, we were able to get a stand at the 19th biotechnology forum. The forum brings together students and professionals. Conferences are held to address the current challenges of biotechnology, which now occupy a major role in the health and environmental sectors. Participants were able to exchange with experts on the latest biotechnology advances. This year, four main topics were addressed: gene therapy, genetically modified organisms, the pharmaceutical industry, and genomics.

Our team took part in the forum with three main goals to achieve:

Promoting synthetic biology through presenting the iGEM organization.
Presenting the breaking bugs project and getting the community's feedback.
Recruiting engineers for next year's iGEM team.

European researchers night

Every year at the end of September the “European researchers’ night ” take place in several cities in Europe . This year we have the opportunity to participate in this event the 28th and 29th September.

28th September

The topic was “a thousand a one ways to do research” , that is why the first day we went to several high schools in Marseille with three other researchers to tell people about our IGEM adventure.

In order to make synthetic biology accessible to high schools students, we had to adapt our language and supports so we made a simple graph of our project. Our motivation was to share our passion and knowledge about biology and to stimulate the students’ curiosity. We had 8 minutes to popularise science and tell a story of one years. This event was a great opportunity to teach students and raise their awareness about biology synthétic and the ethical limits, it was interesting for them to know more about biotechnology and our bed bugs project. We also had a lot of questions about our university studies. We wanted to show that it is possible to talk about biology, and science in general with people from all ages and with different knowledge and we think that this message was received by the students.

the 29th september

on the second day , The gathering aims to attract a public that is not familiar with science and awaken the desire to develop and maintain a connection with research after the event. Through the art of storytelling, we engaged with the public in a game of exchange that enables all participants to critically discuss communication and to come to a better understanding of what research activity entails. Our team had two tales to share with the audience: synthetic biology and the breaking bugs project. We were invited to participate on a radio show dedicated to the european research night , with ‘’ radio grenouille “ , we explains the igem competition and the built of our project , we met other scientist and we had the opportunity to discuss about our project with them and had an another point of view about our project.

Survey study

Interviews with experts

Reaching out to experts was the key factor in shaping the breaking bugs project. By interviewing them, we had critical evaluations and feedbacks around our work. Furthermore, they pointed out the challenges we might face. We reached out to experts from multiple fields: finance, entomology, entrepreneurship...

Jean-Michel BERENGER

Mr. Jean-Michel BERENGER is one of the leading entomologists in France working on bed bugs. He was a true mentor throughout our whole project. We met with him at the IHU-MI (University Hospital Institute-Mediterranean Infection) in Marseille. He was one of the first person we met for human practices and gave us pointers about bed bugs: the different species, the infestation rates evolution in France and around the world, how to run tests on them, and the current challenges. Here you can find the entire interview he gave us: REUUUUUNIIIOOOONNN MERCREDI 10/10

Later on, we went to him to verify the relevance of our trap and get the proof of concept. Furthermore, he helped us with the trap design in order to find the safest application for future consumers. Mr. BERENGER gave us precious advices to develop our project.

Jean-Louis MONCLERC

Mr. Jean-Louis MONCLERC is an independent consultant and associate professor at Aix-Marseille University. We went to him to learn methods to captivate the sponsors and get them to support our project. Firstly, we presented the iGEM organization and its goals. Then, we talked about our project so he can help us engage the right sponsors. Furthermore, he gave pointers to the team members in charge of funding so they can enhance their productivity and get better results. His expertise and mentorship helped put the members on the right track towards getting the team's budget.

Olivier GREMAUD

Mr. Olivier GREMAUD is the founder of Cynoscan. The company trains dogs so they can quickly detect bed bugs. We reached out to them by email with a series of questions and concerns to help us shape the breaking bugs project. They were very encouraging and brought a collaboration opportunity to the light. The plan is as follows: prior to applying the trap in infested premises, they can intervene with their trained dogs to spot the areas where we can apply the trap. Along these lines, we are targetting the infestation, narrowing down the range of application, and increasing the trap's efficiency.