Overview

Through organizing different events related to education and public engagement, we introduced the concept of synthetic biology and our bioluminescence project to the public.

Education – Shanghai Primary School

We went to the Shanghai Primary School on Friday for two consecutive weeks during June. There, we introduced 5th grade students with the concept of synthetic biology, an area that they haven’t heard of before. They immediately showed interest and asked a lot of questions about how synthetic biology is used nowadays in our daily life and the safety considerations. Some of them even claimed they want to be synthetic biologists in the future and create all kinds of plants with different characteristics. We feel honored to have introduced these kids to synthetic biology at such an early stage since they may actually become synthetic biologists in the future and shape the field. Through communicating with them, we also paid a lot more attention on the safety of our methods during the design process.