Team:Lethbridge HS/Public Engagement

ENGAGEMENT

RNA Day

On August 1st, also called “RNA Day”, our team decided to help the collegiate team at a booth set up at our local farmer’s market. This public engagement activity introduced the members of our community about iGEM, in addition to the work that both the collegiate and high school iGEM teams have accomplished. Our booth interacted with the community by providing different activities, such as synthetic biology based colouring sheets and toothpicks and marshmallows to make DNA. People at the Farmers Market were even able to conduct a DNA extraction experiment, which allowed them to venture into the types of activities that members of iGEM partake in.

Whoop Up Days

Our team had a booth at our local summer carnival, Whoop Up Days, to promote synthetic biology and iGEM. The booth allowed individuals to learn about iGEM and how to pipette. We were even able to raise over $100 in donation through selling our own designed stickers. This booth was successful in bringing awareness to synthetic biology in addition to fundraising.

iGEM Music Recital

We held a music recital to showcase the musical abilities and talents of our team members, in addition to raising money to send more representatives to Boston. We were also able to engage with our community by giving a presentation on iGEM, our project and synthetic biology as a whole.

aGEM and other Conferences

North American iGEM Kickoff

Our team had the opportunity to go to Calgary for the North American iGEM Kickoff. We were able to present a basic outline of our project, as well as listen to the projects from collegiate teams. This allowed us to expand our knowledge and interest in synthetic biology. At the Kickoff event, we were able to improve our project from the judge’s feedback, as well as gain advice from other iGEM teams in North America who participated in the conference. For instance, we received contact information for different people as this would help us for the future integration of our project. From this helpful information we were able to improve and better our project over the summer for aGEM in September.

Canmore aGEM

The first place where we publicly presented our project was at the aGEM in Canmore. Our project at that time was focused on desalination. However, after conversing and doing a few calculations with the judges, we soon realized that our system would be incompetent with salt. As a result, we decided to change the focus of our project to the capture and removal of metal ions in tailings instead. This pivot turned our potential users from places requiring potable water from seawater, to tailings and wastewater treatment plants. At Canmore, we received the award for “Best Opportunity Analysis”, as well as a prize of $1800.